Talk:Alma Dolens

Latest comment: 9 years ago by GorillaWarfare in topic mistranslation

GorillaWarfare (talk) 00:06, 10 April 2015 (UTC)Reply

mistranslation

edit

"alma" is not Latin for "heart" -- it is an adjective meaning "nourishing, affording nourishment, cherishing" or "genial, restoring, reviving, kind, propitious, indulgent, bountiful, etc." (from Lewis & Short). Hence comes our English "alma mater" = "cherishing mother." "Alma" does, however, mean "soul" in modern Italian (developed from Latin "anima" -- same change found in other Romance languages -- according to Wiktionary). I am correcting the article accordingly. Horatio325 (talk) 11:08, 16 April 2015 (UTC)Reply

Hrm. I'm afraid I know absolutely zero Latin or Italian, and am going solely off the Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers, which states The forgotten italian pacifist campaigner, suffragist, and journalist Teresita dei Bonfatti (later Signora Pasini) was known by her pseudonym, Alma Dolens, which is Latin for "a sorrowful soul" or "heavy heart," the name no doubt intended as a reflection of her emotional response to war and militarism against which she campaigned so fervently. GorillaWarfare (talk) 16:57, 16 April 2015 (UTC)Reply