AKICOLJ

[wellinghall]

What does the Latin word "fratercula" mean, as in the Atlantic Puffin, fratercula articula?

Comments

[muninnhuginn]

Little brother?

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks - we had got as far as "brother".

[thecatsamuel.livejournal.com]

fraterculus means little brother. I think it's medieval rather than classical but I don't have my big Latin dictionary here to check it for you.

[thecatsamuel.livejournal.com]

No, I lied. Just looked on Perseus and it's in Cicero and Juvenal. And it can be used talking to a friend as well as a relation.

This may be too much info, but Latin is entertaining.

Now I must do some actual work...

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[jane-somebody.livejournal.com]

(pardon late response from passing stranger!) AKICOLJ - your guess is the way I read it myself, though I gather the preferred reading is "all knowledge is contained on LJ", but that bugs me because surely things are contained *in* something not on it. I don't know where the acronym first arose though, so I don't know if anyone has a definitive view.