Pack Rat

[Anonymous]

Greetings,

I am looking to simply translate the term pack rat. Searching around I found sarcina mus muris, rattus various other things. What would be the closest approximation to pack rat in latin?

 

[scrabulista]

What exactly are you seeking? A way to describe someone who doesn't throw anything away, or the actual animal?

sarcina is indeed "pack," and mus is "mouse." muris is the genitive form of mus, meaning "of the mouse."
rattus is a "Neo-Latin" word for "rat."

The scientific name is Neotoma spp. (the genus is Neotoma, and there are several species in it. All of them, and yet none of them, are actually called "pack rats.")

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the reply.

Yes indeed. I am actually looking to describe someone that doesn't throw away anything. Hence the pack rat. I know it's an odd request but figured I would ask

 

[Matthaeus]

It would take a die-hard Latinist to figure that one out.

 

[Quasus]

Thank you for the reply.

Yes indeed. I am actually looking to describe someone that doesn't throw away anything. Hence the pack rat. I know it's an odd request but figured I would ask

Idioms can't be translated word for word. Unfortunately, I don't know any corresponding Latin expression.

 

[Imber Ranae]

I'm also not certain whether the Romans even had a word for that concept. However, a literal (and somewhat plausible) translation might be mus sarcinarius.