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Eater Beware?? Caveat _______??

Posted by Bruce Kahl on August 16, 2002

In Reply to: Eater Beware?? Caveat _______?? posted by TheFallen on August 15, 2002

: : Greetings fellow writers. This is my first visit here. I've written a humour piece and need to give a warning in latin. does anyone know how to say "Eater beware" ?
: : Of course I'm familiar with Buyer Beware, but can anyone help me to find or create this new one?

: Thank God this isn't for a tattoo, because there's several Latin verbs for "to eat", probably because the Romans were big on dining, and sometimes popped off to the vomitorium mid-feast in order to make room for yet more food. So it'll again depend on what nuance you want to give. Choice of verbs from which to form the required noun include:-

: Cenare - to eat as in to dine.
: Edere - to eat in a more generic sense.
: Mandere - to eat as in to chew.
: Vorare - to eat greedily as in to devour.

: There'll be others, but I *think* I'm right (Bruce, please correct as necessary) in saying that the four applicable nouns would be:-

: Cenator, Esor, Mansor and Vorator.

"Caveat edax" would offer the parallel to "Caveat emptor" that you want
(although "edax" implies voraciousness, or gluttony).

Or

"Caveat comes(t)or"
"Comesor" or "comestor" can, like the noun 'comedo', mean a 'gourmand'
or 'glutton', but 'comest-' forms can also refer
just to eating, as in 'comestibilis', 'eatable'.

Or

Also maybe "caveat edens" but this introduces a double entendre.
"Edens" is the eater and the one without teeth (edentulus)

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