[Towertalk] Antennas vs. Antennae

Maurizio Panicara i4jmy@iol.it
Sat, 24 Aug 2002 21:16:21 +0200


> Antenna = The antenna fell down.
> Antennae = The antennas fell down.
> Antennam = The wind destroyed his antenna
> Antennas = The wind destroyed his antennas
> Antennarum = The discussions of antennas continued endlessly

Guy,

things are different than you reported above (in Latin), and anywai I don't
see why to be so excited for well known things.

Subjective       Antenna        pl.  Antennae
Genitive           Antennis            Antennarum
Dative             Antenna             Antennis
Accusative      Antennam          Antennas
Vocative         Antenna           Antennae
Ablative         Antenna            Antennis

....before it was prehistory; then languages grouped into families; then it
come out the invention of writing.
The growth and influence of Greek and Latin followed, and later the
development of the Romance languages (such as French, Occitan and Italian)
from Latin after the end of the Roman Empire.
The creation of English through cultural mixing and political changes is out
of any doubt important likewise the reasons why the European national
languages grew in importance in medieval and post-medieval times compared
with Latin.
All the above shows that the earlier and larger process is not a short
history of languages.
It's true that accidents of history, such as colonisation and trade, have
given these languages, just in particular English.
English has become so dominant, especially as a lingua franca, and what the
language landscape might look like at various points in the future but the
original root will always exist.
This closes the thread, at least for me.

73,
Mauri I4JMY