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View Full Version : CELL - a question about Latin (possible spoilers)



Lissi
June 27th, 2008, 02:58 PM
Hi there everyone! I have a query about the Latin used in Cell. (Just so you know, I study Latin - I'm a bit of a geek about it ^^;;; )

The Raggedy Man / President of Harvard calls Clay, Tom, Alice and Jordan insane. (Or, possibly, enthusiastic, but I doubt that's the intended translation). Here's a quote, it's the best way to get across what I mean:

Tom was on one end of the line. A man had walked to him, a special man, and put a hand over his head. [...]And he'd said, 'Ecce homo - insana.' And the crowd - thousands of them - had roared back, 'DON'T TOUCH!' in a single voice. The man had gone to Clay and repeated this. With his hand above Alice's head the man had said, 'Ecce femina - insana.' Above Jordan, 'Ecce puer - insanus.'

Basically, 'ecce homo/femina/puer - insana/us' means 'Look, man/woman/boy - insane!' That's not a great translation, but you get the idea.

My point is, 'insana' is the feminine form of the adjective; 'insanus' is masculine. King's using the feminine form of the adjective for Tom and Clay, who are clearly male. This could be a mistake. It could be a deliberate mistake, accounting for the fact that most of the phoners probably don't know Latin. It could be an obscure reference to Tom being gay. In which case - why is the same used of Clay?

Does anyone have an explanation for this? I'd love to hear other people's views. Of course, if my Latin is wrong, then correct me, but I'm pretty sure it's not. Anyway, help and opinions are appreciated! ^^

Photosynthesis
April 26th, 2009, 03:47 PM
Possibly it's just a typo in your book, in mine the Raggedy Man calls Tom and Clay Ecce homo insanus.

brandon
October 8th, 2009, 11:10 PM
I took latin in high school for 2 years and I can say with a straight face that it was the most useful class I ever took. You are probably right in your observations. I never really took an interest in conjugations and such so I cant remember. I know probably 150-200 latin words and can usually at least get the gist of what a writer is trying to say. Also helpful in figuring out meanings of unknown contemporary and foreign words.