笛卡尔与Cartesian

Descartes - French philosopher and mathematician; developed dualistic theory of mind and matter; introduced the use of coordinates to locate a point in two or three dimensions (1596-1650).

Cartesian -  mid 17th century from modern Latin Cartesianus, from Cartesius, Latinized form [拉丁化] of the name of Descartes.

Why is Descartes Latinised as Cartesius? - Latin Language Stack Exchange

Is it omitted because Descartes is literally translated as "of the + card/maps", and Latin generally omits prepositions?

Many European last names have some kind of "of" in them, like the "des" of Descartes. For example, I would translate "Caesar of Rome" as Caesar Romanus.

Isaac Newton (d. 1726) -> variously not Latinized or Isaacus(!) Newtonus

So, 笛卡尔祖传制图，怪不得发明了坐标系。:-) 百度翻译能翻译拉丁文，翻译成"文件夹"有道理，Bing翻译不能翻译拉丁文。

Latinisation may be carried out by:

  • transforming the name into Latin sounds (e.g. Geber for Jabir), and/or
  • adding Latinate suffixes to the end of a name (e.g. Meibomius for Meibom), or
  • translating a name with a specific meaning into Latin (e.g. Venator for Cacciatore; both mean "hunter"), or
  • choosing a new name based on some attribute of the person (e.g. Daniel Santbech became Noviomagus, possibly from the Latin name for the town of Nijmegen).

本博客改名ludere verbis (play verbs).

posted @ 2022-01-06 20:02  Fun_with_Words  阅读(106)  评论(0)  编辑  收藏  举报

 张牌。