Latin Translation of "Crazy Quilt" - Redux

First, I extend profuse gratitude to everyone on all three groups
(rec.crafts.textiles.quilting, rec.crafts.textiles.needlework,
alt.language.latin) who gave their time, effort, and input to my
question; it was a great thread. As tizocgringo on alt.language.latin
said:

I enjoy and appreciate the way you all are answering Dr. Smith's
question.

Me too. The discussion has now pretty much petered out on all three
groups. It ran longest on alt.language.latin, which also yielded the
best (IMHO) answer/guess. As Nightmist so aptly put it:

The problem with [L]atin is it varies a bit from school to school and
purpose to purpose. Modern school (medical, horticultural, and so on)
[L]atin is differen from [C]hurch [L]atin is different from "classical"
[L]atin is different from medival [L]atin etc.

This was affirmed, in a way, over in alt.language.latin by Johannes
Patruus:

In cases like this a definitive verdict is probably unattainable and we
have to settle for approximations.

That's pretty much what I was expecting:

I'm not necessarily looking for a
literal translation. Rather, what the common person-on-the-via Appia
might have called a crazy quilt (or what they might call it today if
Latin weren't "dead").

As far as the quilt part goes, according to the site recommended by
heidi (was rabbit2b):
http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/showcase/wordsonline.html

there apparently IS a reasonably accurate Latin translation for
"quilt":
cento, centonis N M 3 1 M [XXXCO]
patchwork quilt, blanket or curtain made of old garments sewn
together; rags;

It was the "crazy" part that drove everyone... well... crazy.
Rather than settling for a literal translation dealing with a state of
sanity, I opined:

... perhaps we should be looking in a different direction for a better
descriptive of the *intent* of "crazy"; I'm reasonably convinced that
whoever chose that particular word was being cute/humorous, working in
the vernacular, going for multiple meanings, [and/or] pizzazz. "Crazy quilt"
sounds a whole lot more attention-grabbing, and rolls off the tongue
much easier, than "irregular-patch quilt" or "made-from-leftovers
quilt", or other literal albeit better descriptive terms.

But in common Latin usage, a descriptive term is indeed very likely
what would have been used. Going back to the translation site, after
trying several adjectives to get their colloquial meanings, the two
best choices I found we

inaequalis, inaequale, inaequalior -or -us, inaequalissimus -a -um
ADJ [XXXBO]
uneven; unequal; not smooth/level (surface); irregular (shape); patchy/
variable

and

inordinatus, inordinata, inordinatum ADJ [XXXCO]
disordered, not arranged; irregular; disorderly, not legal;
occurring irregularly; in confusion; W:not in formation (troops);

Which leaves us with two candidates:
cento inaequalis or
cento inordinatus

Patruus confirms:

Both of the above are correct in form, and perhaps as close to being as
accurate in meaning as we are going to get. If you need the plurals, they
are centones inaequales and centones inordinati.

For my own answer (the one I was looking for when I began this saga),
I've settled on the former - cento inaequalis - YMMV. Another idea
that sprang from my original thought (to embroider the Latin phrase on
my crazy quilt) is to have a block with *several* or *all* of the
suggested phrases embroidered on it! Let the peons figure THAT one
out! 8^D

If anyone's interested, I encourage you to visit the other discussion
groups and review the threads; there's a lot of interesting stuff
there, and I learned a LOT.

Dr. Smith
Oh, the pain... THE PAIN...

Thanks for the update! Interesting stuff...

--Heidi

http://community.webshots.com/user/rabbit2b




On Jul 31, 1:22*pm, "Dr. Zachary Smith"
wrote:
(snipped)

Which leaves us with two candidates:
cento inaequalis *or
cento inordinatus

Patruus confirms:

Both of the above are correct in form, and perhaps as close to being as
accurate in meaning as we are going to get. If you need the plurals, they
are centones inaequales and centones inordinati.

For my own answer (the one I was looking for when I began this saga),
I've settled on the former - cento inaequalis - YMMV. *Another idea
that sprang from my original thought (to embroider the Latin phrase on
my crazy quilt) is to have a block with *several* or *all* of the
suggested phrases embroidered on it! *Let the peons figure THAT one
out! *8^D

If anyone's interested, I encourage you to visit the other discussion
groups and review the threads; there's a lot of interesting stuff
there, and I learned a LOT.

Dr. Smith
Oh, the pain... THE PAIN...

Dr smith here is Linda`s answer to your letter which i forwarded
to
her .
==================

Dear Dr. Smith, I'm a quilter and a scholar, including Latin, Virgil
and co.- just love the Georgics. Quilters, both male and female don't
have to be unlettered, or subject to weird mental states. We're just
people who use cloth, needle and thread as our closest to hand
medium.
With respect,Linda.

On Aug 1, 8:05*am, mirjam wrote:
* Dr smith here is Linda`s *answer to your letter which i forwarded
to
her .
==================

Dear Dr. Smith, I'm a quilter and a scholar, including Latin, Virgil
and co.- just love the Georgics. Quilters, both male and female don't
have to be unlettered, or subject to weird mental states. We're just
people who use cloth, needle and thread as our closest to hand
medium.
With respect,Linda.

Sorry, but I have no idea what "letter" you're referring to or in what
context to put the above.