Undulati

Question

Undulati: is this radio(waves)? (perhaps in Italian)?:-))

The conductor (of the funicular car/cabin) shut a door; he telephoned his confrere among the undulati, and with a jerk the car was pulled upward, heading for a pinpoint on an emerald hill above. After it cleared the low roofs, the skies of Vaud, Valais, Swiss Savoy, and Geneva spread around the passengers in cyclorama.
Tender is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald (chapter33) http://www.gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301261h.html
Thus the conductor called his colleague via the radio-telephone?

Or am I totally off, and FSF talking about the clouds "waving" around the funicular?
Thank you,
Marius Hancu

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Undulati: is this radio(waves)? (perhaps in Italian)?:-)) The conductor (of the funicular car/cabin) shut a door; he telephoned his ... his colleague via the radio-telephone? Or am I totally off, and FSF talking about the clouds "waving" around the funicular?[/nq]
It sounds to me an amazingly present-day jokey derivation, visualising the cables undulating between their support masts, and drawing a parallel between the men of the funicular, the undulati, and the men of letters, the literati.

Paul
In bocca al Lupo!

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]parallel between the men of the funicular, the undulati, and the men of letters, the literati.[/nq]
Possible and interesting ... thanks.
Marius Hancu

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Undulati: is this radio(waves)? (perhaps in Italian)?:-)) The conductor ... and FSF talking about the clouds "waving" around the funicular?[/nq]
[nq:1]It sounds to me an amazingly present-day jokey derivation, visualising the cables undulating between their support masts, and drawing a parallel between the men of the funicular, the undulati, and the men of letters, the literati.[/nq]
"Undulati" not being a word in Italian. Or any other language apparently.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]parallel between the men of the funicular, the undulati, and the men of letters, the literati.[/nq]
[nq:1]Possible and interesting ... thanks.[/nq]
Yes, I thought the same as Paul, but I was waiting to see whether somebody would swoop in and give an OED entry for it. It seemed clear that it was a playful invention, but I've been surprised before.

Perchprism
(southern New Jersey, near Philadelphia)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]"Undulati" not being a word in Italian. Or any other language apparently.[/nq]
It is in Latin, as I found from a web search. What astounded me was finding it in a scientific paper written in Latin and published in 2003.

http://www.sciencepub.net/0101/06-fu.pdf
Unless it's some kind of put-on. Do people still publish science in Latin?

A lot of other hits apply to Latin names of plant varieties, referring to wavy leaves or other parts.
There seemed to be a few hits for golf courses, referring to undulating hills, but there was only one that seemed to use 'undulati' unambiguously. If it can mean undulating hills, then that might apply to the passage above- and it still might fit with the suggestion of a play on 'literati'.
A number of other hits show it appearing in Italian text, but maybe it's a misspelling of 'ondulati', which is Italian:
>producendo scatole e interni in cartone undulati http://www.imbal.it/
>teorico a principi primi delle proprietà elettroniche ed ottiche di fili undulati.
http://www.fisica.unimo.it/Ricerca/2000 lrOssicini.html

john

Usenet · Answer

Marius Hancu quotes F. Scott Fitzgerald:
[nq:2]The conductor (of the funicular car/cabin) shut a door; he telephoned his confrere among the undulati, and with a jerk the car was pulled upward...[/nq]
[nq:1]It sounds to me an amazingly present-day jokey derivation, visualising the cables undulating between their support masts, and drawing a parallel between the men of the funicular, the undulati, and the men of letters, the literati.[/nq]
This would make sense if we were talking about an aerial cable car, but it's a funicular(1). The cable is lying in the middle of the tracks, not "undulating between support masts".
I agree that it looks like some sort of invented usage, but I can't see what he was thinking of.
(1) Since the word "funicular" doesn't actually appear in the passage Marius quoted, I checked the surrounding text at the URL he gave in case that was his misinterpretation, but it wasn't. The word "funicular" is used sevearal times; and in addition, it's described as a gravity- powered system using water tanks, like the Lynton and Lynmouth one, and while I suppose an aerial cable car could theoretically work that way, I've never heard of it being done.

Mark Brader "MSB is an accepted explanation for men's Toronto misbehaviors. ... Just blame it on MSB (Email Removed) and everyone nods their heads." "TJ"

My text in this article is in the public domain.

Usenet · Answer

Undulati: is this radio(waves)? (perhaps in Italian)?:-))

The conductor (of the funicular car/cabin) shut a door; he telephoned his confrere among the undulati, and with a jerk the car was pulled upward, heading for a pinpoint on an emerald hill above. After it cleared the low roofs, the skies of Vaud, Valais, Swiss Savoy, and Geneva spread around the passengers in cyclorama.
Tender is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald (chapter33) http://www.gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301261h.html
Thus the conductor called his colleague via the radio-telephone?

Or am I totally off, and FSF talking about the clouds "waving" around the funicular?
I think "confrere among the undulati" means "counterpart in the clouds". Undulatus today is a type of cloud.
Richard Maurer To reply, remove half
Sunnyvale, California of a homonym of a synonym for also.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1] The conductor (of the funicular car/cabin) shut a door; he telephoned his confrere among the undulati, and with a ... in cyclorama. I think "confrere among the undulati" means "counterpart in the clouds". Undulatus today is a type of cloud.[/nq]
This might be it.
Indeed:
http://www.met.tamu.edu/class/Metr304/Exer10dir/classification.html indicates that the
Stratocumulus clouds are of several varieties:
translucidus
perlucidus
opacus
duplicatus
undulatus
radiatus
lacunosus
Beautiful names.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Marius Hancu

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]"Undulati" not being a word in Italian. Or any other languageapparently.[/nq]
[nq:1]It is in Latin, as I found from a web search. What astounded me was finding it in a scientific paper written in Latin and published in[/nq]
2003.
[nq:1]http://www.sciencepub.net/0101/06-fu.pdf Unless it's some kind of put-on. Do people still publish science inLatin?[/nq]
It looks weird. I didn't think most new on-line journals would publish in Latin and my Latin probably never was good enough to read something like this. However it does not look like nonsense 'Latin".

The other articles in the same journal "Nature and Science" http://www.sciencepub.net/0101/index.htm
seem to be in English, albeit not always really good English. The journal looks a bit amateurish for publishing papers but, perhaps, I am being too hard on it or it may be an undergraduate or graduate student attempt to publish some materials that otherwise might not get published.
The Chinese Academy of Forestry, Zhengzhou, Henan China, the institutional affiliation of the author, seems very real and respectible from its website anyway.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]It sounds to me an amazingly present-day jokey derivation, visualising ... funicular, the undulati, and the men of letters, the literati.[/nq]
[nq:1]This would make sense if we were talking about an aerial cable car, but it's a funicular(1). The cable is ... and while I suppose an aerial cable car could theoretically work that way, I've never heard of it being done.[/nq]
I had a moment of insight several hours after posting that I'd probably misinterpreted "funicular", but looked it up in the dictionary and saw there a reference to cables, and to cabin in the original post, so hoped for the best.

Paul
In bocca al Lupo!

Undulati

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