From: b.scott@csuohio.edu   
      
   On Sun, 10 May 2015 20:02:23 -0400, William Vetter   
    wrote   
   in in   
   rec.arts.sf.composition:   
      
   > Brian M. Scott wrote:   
      
   >> On Sun, 10 May 2015 13:15:00 -0400, William Vetter   
   >>  wrote   
   >> in in   
   >> rec.arts.sf.composition:   
      
   >>>>>> aileuromorphic   
      
   >> Should be , to match other similar   
   >> compounds, or , if you want to use a more   
   >> accurate transcription of Greek αἴλουρος (ailouros) as   
   >> basis; there’s no basis for .   
      
   > Nevertheless, the only way I've seen it spelled in print   
   > has eu in it.   
      
   Then you’ve only seen it used by people who didn’t know   
   what they were doing.   
      
   >>> Some of them are not in 2nd Ed. OED., but there are no   
   >>> subsitutes.   
      
   >> The OED has  in lieu of the more recent   
   >> .  The only one that it lacks altogether is   
   >> , the OED does have its Latinate   
   >> counterpart, .   
      
   > When I look feliform up, it doesn't say anything like   
   > "(esp. in relation to a deity)," so I don't think it's   
   > equivalent.   
      
   Of course it is: both mean simply ‘cat-shaped’.  The term   
    has no particular connection with deities.   
      
   >>> The last 2 refer to parts of extended hind foot of   
   >>> animals of order Carnivora.   
      
   >> Among other things.  Both metatarsals and metacarpals are   
   >> metapodia, and mammals in general (and some reptiles) have   
   >> calcanea.   
      
   > Metapodia is the _collection_ of foot-bones that, when   
   > elongated by Evolution, result in the long hind feet of   
   > carnivores, and also the only word for the part of the   
   > hind feet exclusive of the toes, which toes digitigrade   
   > animals walk upon.   
      
   It’s simply the plural of metapodium and can be used as   
   such.  Your metatarsals are metapodia.  The posterior lobes   
   of mollusks are metapodia.   
      
   > Calcaneus is the name of the heelbone, and also a word   
   > for heel, the only effective word for the heel-end of   
   > the metapodia.   
      
   Hardly, as your sentence itself demonstrates.   
      
   > I have a bunch of dictionary programs that are supposed   
   > to be based on the OED database.  One of them is similar   
   > to the 2nd OED.  The closest word it gave me was   
   > "metapodialia", as the collection of foot-bones. But it   
   > is not the word for the part of the animals' foot that,   
   > in comparative anatomy, is linked to its mode of hunt,   
   > its speed and gait, its posture, its aboreality, the   
   > grasping ability....  The development of the musculature   
   > and connection points of the ligaments in the metapodia   
   > is involved with the degree to which the toes will curl.   
   >  So the sense of metapodia is important.   
      
   It has a number of senses, and the sense in which you   
   appear to be using it is by no means the most salient.   
      
   >>> The 1st is similar in meaning to teliomorphic and is used   
   >>> to describe godesses Bastet and Bubasis.   
      
   >> Bubastis was an Egyptian city; its Egyptian name   
   >>  means ‘House of Bast’, and it was,   
   >> unsurprisingly a centre of worship of Bast(et).     
   >> is a later form of her name, with a redundant feminine   
   >> suffix <-et> -- the <-t> of  was already a feminine   
   >> suffix -- but I believe that it’s the one most often used   
   >> by Egyptologists; in fiction I’ve  more often.   
      
   > In my understanding, Bubastis is the form of Bastet that   
   > was adopted into the Isis cult exported to the Roman   
   > Empire, in that case considered to be an incarnation of   
   > Isis.   
      
   The Hellenized form of the city-name was indeed sometimes   
   applied to the goddess.   
      
   > Bastet was the cat-headed goddess in Ancient Egypt, often   
   > depicted with her four kittens at her feet.   
      
   Grandmothers.  Eggs.  Actually, she began as a lioness   
   deity, not a cat deity.   
      
   > Bubastis was associated with cats in the later Isis cult;   
   > they were her symbol and black was her special color.   
   > This cult persisted into Medieval times especially among   
   > rural folk, and eventually the Catholic Church   
   > identified it with witchcraft, launching an inquisition   
   > to stamp it out.   
      
   Evidence, please.   
      
   > This witch hunt decided cats, especially black ones, as   
   > demons and witches' familiars, the burning of cats and   
   > their owners...the extermination of village cats   
   > throughout Christendom was a factor that enabled the   
   > Black Plague.   
      
   It may have made some contribution, but not a very large   
   one.  At this point it appears that the primary impulse was   
   climate change in Asia.   
      
   [...]   
      
   Brian   
   --   
   It was the neap tide, when the baga venture out of their   
   holes to root for sandtatties.  The waves whispered   
   rhythmically over the packed sand: haggisss, haggisss,   
   haggisss.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)