Octogesimus Tertius: August 11, 2008: Harundo
Theme for this week: Olympic sports
This theme is self-explanatory! You will be able to wow your non-Latin friends with your ability to converse about the Olympics in Latin.
harundo, harundinis f.
Definition: reed, cane; fishing rod; shaft, arrow; (music) pipe, flute; (writing) pen
Sententia: Miles harundem solvit et speravit eam vere volaturam.
The soldier loosened the arrow and hoped that it would fly truly/exactly.
This word actually means "reed," and so by synecdoche (a literary device by which the part is referenced as the whole--e.g. "hot wheels" in English) it means arrow, and pipe, and all the other definitions. It is used relatively frequently on the syllabi: in Vergil's Aeneid it is found in Book 4, and in Ovid's Metamorphoses it is in Book 1, Daphne and Apollo, and Book 8, Daedalus and Icarus. NB: this word in the nominative looks a lot like a gerund/gerundive, so cave!
NB: Bold and underline == macron