Hot-Stove Latin

[Iynx]

Thinking about hitting, I thought I might propose terms for a couple of hitting faults:

Pedem in hama deponere.

Caput avellere.

[Iynx]

The caput avellere in the last post led me to think about pulling the ball (as in "dead pull hitter") and this in turn got me thinking about the term "drag bunt".

Perhaps we should use plain traho for the first of these: pilam trahere (traho, trahere (III) traxi, tractus); and detraho for the second: a drag bunt might be pulsus detrahendo (#abl).

"Pull hitter" might then be clavator trahens, and "dead pull hitter" clavator prorsus trahens or clavator omnino trahens.

[Cato]

Clavator omnino trahens really grabbed me; omnino really captures the idea of "dead pull".

Regarding hitting flaws, caput avellere has me stumped; is this "pulling (your) head away"? Not sure I'm familiar with this hitting problem. Hamus in circumacto - "hitch in (your) swing" might be a possibility...

Traho vs. detraho seems right for the motion of the hitter in these different situations.

If you'll permit a short digression, the "squeeze play" in Bridge is where a player is forced to discard a winning card because he is holding too many winners. This allows one of X cards in your hand that would have lost to this now-discarded ace to suddenly become a winner. It's not that the opponent makes a mistake, just that he is forced to discard (e.g. he doesn't have a card in the suit led) and whichever card he chooses, your side can acquire a winner.

I had taken the "squeeze" in a baseball sense to be similar: The defense is stuck with a loser no matter which decision you make. If we think it's more like the time to make a decision is what's getting squeezed, I retract my previous objection: Lusus contractus is best.

[Iynx]

I am encouraged by the fact that although you weren't familiar with the term "pulling one's head" you knew what I meant. You may have never heard the term if you're concerned mostly with professional ball, but it's a common fault among schoolboy players. It means to turn one's head away (as you say) from the ball as the pitch comes in.

I've known good hitters with all kinds of weird stances and swings, including a few who regularly put their foot in the bucket, but I've never known a good hitter who pulled his head. Such kids can't hit the ball because they can't see the ball.

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I took circumactus to be of the IVth, on the model of actus. So wouldn't one say hamus in circumactu rather than in circumacto?

And hamus, "hook" is a colorful way to speak of a hitch, but wouldn't mora or haesitantia be better?

[Cato]

took circumactus to be of the IVth, on the model of actus. So wouldn't one say hamus in circumactu rather than in circumacto?

And hamus, "hook" is a colorful way to speak of a hitch, but wouldn't mora or haesitantia be better?

I'd always assumed a "hitch" in the swing was some defect--such as dropping your hands or twirling the bat before swinging--that caused the bat to dip slightly during the swing, i.e. the path of the swing has a slight hook downward. This disturbs not only timing, but contact position--you pop the ball up more often. But now I'm unsure, and should probably withdraw it...

Agree on circumactus; so many 4th declension nouns running around, I'm not used to it!

A few other small details:

• I've been reading recently that some gladiators would wear a manica, -ae, and am wondering if this is better for "batting glove" (keeping chirotheca strictly as a fielding glove.
• I think subligaculum, -i is obvious for athletic supporter.
• Regarding team names, the Diamondback snake is taxonomically classified Crotalus adamanteus, which is only slightly helpful IMO. I'd stretch this a bit and suggest Spinae adamanteae => Spinadamantei. The (Devil) Rays are a little easier--Manta birostris--so I wonder if Mantae is OK for them. The Rockies could be either Montes or--similar to Ianki--Roccae.

With the holiday, I don't know if I'll be posting much in the next few days. Hope you and yours have a Happy Thanksgiving!

[Iynx]

Hmmm. According to Paul Dickson's Baseball Dictionary (Facts on File, 1989) you're right that a hitch can be other than a simple hesitation:

"A hesitation or other abnormality [italics mine] in a batter's swing that usually affects his timing and prevents a "smooth swing". A common hitch occurs when the batter drops his hands just before the pitch is delivered. Another type of hitch occurs when the batter draws the bat backwards just before starting his swing. Depending on the context...the term can...refer to a flaw or a strength, but it tends to be used more often in pointing to a defect..."

I think we can agree that what I call a fault (and Dickson a flaw) can be a vitium?

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Happy Thanksgiving, my friend.

[Iynx]

I am reproducing here the current version of the Fielding section (in which I have suggested several new terms):

H. Fielding /Prehendere

error: erratum, -i (n)

a catch: captus, -us (m). To catch a ball: pilam capere (capio, capere, cepi, captus)
to field or to stop a ball: pilam prehendere (prehendo, prehendere (III), prehendi, prehensus).

tag: tactus, -us (m). To tag (a runner or a base): tango, tangere, tetigi, tactus.

tag play: lusus tactu
force: coactus, -us (m). To force (a runner): cursorem cogere (cogo, cogere (III) coegi, coactus). Force play: lusus coactu. To remove the force: coactum removeo, removere(II), removi, remotus

Hold (a runner) on: (cursorem) retineo, retinere (II), retinui, retentus.
Play behind a runner: post cursorem ludere.

pivot: ?cnodax, -acis (m) /cardo, cardinis (m)? To pivot ??cnodacem /cardinem facere??

stretch (by firstbaseman): extensio, -onis (f); to stretch: se extendo, extendere (III) extendi, extensum.

double play: lusus duplex.
triple play: lusus triplex.

infield (inagellus):
in /back proximus /ultimus
at double-play depth: in positione pro ludo duplici.
in at the corners: proximus in angulis

bunt defense: defensus contra pulsum

to charge (a bunt): (contra pulsum) impetum facere.

to rotate (as in a bunt defense): roto, rotare, rotavi, rotatus.

no-doubles defense: positio contra duplices.

shift: mutatio, -onis (f). To shift: muto, -are, -avi, mutatus. Williams shift: Mutatio Williams /Williamso. Boudreau shift: Mutatio Boudreau/Budrone

cutoff: interceptio, -onis (f)
cutoff man: interceptor, oris (c). To hit the cutoff man: interceptorem icere.

relay: traditio, -onis (f). To make a relay: trado, tradere (III), tradidi, traditus.
relay man: traditor, -onis (f).

infield chatter: garulitas inagelli (garulitas, -tatis (f)).

2. I probably would not have included the shift-eponyms (neither of which I have heard in a while), except that they help illustrate the modifying-noun issues. I have put Williamsus in the dative, since he was so to speak the recipient of the shift, and Budro in the ablative, since he was so to speak the agent. I doubt that these need to be included in the glossary-- but is the principle sound?

[Iynx]

1. I have added Cato's Mantae and Spinadamantei to the glossary in green. I like the first much more than the second.

2. For "Rockies" how about Saxosi-- "The Rocky Ones"?

2. I would have sworn that Cato suggested ambulatio consulta for "intentional walk", but now I can't find it. Wherever it came from, I think I like it better than ambulatio de industria. Other thoughts?

[Iynx]

1. I am adding Cato's subligaculum, -i (n), in black, with what I think are synonyms: subligar, -aris (n) and subligatura, -ae (f). I have a vague recollection of a word denoting a protective leather garment that covered the genitalia of ancient wrestlers. But I can't come up with it.

2. I have run across the word mappa, which I gather was a piece of cloth used to give a starting signal at the Circus. Apparently to give the signal was mappam mittere. I've been toying with the idea of adapting this to mean "give the green light", or, perhaps better, "to start a runner". Other thoughts?

3. I'm having second thoughts about double play and triple play. Might lusus bifarius /trifarius be better than lusus duplex /triplex? I'm inclined to think so.

4. Manicae for batting gloves is in, in black.

[Iynx]

1. Another fairly straightforward term, I think, is supinus, -a, -um, for "underhand"-- the adverb can be supine. But how do we say "underhand" as in "underhand pitcher" or "submariner"? Can we extend the concept a little and say iaculator supinus?

2. This brings us back to another big and long-neglected set of issues:
that dealing with right-handedness and left-handedness. I have spent some time exploring this, but not gotten very far. Some observations:

a. Laevus can clearly mean "left-handed". But I cannot find a one-word way to say "right-handed" in Latin.

b. I thought of Ehud in Judges iii, but was disappointed to find him described in the Vulgate as a man qui utraque manu pro dextera utebatur. He may have been the original switch-hitter, but we need a better way to express that idea. Ambidexter is defined in Niermeyer as "fallacious", but the LRL has it equivalent to the Italian "ambidestro", which as near as I can make out is equivalent to the English "ambidextrous". Clearly in Latin (and in English in the past), ambidexterity could connote "craftiness" both in good and in bad senses.

c. Sinistralis can mean "northern" and dextralis "southern", but I don't see that that's going to help us much. It reminds me of the time I called a righthanded pitcher a "northpaw", and nobody knew what the heck I was talking about.

d. If ambidexter can mean "ambidextrous" it seems natural to say (even in the absence of corroborating authority) that dexter can mean "right-handed" and sinister, like laevus, left-handed.

3. Following these lines of thought:

Submarine pitcher: iaculator supinus.
Right-handed pitcher /batter: iaculator /clavator dexter.
Left-handed pitcher /batter: iaculator /clavator sinister /laevus.
Switch-hitter: clavator ambidexter.

4. But how about "sidearm" and "sidewinder"?

[Cato]

4. But how about "sidearm" and "sidewinder"?

Jaculator e latere?

[Cato]

1. Another fairly straightforward term, I think, is supinus, -a, -um, for "underhand"-- the adverb can be supine. But how do we say "underhand" as in "underhand pitcher" or "submariner"? Can we extend the concept a little and say iaculator supinus?

This is an extension, since I haven't seen many pitchers other than Charlie Brown throw while lying on their backs (Sidney Ponson excepted; sorry if that seems cold, but he was both a Cardinal and a Yankee last year, so he deserves a little grief).

Still, I think we can bend the grammar a bit; this would fall under "technical terms" that at first glance make no sense but everybody in the game knows what they are anyway (e.g. the "foul pole" is actually in fair territory, but we know the "foul" in this term means it is used to judge fair/foul balls).

[Iynx]

1. e latere ? Great idea, but shouldn't it be e laterale?. later, -eris is a brick, isn't it?

2. I think we're together on supinus, but I'm going to make it more explicit. Supinus doesn't just mean "supine" in the English sense; it can mean "palm up", or "upside down". There's a muscle in the forearm, in part responsible for flipping the hand over, that 's called supinator.

But as far as I know supinus (meaning "palm up") is ordinarily applied only to the hand.

We are agreeing to extend the term to the owner of the hand-- to the iaculator, right?

[Iynx]

Parts of the Bat /Partes Clavae:

knob: bulla, -ae (f) /nodus, -i (m).
handle: manubrium, -i (n) /capulus, -i (m).
label: pittacium, -i (n).
sweet spot: locus dulcis.
end: finis, -is (m).

I spent a little time trying to preserve the alliteration in "sweet spot". But the best I could come up with is macula mellita, and I don't think that macula is the word we want here-- I think of macula as a visible mark.

[Cato]

1. e latere ? Great idea, but shouldn't it be e laterale?. later, -eris is a brick, isn't it?

I was thinking of latus, -eris, but the adjective--especially since it is almost exclusively used for the side of the body--may be better.

2. I think we're together on supinus, but I'm going to make it more explicit. Supinus doesn't just mean "supine" in the English sense; it can mean "palm up", or "upside down". There's a muscle in the forearm, in part responsible for flipping the hand over, that 's called supinator.

I didn't know this, but speaking to my wife (who is a PT) confirmed this; that makes it far less of a stretch than I thought, though I stand by my comments regarding Mr. Ponson.

We are agreeing to extend the term to the owner of the hand-- to the iaculator, right?

Agreed; this seems the most straightforward approach.

[Iynx]

Latus vs. lateralis:

Sorry. I wish I had a nickel for every time I've gotten confused by mentally assigning the wrong nominative to an ambiguous oblique. Now that I know we're not talking about bricks, I think you're original choice, e latere, is probably better.

While we're on the subject: latus can be the "party" in a court case. So I suppose it might be "side". How then might we say "retire the side", or for that matter, "putout"?

Laterem expellere? No, expellere suggests ejection from the game. Exponere makes me think of unwanted children on windswept crags. Emittere? That's better; I think they speak of cricketers as being "sent off". But that doesn't help with "putout". As far as I know emissio means either a freeing of slaves or a launching of missles, and emissus only the latter. Amittere? Maybe the best yet. But the connotations of "loss" are undesirable, especially with amissio /amissus. Deponere? Seponere?

Aha! Dimittere! And a putout can be a dimissio.

Other thoughts?

[Iynx]

A few more bits of equipment:

bat weight: pondus clavae (#) (pondus, ponderis (n)).
pine tar: pix pinus (pix, picis (f); pinus, -us (f)).
pine-tar rag: panniculus cum pice pinus (#).
resin bag: bulga /sacculus resinae (#)(bulga, -ae (f); sacculus, -i (m).

I was disappointed to find that bulga was nonclasical. I like it much more than sacculus here. I've put them both in for now.

[aqstatman]

Thanks much!!
just read all of the posts, so that does help a lot....
I found some terms in Conversational Latin, I'll toss them in another time, since I must be off...

Would ludus duplus (for a double play) be grammatically correct?

I have decided that keeping a scorecard with Roman numerals would be not a good idea, especially with a I-V-IV-VI-III rundown play...

[aqstatman]

How would

keep score: rationem punctorum notare

do?

[Iynx]

We had pretty well decided that we would use lusus for "play" in the sense of an event in the game, and ludus for the game itself. We did have lusus duplex for double play, but I perhaps lusus duplus does have a better sound. Other opinions?

A ludus duplex (or duplus) might be a double-header, but I think we should echo the English: ludus bicephalus.

By punctae do you mean "runs" or "points" in the sense of "details"?