Re: Dinosaur Genera List corrections #176

[NJPharris@aol.com]

In a message dated Sat, 3 Nov 2001  9:04:32 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
Dinogeorge@aol.com writes:

> In a message dated 11/3/01 4:28:44 PM EST, david.marjanovic@gmx.at writes:
> 
> << It isn't good to just put two nouns next to one another. Maybe nomen
>  dissertationis (name of...)? Nomen dissertatum (I have yet to dig out my
>  Latin dictionary to find whether this wouldn't have some totally different
>  meaning, respectively what dissertare means in the first place)? Nomen
>  defensum (when the dissertation has been successfully defended)? I don't
>  feel good at any of these (the latter might be confused with n.
>  conservatum). >>
> 
> You're beginning to get a feel for the problem I have with the term nomen 
> dissertatio. But in English a noun can modify another noun, as in the term 
> "dissertation name," so why not in Latin...?

Not sure exactly why, but I understand this type of nominal compounding is 
generally not possible in languages in which the adjective follows the noun.

I guess _nomen dissertatum_ is OK, but _nomen ex (or _in_) dissertatione_ or 
_nomen dissertationis_ would be more precise, indicating as they do that the 
name is not merely one that has been discussed, but one that is found in an 
actual dissertation.

--Nick P.