Dicast

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Dr. Goodword
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Dicast

Postby Dr. Goodword » Wed Oct 12, 2022 10:38 pm

• dicast •


Pronunciation: dai-kæst (US), di-kæst (UK) • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: Heliast, a citizen of ancient Greece who was elected to serve as a judge and jury.

Notes: Here is a word for those of you who read a lot of Greek literature. The adjective is dicastic, and the courts in which dicasts served were known as dicasteries (singular dicastery). Dicastery may also refer to a congregation of the Holy See, such as the Dicastery of Bishops and the Dicastery of Clerics.

In Play: The income of a dicast would hardly cover one meal a day: "The salary of a dicast was three obols or half a drachma per diem." In his play "The Knights", Aristophanes has one of his characters say, "Here, Demos, feast on this dish; it is your salary as a dicast, which you gain through me for doing naught."

Word History: Today's Good Word is an English modification of Greek dikastes "judge", from dikazein "to judge", a verb based on dike "right, custom". Greek inherited this word from PIE deik'-/doik'- "to show, present, proclaim", visible in Latinate English borrowings like edict, predict, and abdicate. We find it in Latin dicere "to say, tell", which became dizer in Portuguese, decir in Spanish, and dire "to say" in French and Italian. Latin also made digitus "finger, toe" out of it. It ended up in English as simply toe. In German we see its remains in German zeigen "to show" and Zeichen "sign, signal". (Now for a graceful bow to Grand Panjandrum Luke Javan, whose first contribution back in 2010 has accumulated 101,655 views so far.)
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Slava
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Re: Dicast

Postby Slava » Thu Oct 13, 2022 8:42 am

I keep trying to come up with some way to make a quip on 'iacta alea est,' but can't manage to. Anyone else care to take a shot at it? Maybe something on forges would work? :?
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If your number's up...

Postby Audiendus » Thu Oct 13, 2022 10:44 pm

Iacta alea est,
Deus illam iecit.
We trust that God knows best
The proper way to shake it.
Diversa est fortuna:
Talis est divina lex.
The hapless folk get Una,
The lucky ones get Sex.

Philip Hudson
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Re: Dicast

Postby Philip Hudson » Fri Oct 14, 2022 3:01 am

I might say that's Greek to me. But then I think it is Latin. :lol:
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Debbymoge
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Re: Dicast

Postby Debbymoge » Fri Oct 14, 2022 10:48 am

Audiendus,
Original?
Either way, fun!

Debby M
I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.
Shakespear

Audiendus
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Re: Dicast

Postby Audiendus » Sat Oct 15, 2022 11:23 pm

Audiendus,
Original?
Yes. I'll translate:

The die is cast,
God cast it.
We trust that God knows best
The proper way to shake it.
Fortune is diverse:
Such is the divine law.
The hapless folk get a '1',
The lucky ones get a '6'.

Debbymoge
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Re: Dicast

Postby Debbymoge » Sun Oct 16, 2022 11:33 am

Marvelous!

(and, I got it!)
I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.
Shakespear


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