Monday, January 7, 2013

Faciendas

Meaning: Sir Thomas helpfully defines this for us:
Faciendas, are the things which are to be done; faciendum is the gerund of facio.
Faciendum and agendum have similar (if not identical*) meanings, but agendum's busy plural moved with the times and assumed a new meaning.

Usefulness: 1 (If you want a short meeting, ask if anyone has any faciendas. Alternatively, The Horologicon suggests facienda as a more interesting name for a to-do list.)

Logofascination: 1 (Etymologically facienda and hacienda are the same word. Note that Sir Thomas adds the English plural s to the already plural Latin word, although he then uses the singular faciendum a few paragraphs later. He's done this before, so I've added a label for his Latin plurals.)

In the wild: In 1508, Ulrich Surgant wrote a preaching manual, Manuale Curatorum, which, among other things, said that a sermon should include credenda, facienda, fugienda, timenda, and appetenda, in that order. I've covered credenda - things to be believed - and we'll get to the rest this week.

Degrees: 1 (It is also a 0-degree word, as Sir Thomas adopts it as a maths term.)

Connections: n/a

Which is used in: The Lexicidion at the back of the Trissotetras, as above. It also occurs in the text:
The curteous reader may be pleased to take notice, that in both the moods of the datapurall figure, I am in some measure necessitated, for the better order sake to couch two precepts or documents for the faciendas, thereof and to premise that one concerning the three legs given, before I make any mention of the maine resolver, whereupon both the foresaid moods are founded; to which resolver, because of both their dependencies on it, I have allowed here in the glosse the same middle place which it possesseth in the table of my Trissotetras. 
Which I think means that for a particular shape there are two possible arrangements (moods) but one solution fits both, so he's giving you the theory of what should be done for each of them before he gives you the solution.


*if anyone knows of a semantic difference, either in Latin or in theology, let me know. So far, all I can see is that one seems to be used more by Catholics and one more by everyone else, but even that is not consistent.

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