nonagesimusprimus

Theme for this week: Easily confused words

collis, collis m.

Definition: hill, slope

collum, colli n.

Definition: neck

Sententiae: Nitens strenue in aestu aestatis, viridem collem ascendebat ut aequorem videret.

Striving strenuously in the heat of summer, he was climbing the green hill so that he might see the sea.

Ut gressus est, a puero pendente in tergo manibus circumdatis collum retrahebat.

As he walked, he was being pulled back by a boy hanging on his back with the hands having been given around with respect to the neck.

These two words are both rather common, each being found on the syllabus of the works of all three of the authors, and they have a lot in common. Especially on vocabulary tests, these two words are very easy to confuse. Specifically, "collum" is found in Catullus 10 and 35; Ovid's Amores 1.12 and Metamorphoses Book 1 (Daphne and Apollo) and 10 (Pygmalion); and Vergil's Aeneid Book 2. "Collis" is found in Catullus 64, Ovid's Metamorphoses Book 8 (Baucis and Philemon), and Vergil's Aeneid Book 1. A possible mnemonic is that "collis" has an 'i' in it, and its main definition, "hill," also has an 'i.' And it is third declension, also containing an 'i,' and the "second" declension has an 'n' for "neck."