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 on 2022-01-06 20:02  华容道专家  阅读(137)  评论(0)    收藏  举报