duodeseptuagesimus

Theme for this week: Animals (and this weekend word still fits that theme)

infans, infantis

Definition: [noun, m/f] infant, child

[adj] mute, speechless; young, infant; tounge-tied; childish, silly

Sententia: Quoniam infantes dicere non possunt, eis vagire ad communicandum necesse est.

Since infants are not able to speak, it is necessary for them to cry for the purpose of communicating.

This word was on the animals quiz having been sent out, and so it connects to the theme, but I did not chose this word for that reason. This word has really cool etymology--it is related to "for, fari, fatum," meaning "to speak." Since "in" as a prefix means "not," infants are literally "not speaking ones." When I first glanced at the word, at least, I didn't notice that connection, only that it looked very much like the English word "infant"!