clxix

Theme for the remainder of the month: Alphabet Soup

ruga, rugae f.

Definition: a wrinkle, a shallow groove, a crease

Sententia: Ovid's Fasti, 5.57-8; 73-74

magna fuit quondam capitis reverentia cani,

inque suo pretio ruga senilis erat....

hinc sua maiores tribuisse vocabula Maio

tangor...

There were formerly great respects for (lit. of) white hair, and old wrinkle[s] were in their own price [i.e. valued as they should have been]..

from this I am touched* that the elders gave their own names to May...

*"I am influenced to believe" is the specific definition of "tango" given for that case in the Oxford Latin dictionary, but it is the only work listed with that definition.

This is part of a really cool introduction of the Fasti, Book 5, talking about three scenarios of how the month of May got its name. In this second theory, the muse Urania postulates that the month got its name from 'maiores,' since the Romans of old revered their elders. The last one, that of Calliope, states that Mercury named the month for his dear old mother, Maia. Whoever knew that Maya had a month named after her? To read the full story, visit The Latin Library's online Latin text.

"Ruga," despite its similarity to "rugio," meaning "to roar," is unrelated, perhaps from the same root as Lithuanian rauka, "wrinkle." (consequently, "rugio" is formed by onomatopoeia). This word is on the Horace syllabus of the AP, and in a good number of other works both prose and poetry.