# What would the Latin be for "imaginative man". homo imagin....? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 14, 2017, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479 "2017-12-14T08:24:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479/1 "2017-12-14T08:24:30Z")
Hi What would the Latin be for “imaginative man”. homo imagin…? We have: homo habilis homo erectus homo sapiens sapiens, homo economicus…etc. What about ‘imaginative man’? How would your express that in Latin? I look forward to your feedback. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479/2 "2017-12-14T10:00:21Z")
Depends on exactly what you mean, it its context. Do you mean the whole body of mankind identified by man’s imaginative nature? ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479/3 "2017-12-14T10:21:39Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Depends on exactly what you mean, it its context. Do you mean the whole body of mankind identified by man’s imaginative nature? yes ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479/4 "2017-12-14T11:27:49Z")
have we ruled out “homo imaginans”? ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479/5 "2017-12-14T11:59:23Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > have we ruled out “homo imaginans”? homo imagines? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479/6 "2017-12-14T12:22:37Z")
_imaginans_ as in the present participle of _imaginor_ ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479/7 "2017-12-14T13:08:59Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > _imaginans_ as in the present participle of _imaginor_ Yes. Correct. Thank you DPRK. Very helpful. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479/8 "2017-12-14T13:13:21Z")
But that would be “Man imagines”; in the parallel constructions, the second word is always an adjective, not a verb. ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479/9 "2017-12-14T13:37:56Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > But that would be “Man imagines”; in the parallel constructions, the second word is always an adjective, not a verb. Thanks Nava, what do you suggest might be a better phrasing? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479/10 "2017-12-14T13:46:47Z")
I’ve found several instances of _Homo Imaginativus_. They mainly appear to be from texts in Spanish or Italian about psychology; some refer to the creative process, others are about depression (specifically about the idea that getting people to create something would kick them out of a depressive state; Homo Imaginativus vs. Homo Depressivus). ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479/11 "2017-12-14T15:41:40Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > But that would be “Man imagines”; in the parallel constructions, the second word is always an adjective, not a verb. More like “man who imagines/is imagining” [“man imagines” would be “homo imaginatur”], but I concede the point vs “homo imaginativus”… On the other hand, what do you make of “homo faber”, “homo ludens”, “homo sapiens”? “Homo imaginans” was meant to be analogous to “homo sapiens” and “homo ludens”! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479/12 "2017-12-14T19:50:29Z")
Isn’t the sapiens in homo sapiens “wise, knowledgeable”? And the ludens, “playful”. Origins of _sabio_ and _lúdico_, respectively… (I play from a Romance language). ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2017, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479/13 "2017-12-14T20:43:55Z")
I am no native Latin speaker 😉 but there is online Lewis & Short… Anyway, of course yes, sapiens = tasteful, i.e., wise, from sapio ludens = playful, from ludo …so you can see where “imaginans” is supposed to come from; the only difference is that “imaginor” is deponent cf: “Ego sum res cogitans, id est dubitans, affirmans, negans, pauca intelligens, multa ignorans, volens, nolens, imaginans etiam & sentiens…” ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479/14 "2017-12-15T00:50:15Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I’ve found several instances of _Homo Imaginativus_. > > They mainly appear to be from texts in Spanish or Italian about psychology; some refer to the creative process, others are about depression (specifically about the idea that getting people to create something would kick them out of a depressive state; Homo Imaginativus vs. Homo Depressivus). Yes Nava, I’ve seen references to Homo imaginativus. That is “imaginative man”. Thanks. Google translate does a terrible job of translating the following. It would be nice to get a good English translation. “quicquid homo imaginatur se non posse, id necessario imaginatur, et hac imaginatione ita disponitur, ut id agere revera non possit, quod se non posse imaginatur” ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479/15 "2017-12-15T01:59:42Z")
> [@davidmich](#): > > Google translate does a terrible job of translating the following. It would be nice to get a good English translation. > > “quicquid homo imaginatur se non posse, id necessario imaginatur, et hac imaginatione ita disponitur, ut id agere revera non possit, quod se non posse imaginatur” Hmm… very roughly: whatever man imagines he cannot do, he imagines this necessarily, and he is disposed by this imagining so that he really cannot do what he imagines he cannot do. ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479/16 "2017-12-15T06:10:59Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Hmm… very roughly: whatever man imagines he cannot do, he imagines this necessarily, and he is disposed by this imagining so that he really cannot do what he imagines he cannot do. Thanks DPRK, This translation makes sense, except for this part “he imagines this necessarily, and he is disposed by this imagining”. How else can you express this? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479/17 "2017-12-15T06:40:09Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > But that would be “Man imagines”; in the parallel constructions, the second word is always an adjective, not a verb. No. _Homo imaginans_ means “imagining man” (in the sense of “man who imagines/man who is characterised by the fact that he imagines”) just as _home sapiens_ means “knowing man/man who knows/man who is characterised by the fact that he knows”. ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479/18 "2017-12-15T07:20:22Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > No. _Homo imaginans_ means “imagining man” (in the sense of “man who imagines/man who is characterised by the fact that he imagines”) just as _home sapiens_ means “knowing man/man who knows/man who is characterised by the fact that he knows”. I couldn’t find any reference in English, so I tried a few other languages. This is from a German article. It seems to agree with Nava’s choice. [https://rundschau-hd.de/2017/10/42834/](https://rundschau-hd.de/2017/10/42834/) “Wir sind ja nicht nur Homo imaginativus, (der einfallsreiche Mensch)” ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479/19 "2017-12-15T07:33:14Z")
I’m not saying that _homo imaginativus_ is wrong or inappropriate. I’m just saying that _homo imaginans_ does not mean, as I think Nava suggests, “man imagines”; it means “imagining man”. It’s exactly analogous to _homo sapiens_, except that it’s constructed from the verb _imaginari_, to imagine, rather than from the verb _sapere_, to know. ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479/20 "2017-12-15T10:20:06Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > I’m not saying that _homo imaginativus_ is wrong or inappropriate. I’m just saying that _homo imaginans_ does not mean, as I think Nava suggests, “man imagines”; it means “imagining man”. It’s exactly analogous to _homo sapiens_, except that it’s constructed from the verb _imaginari_, to imagine, rather than from the verb _sapere_, to know. Good point UDS. Thanks for that clarification. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-latin-be-for-imaginative-man-homo-imagin/804479.md?page=2)