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Saturday, 2002 November 16, 21:52 — language

Hortensii present and past

A few months ago in alt.fan.miss-manners someone confessed ignorance that Hortense is feminine. That sent me to the books to learn its etymology. From E.G.Withycombe, The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, I learn that the Hortensii were a Roman gens (~clan). From the Oxford Classical Dictionary I learn of a dictator and a senator both named Quintus Hortensius.

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