Disputatio:Respublica Populi Sinae

E Vicipaedia

"People's Republic" would I believe better be expressed by "Respublica Popularis" -- which would required changing the disambiguation page and links.


Quite right. In Romance languages it's république populaire &c. I'm frankly stumped by the sinarum part -- "Republic of the People of the Chinas"? (Why is it plural?) Tkinias 23:12, 8 Iulii 2006 (UTC)

It's plural because Sinae, -arum is also, besides being an ethnonym, one of the pretty frequent plural toponyms handed down from classical times [1] (cf. Thebae, Delphi, Gades). Post-Roman use reborrowed singular C(h)ina, -ae though that's one you don't see too often these days. —Myces Tiberinus 11:28, 9 Septembris 2006 (UTC)

I think it's supposed to be "Respublica Populi 'of the Chinese'". Why should it be Popularis? People's Republic means a Republic belonging to the people, hence Genitive.

I think whoever came up with this originally was going for Sinae -arum "the Chinese", rather than Sina -ae, "China" (which I don't think is actually attested, but am too lazy to look up). --Iustinus 02:42, 9 Septembris 2006 (UTC)

Surely the title is meant to be a calque of the original English "People's Republic of China" ? —Myces Tiberinus 11:28, 9 Septembris 2006 (UTC)
The original name is not 中华人民共和国? Anyway, my point was to explain why the original author went for Sinarum rather than Sinae. The name is not attested in the singular in Classical Latin, I believe, and it is certainly not uncommon to use plural gentilics metonymically for countries. --Iustinus 16:23, 9 Septembris 2006 (UTC)
Respublica Populorum Sinensium? The nation includes many peoples, including, some would say (and some wouldn't), Tibetans. This point may be controversial. IacobusAmor 02:53, 9 Septembris 2006 (UTC)
popularis avoids that question, and is better Latin style anyway. --Iustinus 16:23, 9 Septembris 2006 (UTC)

China classica latina lingua redditur cum Serum fines, non Sinarum, ut apparet apud Maronem (Georgica, II, 121), apud Senecam in 90a epistula ad Lucilium, denique apud Pomponium Melam (tertio libro) ubi scripsit : «Ab his in Eoum mare (...) loca beluæ infestant, usque ad montem mari inminentem nomine Tabim. Longe ab eo Taurus adtollitur. Seres intersunt, genus plenum iustitiæ, et commercio quod rebus in solitudine relictis absens peragit notissimum. ». Itaque censeo titulum Respublica Popularis Serum fore debet.--Verbex 18:29, 14 Octobris 2006 (UTC)