Disputatio:Aaahh!!! Real Monsters

titulusne debet facere "Aaahh!!! Vera Monstra"? --Secundus Zephyrus 04:14, 23 Martii 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Nexus intervicius indicat hanc esse redditionem nominis Germanici (Aaahh!!! Monster). Sed neutrum nomen cum VP:TNP constat. —Mucius Tever

I think the title should be Aaahh!!! Monstri Reales. This is a direct translation of the English title. Also, as monsters are living things, they should take on a masculine or feminine form, and not a neuter one. -Kedemus

Tell that to German maidens. Andrew Dalby (disputatio) 21:29, 4 Iunii 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Um, Monstrum -i n., q.e.d. *Monster -i, *monstrus -i, *monstra -ae, and what have you, would be neologisms. Neologisms have their place, of course, but as we've discussed we don't want to create them lightly. And there is definitely no pressing need here. As Dr. Dalby alludes to in his laconic comment above, grammatical gender and biological sex need not always match up, and in fact in gendered languages these things happen all the time. German Mädschen "girl" is neuter (as is Weib "woman"), French personne is feminine, and Latin aquila "eagle" is always feminine even when it refers to a male eagle. On this last point, see Priscian, 3.473.14 (or so):

Nemo enim dicit "haec futuens," nisi in epicenis nominibus animalium, ut "haec aquila futuens," in quo quamvis femininum proferamus, tamen marem intelligimus.

--Iustinus 22:19, 4 Iunii 2007 (UTC)[reply]