Talk:Geastrum fornicatum


 * "fornicatum refers to the arched shape of the rays which extend downwards... I think fornicatum is better characterized by James Sowerby, quoted in the article: "in ripening the head bursts through the two coats or wrappers..." Am I wrong about fornicatum signifying "f*cked"? --Wetman (talk) 07:23, 10 January 2009 (UTC)
 * A logical conclusion but alas incorrect. I've clarified the etymology on the article page. Sasata (talk) 03:36, 11 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Alas, indeed. My suggestion was not perfectly random nor utterly uninformed, however. Francis Edward Jackson Valpy, Etymological Dictionary of the Latin Language, 1828, reprinted 2005, s.v. "Fornix" gives:
 * "Fornix, a brothel, stew. Fr. πόρνη [porne], a harlot. And because these places were in vaults and wells under ground, hence fornix was a vault; and an arch. Gloss. Vett.: "Fornicaria"... The first sense of this word is usually understood to be an arch or vault, in which some derive it from fornus, a furnace, as being arched like it. Others refer it to foro, to perforate."
 * The word was awkward for the lexicographer of 1828, who lapsed into Greek. I surmise the ambiguity was intentional, as a male Latinist's reference to the action described by Sowerby as "in ripening the head bursts through the two coats or wrappers...". --Wetman (talk) 06:44, 11 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Interesting! Thanks for providing some background to an interesting fungus name. Not as "in your face" as Phallus impudicus, but evocative nonetheless. Sasata (talk) 08:15, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

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