Look up meridies, Gene, but do so in a Latin dictionary. The "-iem"
ending in ante meridiem reflects the grammatical case (accusative) of
the word.
It's like who/whom, only in Latin.
Jim
[email protected] wrote:
Bill,
You fault my "partial correction" for use of "meridian" rather than "meridien";
I suppose?
My Webster and my Winston dictionaries have no prime entries for "meridien"
only for meridian.
My Webster for meridian: Latin "meridianus"; Middle English and Middle French
"meridien"
My Winston for meridian: Latin "meridianus"; Old French "meridien"
By those authorities, meridien is Old French, Middle French, or Middle English.
Which do you acknowledge? Or, do you now appeal to the Oxford English
dictionary?
Keep your cigars. I have never been a smoker!
(except a puff or two on corn silk as a youth, <g>
Gene.
---- Original message ----
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 10:52:57 -0800
From: "Bill Potts" <[email protected]>
Subject: [USMA:42858] Re: Hot and dry
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Gene:
I posted my correction last night. I saw your partial correction just now.
Just check your Merriam-Webster (or other good American dictionary). It's
meridiem. It's from the Latin, of course. Remember that, in Latin, the word
endings change depending on case (as they also do in German, for example).
Merriam-Webster uses "a.m." rather than "am." My own preference is for the
latter. My real preference, of course, is for the ISO 8601 Standard for
dates and times (i.e., I prefer the 24-hour form).
You may get a cigar, but not from me. <g>
Bill
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf
Of [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 10:39
To: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:42857] Re: Hot and dry
Bill,
I did post my correction *before* your correction of my error.
Do I get my cigar?
I'm uncertain about the spellings meridiem and meridian?
Is the former Latin and Oxford English, and the latter modern American
English?
Gene.
--
James R. Frysinger
632 Stony Point Mountain Road
Doyle, TN 38559-3030
(C) 931.212.0267
(H) 931.657.3107
(F) 931.657.3108
