A dvandva compound is a formation in which two individual nouns are joined to form a new word. Wik offers the example "singer-songwriter." I think that "barber-surgeon" is therefore a dvandva, although I am confident that I am the first person ever to denominate it as such. Anaptyxis is a term in linguistics for the demotic insertion of a vowel between two consonants, as in filim for film or realitor for realtor. A calque a word-for-word translation from one language to another. Clausula is a term in ancient rhetoric for a consciously-contrived rhythmic ending to a long sentence. If I've ever employed a clausula, I am sure that it's been entirely fortuitous.
A suffete was a Carthaginian official or magistrate. A groma is a Roman surveying instrument that had plumb lines hanging from four arms at right angles. I do nor know how it was employed but it must have worked very well because the Romans did some remarkable surveying. A gromatic text is therefore a record of a survey. An ostracan is a fragment of ancient pottery onto which writing has been scratched or incised. Since ostraca are durable they are a primary source of archeological information. A cippus was a cylindrical stone used as a gravestone by the Etruscans and as a boundary marker by Romans. Here's a handsome old cippus.
Leave a Reply