pons asinorum
pons asinorum "Brücke-Esel", Eselsbrücke
Literally “bridge of donkeys”, attributed to Jean Buridan (14th century) but first attested in Petrus Tartaretus (d. 1522), who cites it as a common appellation for the device in syllogistic reasoning “because of its apparent difficulty”, i.e. it separates experts from “donkeys”. The application to Euclid appears to postdate its use in logic.
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈpõːs a.sɪˈnoː.rũː]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈpɔns a.s̬iˈnɔː.rum]
Noun
pōns asinōrum m (genitive pontis asinōrum); third declension(Medieval Latin, New Latin)
- (logic) a method for finding the middle term in an Aristotelian syllogism, or a diagrammatic representation of this method
- (geometry) the geometric theorem (Euclid's fifth) that the two angles opposite the equal sides of an isosceles triangle are also equal
- (generally) a difficult early test that must be passed if further progress is to be made
Declension
Third-declension noun (i-stem) with an indeclinable portion.
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | pōns asinōrum | pontēs asinōrum |
| genitive | pontis asinōrum | pontium asinōrum |
| dative | pontī asinōrum | pontibus asinōrum |
| accusative | pontem asinōrum | pontēs asinōrum
pontīs asinōrum |
| ablative | ponte asinōrum | pontibus asinōrum |
| vocative | pōns asinōrum | pontēs asinōrum |