Monday, May 25, 2009

Wondering what E Amus Catuli really means?

Monday May 25, 2009 - Memorial Day - Hug a Sailor, Marine or Soldier today!

If you were wondering what the scoreboard signs welcoming Eaumus Catuli or the t-shirts on some Cubs fans that said Eamus Catuli meant, here is the REAL stroy.

Some Cub fan a few years back that failed latin started a story that it means Go Cubs. You can even see signs on buildings around Wrigley that say Eamus Catuli.

Let me correct them.
1st off it is e amus catuli.
E amus means to go or to walk or to march.
Catuli means young dog or puppy.

So the saying "e amus catuli" literally means to walk the young dog.

I guess it is fitting. The Cubs have been playing like dogs lately and Cubs fans always like to think of them as underdogs since they have not been able to get to or win a world series.

Update:
For those angry Cubs fans who have emailed or posted comments:

From the University of Notre Dame Latin-English Dictionary
catul.i              N      2 1 GEN S M                
catul.i N 2 1 LOC S M
catul.i N 2 1 NOM P M
catul.i N 2 1 VOC P M
catulus, catuli N M [XAXCO]
young dog, puppy, whelp; dog (any age); young of any animal;

catul.i V 4 1 PRES ACTIVE IMP 2 S
catulio, catulire, -, - V INTRANS [XAXEO] uncommon
be in heat, desire to mate; (e.g., a bitch);

1 comment:

  1. Just found this blog- nice job! I'm a long suffering Pads fan and an Ancient Languages professor.I'm sorry to say that you are incorrect in your reading of the dictionary entry. Not surprising, Latin takes quite a bit of study to translate. Eamus Catuli can, in fact, mean "Go Cubs." There is no word for a bear cub in Latin, the context drives the meaning of the sentence's object. Merging the "e" and the "amus" is proper and expected. It appears part of the dictionary entry was left out on what ever website you used to check this out as well. Who could imagine that my first visit to this site would have a Latin question! I guess I can't escape my work no matter how hard I try!! Anyway, great blog! I'll be reading often.

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