Disputatio Categoriae:Interfectio

What exactly is the purpose of this category? Occidio means roughly 'massacre' in classical Latin, so the inclusion of the subcategories interfecti (men killed) and interfectores (killers) seems unjustified. As for generis occidio, it probably should be genicidium anyway (see that talk page) following the established homicidium, suicidium, parricidium, etc. Pantocrator 12:38, 2 Aprilis 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You're right. I wanted a more general meaning, "Killing" (of one or more): I should perhaps have chosen "interfectio"? Andrew Dalby (disputatio) 13:10, 2 Aprilis 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That seems to be the best answer, and is consistent with the other titles. Pantocrator 02:42, 9 Aprilis 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Gratias tibi ago. Andrew Dalby (disputatio) 08:56, 9 Aprilis 2010 (UTC)[reply]

"Interfectio" may be fine for a title at some level of the category-tree, but almost certainly not as a subcategory of "Mors" and "Vis" and "Vita," and not with merely two subcategories. As Wikipedia shows, "Murder" is a subcategory of at least two categories: "Crimes" and "Criminal homicide." Some subcategories of "Murder" are "Murderers" (equivalent to Vicipaedia's "Interfectores," though interwiki links are missing), "Murder victims" (equivalent to "Interfecti," again with interwiki links missing), "Murder by country," "People acquitted of murder," "Assassinations," "People convicted of attempter murder," "Honor killing," "Infanticide," "Lynchings," "Murder ballads," and "Murder-suicides." Some subcategories just of "Murderers" are (and note that ten of them have subcategories themselves):

[+] Murderers by nationality (123 C)

[+] Murderers by victim (6 C, 1 P)

[+] People convicted of murder (8 C)

[+] Americans convicted of soliciting murder (4 P)

[+] Biblical murderers (4 P)

[+] Contract killers (2 C, 9 P)

[+] Criminal snipers (8 P)

[+] Female murderers (2 C, 2 P)

[+] Fictional murderers (4 C, 544 P)

[+] Murderers for insurance money (13 P)

[+] Mass murderers (4 C, 4 P, 1 F)

[+] Murder–suicides (5 C, 148 P)

[+] People executed for murder (2 C, 591 P)

[+] Poisoners (68 P)

[+] Serial killers (8 C, 3 P)

If such concepts are tossed into the same bin here, later Vicipaedians are going to have to do more work than if such concepts were put into separate and suitable bins from the start. For future growth, splitting is more helpful than lumping. As a rule in the preparation of reference works, planning ahead is a good idea. IacobusAmor 11:19, 9 Aprilis 2010 (UTC)[reply]

As you know, you and I are on different planets as regards category work. Hence, now that you do it, I'm happy to have bowed out, more or less. I just make new categories when they seem necessary to accommodate and link existing pages. But, just to be clear, by interfectio I intended "killing", not "murder". Andrew Dalby (disputatio) 11:36, 9 Aprilis 2010 (UTC)[reply]

As always, translating from culture to culture is a complicated process. Cassell's has: interfectio 'a slaying'; interfector 'a murderer, slayer'; interfectrix 'a murderess'. Yet it also has: murder 'caedes, occisio, homicidium, nex'; murderer 'homicida, sicarius, percussor, parricida, fratricida, matricida', with a caution, "the [murderer] of a particular person is often best indicated by a relative clause (e.g. qui illum necavit)." IacobusAmor 11:55, 9 Aprilis 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps the required legal distinctions can be found in the Corpus Iuris Civilis. --Fabullus 12:10, 9 Aprilis 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I tried to look at the 48th book of Digesta: all of the Cassell's terms are used there, but I fail to see any system, nor I see any section that would explain the distinction. Maybe they are just synonyms. --Gabriel Svoboda 12:56, 9 Aprilis 2010 (UTC)[reply]