Tuesday 28 November 2006

invidia

is the name of the company that supplies my employer with its toilet products (towel holders, soap dispensers, that sort of thing), and also the Latin for 'things to be hated' (a gerund derived from invideo, I hate/envy).

Actually that's too convenient, and I suspect that I just made that up. But invidia (as an abstract noun) certainly means 'hatred' or 'envy'. One of which is fairly apt, and one of which is not.

This kind of musing demonstrates why children should not be taught Latin. Look at what happens...