Erasmic?
Ben Crick
ben.crick at argonet.co.uk
Thu Jul 16 18:03:57 EDT 1998
On hu Jul 16 (09:34:08), jernest at hendrickson.com wrote:
> At the moment I can think of only one adjective that
> ends with -smic, and it ain't Erasmic. Isn't the usual
> adjectivization of Erasmus Erasmian? --Quite willing
> to learn that I'm wrong...
Erasmic? In the days long ago before electric shavers were invented,
Erasmic was a proper noun, a trade name for a popular variety of
shaving stick (soap for shaving). The advertisements claimed that
the lather it produced was "not too little, not too much, but just
right". A school Latin "newspaper" called /Acta Diurna/ even featured
an ad. which read (IIRC) /Non parvissima, non magnissima, sed exacta
satis/. Funny how schoolboy things stick in the mind....
Yes; Erasmian for pertaining to or originating from Desiderius Erasmus.
But for Luther, he was anything but a /desideratum/!
--
Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
<ben.crick at argonet.co.uk>
232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm
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