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Theme for this month: Word chains

For this month, all of the words will be connected together by the letters in them. Perhaps you are familiar with the game in which you try to make every word begin with the last letter of the previous word. I contemplated something of this sort as the theme for this month, but since most words in Latin in their base form end in 's,' 'm,' 'o,' or 'a,' it wouldn't be a very interesting theme. Thus, I modified the idea, so that the letter carried over will vary by the week. For example, this first week begins with 'p,' just as last week's word did. Next week, the second week in the month, the word will begin with 'a,' the second letter of "palmula."

palmula, palmulae f.

Definition: palm, oar blade, a palm-tree, the fruit of a palm-tree (a date)

Sententia: An excerpt from Catullus 4:

"Phaselus ille, quem videtis, hospites,

ait fuisse navium celerrimus

neque ullius natantis impetum trabis

nequisse praeterire, sive palmulis

opus foret volare sive linteo.

That boat, which you see, guests, says that it was the fastest of ships, and not that it was unable to surpass the attack of any swimming timber(metonymy for ship), whether there would be a need to fly by little oars or by sail.

"Palmula" occurs twice in Catullus 4, and only in a few other works. It is a diminutive that literally means "little palm," but by metonymy it can mean "little oar." Etymologically, it comes from "palma," palm, + "ula," indicating a diminutive, and it is similar to Greek παλάμη (palame) and Anglo-Saxon "flom."