Talk:Catullus 36
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Shitted Papyrus
[edit]Having reverted an AGF edit removing the obscenity from the poem, I'm left wondering, was it not just euphemistic/censorious but also potentially incorrect?
The IP user changed "Annālēs Volusī, cacāta carta" from Annals of Volusius, shitted papyrus
to "Annals of Volusius, defecated papyrus"
, which leads me to notice, upon reverting back, that the opening line as rendered in English here is actually somewhat ambiguous! Does it mean "shitted" papyrus that Volusius has himself excreted, or is it "shitted" adjectivally, meaning, i guess, "covered in excrement"? Or perhaps something else? Shitty?
In other words, is this "cacāta carta" a page that someone has shat out, one that has been shat upon (or otherwise tainted by shit), or is it simply imbued by the author with the qualities of shit. So shitty. The current translation leaves that fairly ambiguous, and knowing how specific Latin inflections can be (but not knowing well enough to interpret the phrase myself!) I would imagine that it is probably not ambiguous in the original.
Anyone capable of answering this, please do!