• Neato@ttrpg.network
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      10 months ago

      Longinus (/lɒnˈdʒaɪnəs/) is the name given to the unnamed Roman soldier who pierced the side of Jesus with a lance;

      The name is probably Latinized from the Greek lonche (λόγχη), the word used for the lance mentioned in John 19:34.[9]

      They didn’t know this soldier’s name so they essentially named him “Lancer”. Amazing.

      • Lvxferre@mander.xyz
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        10 months ago

        It’s actually worse. The name couldn’t be from the 1st century CE because otherwise it would be Lonchinus [lɔn’ki:nʊs]; back then Greek still kept ⟨χ⟩ as [kʰ] (as in “kit”), this would only change around the 4th century or so.

        Plus whoever coined that name wasn’t fully proficient in Greek, otherwise they wouldn’t plop a Latin -īnus into it, they’d go with ⟨λογχίτης⟩ lonkhítēs “spear-bearer, the spear guy” → Lonchites instead.

        …the English pronunciation stands out as being weirder than everything above. Also, obligatory:

        A spear of Longinus a day keeps the Tang sea away~

      • cerement@slrpnk.net
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        10 months ago

        nickname for Roman soldiers was “Miles” from Latin mille for “thousand” – legionaries walked everywhere giving us the unit of measure, a Roman mile = mille passus (thousand paces)

    • Oiconomia@feddit.de
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      10 months ago

      It also inspired Schwanzus Longus as the accurate translation of Biggus Dickus in the life of Brian