The New The Strange

I was speaking the other night with some people that I know and we started talking about kids/ grandkids. I have 3 grandsons: Aaron, Caleb, and Elijah. I told them this and they said that they have a grand nephew whose name is Elijah Nova. I asked if Nova...as in the Latin word for New. They said no..for the car, lol.

Anyway, Nova is the word for New in Latin. It is the feminine genitive form of Novus. It is an adjective. So actually if it was used as a Latin adjective it would have to be Novus, as Elijah is a male name and so one would use the masculine genitive form of Novus..which is Novus. Anyway, it's a grand thought. The New Elijah....

Another problem with it is that the Romans used the word Novus as New but not in the sense we think of new. To us new is good, exciting, the unknown. We like New...new baby, new car, new house, new iPod, new husband/wife, new love. All good stuff for the most part. To the Romans, new wasn't good. It was strange, unknown, and very scary. They didn't like New. They didn't like change, new ways of thinking, new ways of living. They like everything to stay the same. New was bad. The other meaning of the word is Strange.

For what it's worth

Peace