106-494: The common toad , European toad , or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply the toad ( Bufo bufo , from Latin bufo "toad"), is a toad found throughout most of Europe (with the exception of Ireland , Iceland , parts of Scandinavia , and some Mediterranean islands ), in the western part of North Asia , and in a small portion of Northwest Africa . It is one of a group of closely related animals that are descended from
212-752: A Biodiversity Action Plan priority species. In Russia , it is considered to be a "Rare Species" in the Bashkortostan Republic , the Tatarstan Republic , the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug , and the Irkutsk Oblast , but during the 1990s, it became more abundant in Moscow Oblast . It has been found that urban populations of common toad occupying small areas and isolated by development show
318-405: A common ancestral line of toads and which form a species complex . The toad is an inconspicuous animal as it usually lies hidden during the day. It becomes active at dusk and spends the night hunting for the invertebrates on which it feeds. It moves with a slow, ungainly walk or short jumps, and has greyish-brown skin covered with wart-like lumps. Although toads are usually solitary animals, in
424-462: A ditty in his own praise which starts like this: The world has held great heroes, As history books have showed; But never a name went down to fame Compared with that of Toad! The clever men at Oxford Know all there is to be knowed. But none of them know half as much As intelligent Mr. Toad! George Orwell in his essay Some Thoughts on the Common Toad described
530-743: A few in German , Dutch , Norwegian , Danish and Swedish . Latin is still spoken in Vatican City, a city-state situated in Rome that is the seat of the Catholic Church . The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part, in substantial works or in fragments to be analyzed in philology . They are in part the subject matter of the field of classics . Their works were published in manuscript form before
636-567: A flick of the tongue while larger items are grabbed with the jaws. Having no teeth, it swallows food whole in a series of gulps. It does not recognise its prey as such but will try to consume any small, dark coloured, moving object it encounters at night. A research study showed that it would snap at a moving 1 cm (0.4 in) piece of black paper as if it were prey but would disregard a larger moving piece. Toads seem to use visual cues for feeding and can see their prey at low light intensities where humans are unable to discern anything. Periodically,
742-529: A lower level of genetic diversity and reduced fitness as compared to nearby rural populations. The researchers demonstrated this by genetic analysis and by noting the greater number of physical abnormalities among urban as against rural tadpoles when raised in a controlled environment. It was considered that long term depletion in numbers and habitat fragmentation can reduce population persistence in such urban environments. Many toads are killed by traffic while migrating to their breeding grounds. In Europe they have
848-562: A new Classical Latin arose, a conscious creation of the orators, poets, historians and other literate men, who wrote the great works of classical literature , which were taught in grammar and rhetoric schools. Today's instructional grammars trace their roots to such schools , which served as a sort of informal language academy dedicated to maintaining and perpetuating educated speech. Philological analysis of Archaic Latin works, such as those of Plautus , which contain fragments of everyday speech, gives evidence of an informal register of
954-476: A remarkable unity in phonological forms and developments, bolstered by the stabilising influence of their common Christian (Roman Catholic) culture. It was not until the Muslim conquest of Spain in 711, cutting off communications between the major Romance regions, that the languages began to diverge seriously. The spoken Latin that would later become Romanian diverged somewhat more from the other varieties, as it
1060-709: A small number of Latin services held in the Anglican church. These include an annual service in Oxford, delivered with a Latin sermon; a relic from the period when Latin was the normal spoken language of the university. In the Western world, many organizations, governments and schools use Latin for their mottos due to its association with formality, tradition, and the roots of Western culture . Canada's motto A mari usque ad mare ("from sea to sea") and most provincial mottos are also in Latin. The Canadian Victoria Cross
1166-459: A spinier skin than its more northern counterparts with which it intergrades . It is now accepted as Bufo spinosus . The Gredos toad, B. b. gredosicola , is restricted to the Sierra de Gredos , a mountain range in central Spain. It has exceptionally large paratoid glands and its colour tends to be blotched rather than uniform. It is now considered to be a synonym of Bufo spinosus . B. bufo
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#17327872302181272-417: A study at one pond where males outnumbered females by four or five to one, it was found that 38% of the males won the right to mate by defeating rivals in combat or by displacing other males already mounted on females. Male toads generally outnumber female toads at breeding ponds. A Swedish study found that female mortality was higher than that of males and that 41% of females did not come to the breeding pond in
1378-432: A study were only half as heavy as control juveniles . Their parasite-induced anorexia caused a decrease in food intake and some died. Another study investigated whether the use of nitrogenous fertilisers affects the development of common toad tadpoles. The toadlets were kept in dilute solutions of ammonium nitrate of various strengths. It was found that at certain concentrations, which were well above any normally found in
1484-436: A supposed witch, cursed her landlord and all his possessions when he demanded the unpaid rent for her cottage. Soon afterwards, a large toad fell on his wife and caused her to collapse. The toad was thrown into the fire but escaped with severe burns. Meanwhile, the old witch's cottage had caught fire and she was badly burnt. By next day, both toad and witch had died, and it was found that the woman's burns exactly mirrored those of
1590-491: A toxin called bufagin and is enough to deter many predators although grass snakes seem to be unaffected by it. Other predators of adult toads include hedgehogs , rats , mink , and even domestic cats . Birds that feed on toads include herons , crows and birds of prey . Crows have been observed to puncture the skin with their beak and then peck out the toad's liver, thus avoiding the toxin. The tadpoles also exude noxious substances which deter fish from eating them but not
1696-411: Is Veritas ("truth"). Veritas was the goddess of truth, a daughter of Saturn, and the mother of Virtue. Switzerland has adopted the country's Latin short name Helvetia on coins and stamps, since there is no room to use all of the nation's four official languages . For a similar reason, it adopted the international vehicle and internet code CH , which stands for Confoederatio Helvetica ,
1802-420: Is a kind of written Latin used in the 3rd to 6th centuries. This began to diverge from Classical forms at a faster pace. It is characterised by greater use of prepositions, and word order that is closer to modern Romance languages, for example, while grammatically retaining more or less the same formal rules as Classical Latin. Ultimately, Latin diverged into a distinct written form, where the commonly spoken form
1908-640: Is a reversal of the original phrase Non terrae plus ultra ("No land further beyond", "No further!"). According to legend , this phrase was inscribed as a warning on the Pillars of Hercules , the rocks on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar and the western end of the known, Mediterranean world. Charles adopted the motto following the discovery of the New World by Columbus, and it also has metaphorical suggestions of taking risks and striving for excellence. In
2014-425: Is a uniform dull brownish grey colour and has large round tubercles on its back and smaller ones on its belly. It differs from B. verrucosissimus in that the body has different proportions, the head has an abrupt, unrounded snout and the parotoid gland has black markings where it touches the tympanum . The male has dark spots on its otherwise pale belly and is considerably smaller than the female. Bufo eichwaldi
2120-627: Is at home both on land and in the water. It may cause repugnance because of its drab, wart-like skin, its slow movements and the way it emerges from some dark hole. In Europe in the Middle Ages , the toad was associated with the Devil , for whom a coat-of-arms was invented emblazoned with three toads. It was known that the toad could poison people and, as the witch's familiar , it was thought to possess magical powers. Even ordinary people made use of dried toads, their bile, faeces and blood. In some areas,
2226-680: Is believed that the range of the ancestral form extended into Asia but that isolation between the eastern and western species complexes occurred as a result of the development of the Central Asian Deserts during the Middle Miocene . The exact taxonomic relationships between these species remains unclear. A serological investigation into toad populations in Turkey undertaken in 2001 examined the blood serum proteins of Bufo verrucosissimus and Bufo spinosus . It found that
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#17327872302182332-662: Is believed to occur in south east Azerbaijan and northern Iran in the Talysh and Elburz Mountains. It also occurs in Mazandaran and Gilan provinces in Iran near the Caspian Sea. It lives at heights ranging up to about 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) above sea level. Its habitat is broad-leaved forests but it is also sometimes found in lowland swamps and gardens. Nowhere is Bufo eichwaldi abundant or easily seen as it hides during
2438-462: Is great variability between populations. Juveniles are often parasitised by the lung nematode Rhabdias bufonis . This slows growth rates and reduces stamina and fitness. Larger juveniles at metamorphosis always outgrow smaller ones that have been reared in more crowded ponds. Even when they have heavy worm burdens, large juveniles grow faster than smaller individuals with light worm burdens. After several months of heavy worm infection, some juveniles in
2544-524: Is high among breeding toads. A successful male stays in amplexus for several days and, as the female lays a long, double string of small black eggs , he fertilises them with his sperm. As the pair wander piggyback around the shallow edges of the pond, the gelatinous egg strings, which may contain 1,500 to 6,000 eggs and be 3 to 4.5 metres (10 to 15 ft) in length, get tangled in plant stalks. The strings of eggs absorb water and swell in size, and small tadpoles hatch out after 10 days. At first they cling to
2650-660: Is highly fusional , with classes of inflections for case , number , person , gender , tense , mood , voice , and aspect . The Latin alphabet is directly derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets . Latin remains the official language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church at the Vatican City . The church continues to adapt concepts from modern languages to Ecclesiastical Latin of
2756-541: Is listed as being of " least concern " in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . It is threatened by habitat loss, especially by drainage of its breeding sites, and some toads get killed on the roads as they make their annual migrations. It has long been associated in popular culture and literature with witchcraft . The common toad was first given the name Rana bufo by the Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus in
2862-689: Is modelled after the British Victoria Cross which has the inscription "For Valour". Because Canada is officially bilingual, the Canadian medal has replaced the English inscription with the Latin Pro Valore . Spain's motto Plus ultra , meaning "even further", or figuratively "Further!", is also Latin in origin. It is taken from the personal motto of Charles V , Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain (as Charles I), and
2968-414: Is no known anti-venom. Treatment consists of supporting respiratory and cardiovascular functions, prevention of absorption and electrocardiography to monitor the condition. Atropine , phenytoin , cholestyramine and lidocaine may prove useful in its management. The toad has long been considered to be an animal of ill omen or a connection to a spirit world. This may have its origins in the fact that it
3074-533: Is part of a species complex , a group of closely related species which cannot be clearly demarcated. Several modern species are believed to form an ancient group of related taxa from preglacial times. These are the spiny toad ( B. spinosus ), the Caucasian toad ( B. verrucosissimus ) and the Japanese common toad ( B. japonicus ). The European common toad ( Bufo bufo ) seems to have arisen more recently. It
3180-472: Is regarded as " near threatened ". A population in the Sierra de Gredos mountain range is facing predation by otters and increased competition from the frog Pelophylax perezi . Both otter and frog seem to be extending their ranges to higher altitudes. The common toad cannot be legally sold or traded in the United Kingdom but there is a slow decline in toad numbers and it has therefore been declared
3286-1011: Is taught at many high schools, especially in Europe and the Americas. It is most common in British public schools and grammar schools, the Italian liceo classico and liceo scientifico , the German Humanistisches Gymnasium and the Dutch gymnasium . Occasionally, some media outlets, targeting enthusiasts, broadcast in Latin. Notable examples include Radio Bremen in Germany, YLE radio in Finland (the Nuntii Latini broadcast from 1989 until it
Common toad - Misplaced Pages Continue
3392-464: Is unusual in that it can climb up water plants and move around on its muscular foot. It sometimes clings to the toe of a common toad and this is believed to be one of the means by which it disperses to new locations. The common toad emerges from hibernation in spring and there is a mass migration towards the breeding sites. The toads converge on certain ponds that they favour while avoiding other stretches of water that seem eminently suitable. Adults use
3498-543: The Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL). Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same: volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance and relevant information. The reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy . About 270,000 inscriptions are known. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. In
3604-515: The 10th edition of Systema Naturae in 1758. In this work, he placed all the frogs and toads in the single genus Rana . It later became apparent that this genus should be divided, and in 1768, the Austrian naturalist Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti placed the common toad in the genus Bufo , naming it Bufo bufo . The toads in this genus are included in the family Bufonidae , the true toads. Various subspecies of B. bufo have been recognized over
3710-873: The Balearic Islands . Its easterly range extends to Irkutsk in Siberia and its southerly range includes parts of northwestern Africa in the northern mountain ranges of Morocco , Algeria and Tunisia . A closely related variant lives in eastern Asia including Japan . The common toad is found at altitudes of up to 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) in the southern part of its range. It is largely found in forested areas with coniferous, deciduous and mixed woodland, especially in wet locations. It also inhabits open countryside, fields, copses, parks and gardens, and often occurs in dry areas well away from standing water. The common toad usually moves by walking rather slowly or in short shuffling jumps involving all four legs. It spends
3816-528: The Holy See , the primary language of its public journal , the Acta Apostolicae Sedis , and the working language of the Roman Rota . Vatican City is also home to the world's only automatic teller machine that gives instructions in Latin. In the pontifical universities postgraduate courses of Canon law are taught in Latin, and papers are written in the same language. There are
3922-502: The Late Latin period, language changes reflecting spoken (non-classical) norms tend to be found in greater quantities in texts. As it was free to develop on its own, there is no reason to suppose that the speech was uniform either diachronically or geographically. On the contrary, Romanised European populations developed their own dialects of the language, which eventually led to the differentiation of Romance languages . Late Latin
4028-548: The Middle Ages as a working and literary language from the 9th century to the Renaissance , which then developed a classicizing form, called Renaissance Latin . This was the basis for Neo-Latin which evolved during the early modern period . In these periods Latin was used productively and generally taught to be written and spoken, at least until the late seventeenth century, when spoken skills began to erode. It then became increasingly taught only to be read. Latin grammar
4134-574: The Middle Ages , borrowing from Latin occurred from ecclesiastical usage established by Saint Augustine of Canterbury in the 6th century or indirectly after the Norman Conquest , through the Anglo-Norman language . From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed " inkhorn terms ", as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by
4240-553: The Talysh toad , is a species of true toads in the family Bufonidae . It was first described by Litvinchuk, Borkin, Skorinov and Rosanov in 2008 and is found in the Talysh and Elburz Mountains in Azerbaijan and parts of northern Iran . It was previously considered to be a subspecies of the Caucasian toad ( Bufo verrucosissimus ). Bufo eichwaldi is a large toad much resembling Bufo verrucosissimus in appearance. It
4346-407: The common language of international communication , science, scholarship and academia in Europe until well into the early 19th century, by which time modern languages had supplanted it in common academic and political usage. Late Latin is the literary language from the 3rd century AD onward. No longer spoken as a native language, Medieval Latin was used across Western and Catholic Europe during
Common toad - Misplaced Pages Continue
4452-522: The great crested newt . Aquatic invertebrates that feed on toad tadpoles include dragonfly larvae, diving beetles and water boatmen . These usually avoid the noxious secretion by puncturing the tadpole's skin and sucking out its juices. A parasitic fly, Lucilia bufonivora , attacks adult common toads. It lays its eggs on the toad's skin and when these hatch, the larvae crawl into the toad's nostrils and eat its flesh internally with lethal consequences. The European fingernail clam ( Sphaerium corneum )
4558-637: The British Crown. The motto is featured on all presently minted coinage and has been featured in most coinage throughout the nation's history. Several states of the United States have Latin mottos , such as: Many military organizations today have Latin mottos, such as: Some law governing bodies in the Philippines have Latin mottos, such as: Some colleges and universities have adopted Latin mottos, for example Harvard University 's motto
4664-703: The Germanic and Slavic nations. It became useful for international communication between the member states of the Holy Roman Empire and its allies. Without the institutions of the Roman Empire that had supported its uniformity, Medieval Latin was much more liberal in its linguistic cohesion: for example, in classical Latin sum and eram are used as auxiliary verbs in the perfect and pluperfect passive, which are compound tenses. Medieval Latin might use fui and fueram instead. Furthermore,
4770-599: The Grinch Stole Christmas! , The Cat in the Hat , and a book of fairy tales, " fabulae mirabiles ", are intended to garner popular interest in the language. Additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissner's Latin Phrasebook . Some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series,
4876-630: The Latin language. Contemporary Latin is more often studied to be read rather than spoken or actively used. Latin has greatly influenced the English language , along with a large number of others, and historically contributed many words to the English lexicon , particularly after the Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons and the Norman Conquest . Latin and Ancient Greek roots are heavily used in English vocabulary in theology ,
4982-460: The Netherlands and France. At first the growth rates for males and females was identical. By the time they became mature their growth rate had slowed down to about 21% of the initial rate and they had reached 95% of their expected adult size. Some females that were on a biennial breeding cycle carried on growing rapidly for a longer time. Adjusting for differences in temperature and the length of
5088-467: The United States the unofficial national motto until 1956 was E pluribus unum meaning "Out of many, one". The motto continues to be featured on the Great Seal . It also appears on the flags and seals of both houses of congress and the flags of the states of Michigan, North Dakota, New York, and Wisconsin. The motto's 13 letters symbolically represent the original Thirteen Colonies which revolted from
5194-563: The University of Kentucky, the University of Oxford and also Princeton University. There are many websites and forums maintained in Latin by enthusiasts. The Latin Misplaced Pages has more than 130,000 articles. Italian , French , Portuguese , Spanish , Romanian , Catalan , Romansh , Sardinian and other Romance languages are direct descendants of Latin. There are also many Latin borrowings in English and Albanian , as well as
5300-411: The amphibians across roads at busy crossing points in buckets. The toads start moving at dusk and for them to travel far, the temperature needs to remain above 5 °C (41 °F). On a warm wet night they may continue moving all night but if it cools down, they may stop earlier. An estimate was made of the significance of roadkill in toad populations in the Netherlands. The number of females killed in
5406-481: The author and then forgotten, but some useful ones survived, such as 'imbibe' and 'extrapolate'. Many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French . Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and Dutch vocabularies. Those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Bufo eichwaldi Bufo eichwaldi , commonly known as Eichwald's toad or
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#17327872302185512-535: The beginning of the Renaissance . Petrarch for example saw Latin as a literary version of the spoken language. Medieval Latin is the written Latin in use during that portion of the post-classical period when no corresponding Latin vernacular existed, that is from around 700 to 1500 AD. The spoken language had developed into the various Romance languages; however, in the educated and official world, Latin continued without its natural spoken base. Moreover, this Latin spread into lands that had never spoken Latin, such as
5618-425: The benefit of those who do not understand Latin. There are also songs written with Latin lyrics . The libretto for the opera-oratorio Oedipus rex by Igor Stravinsky is in Latin. Parts of Carl Orff 's Carmina Burana are written in Latin. Enya has recorded several tracks with Latin lyrics. The continued instruction of Latin is seen by some as a highly valuable component of a liberal arts education. Latin
5724-449: The bones of their phalanges . After the common frog ( Rana temporaria ), the edible frog ( Pelophylax esculentus ) and the smooth newt ( Lissotriton vulgaris ), the common toad is the fourth most common amphibian in Europe. It is found throughout the continent with the exception of Iceland, the cold northern parts of Scandinavia , Ireland and a number of Mediterranean islands. These include Malta , Crete , Corsica , Sardinia and
5830-498: The breeding season, large numbers of toads converge on certain breeding ponds, where the males compete to mate with the females. Eggs are laid in gelatinous strings in the water and later hatch out into tadpoles . After several months of growth and development, these sprout limbs and undergo metamorphosis into tiny toads. The juveniles emerge from the water and remain largely terrestrial for the rest of their lives. The common toad seems to be in decline in part of its range, but overall
5936-491: The cauldron go; In the poison'd entrails throw. Toad, that under cold stone Days and nights has thirty-one Swelter'd venom sleeping got, Boil thou first i' the charmed pot. It was also believed that there was a jewel inside a toad's head, a " toadstone ", that when worn as a necklace or ring would warn the wearer of attempts to poison them. Shakespeare mentioned this in As You Like It : Sweet are
6042-430: The comic playwrights Plautus and Terence and the author Petronius . While often called a "dead language", Latin did not undergo language death . By the 6th to 9th centuries, natural language change eventually resulted in Latin as a vernacular language evolving into distinct Romance languages in the large areas where it had come to be natively spoken. However, even after the fall of Western Rome , Latin remained
6148-404: The common toad as being of " least concern ". This is because it has a wide distribution and is, over most of its range, a common species. It is not particularly threatened by habitat loss because it is adaptable and is found in deciduous and coniferous forests, scrubland, meadows, parks and gardens. It prefers damp areas with dense foliage. The major threats it faces include loss of habitat locally,
6254-567: The common toad hybridizes with the natterjack toad ( Bufo calamita ) or the European green toad ( Bufo viridis ). The common toad can reach about 15 cm (6 in) in length. Females are normally stouter than males and southern specimens tend to be larger than northern ones. The head is broad with a wide mouth below the terminal snout which has two small nostrils. There are no teeth. The bulbous, protruding eyes have yellow or copper coloured irises and horizontal slit-shaped pupils. Just behind
6360-399: The common toad is divided into three periods: the winter sleep , the time of mating and feeding period. When attacked, the common toad adopts a characteristic stance, inflating its body and standing with its hindquarters raised and its head lowered. Its chief means of defence lies in the foul tasting secretion that is produced by its paratoid glands and other glands on its skin. This contains
6466-404: The common toad sheds its skin. This comes away in tattered pieces and is then consumed. In 2007, researchers using a remotely operated underwater vehicle to survey Loch Ness , Scotland, observed a common toad moving along the bottom of the lake at a depth of 324 feet (99 m). They were surprised to find that an air-breathing animal could survive in such a location. The annual life cycle of
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#17327872302186572-406: The common toad. The common frog ( Rana temporaria ) is also similar in appearance but it has a less rounded snout, damp smooth skin, and usually moves by leaping. Common toads can live for many years and have survived for fifty years in captivity. In the wild, common toads are thought to live for about ten to twelve years. Their age can be determined by counting the number of annual growth rings in
6678-465: The country's full Latin name. Some film and television in ancient settings, such as Sebastiane , The Passion of the Christ and Barbarians (2020 TV series) , have been made with dialogue in Latin. Occasionally, Latin dialogue is used because of its association with religion or philosophy, in such film/television series as The Exorcist and Lost (" Jughead "). Subtitles are usually shown for
6784-515: The day concealed in a lair that it has hollowed out under foliage or beneath a root or a stone where its colouring makes it inconspicuous. It emerges at dusk and may travel some distance in the dark while hunting. It is most active in wet weather. By morning it has returned to its base and may occupy the same place for several months. It is voracious and eats woodlice , slugs , beetles , caterpillars , flies , ants , spiders , earthworms and even small mice . Small, fast moving prey may be caught by
6890-452: The day, emerging after nightfall to forage for small invertebrates. Breeding takes place in shallow waters at the edge of springs. In Azerbaijan, newly metamorphosed juveniles have been seen in June and July when they are about 12 to 13 millimetres (0.47 to 0.51 in) long. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species lists this species as vulnerable. It is believed to have declined by 30% over
6996-503: The decline in written Latin output. Despite having no native speakers, Latin is still used for a variety of purposes in the contemporary world. The largest organisation that retains Latin in official and quasi-official contexts is the Catholic Church . The Catholic Church required that Mass be carried out in Latin until the Second Vatican Council of 1962–1965 , which permitted the use of the vernacular . Latin remains
7102-568: The development of European culture, religion and science. The vast majority of written Latin belongs to this period, but its full extent is unknown. The Renaissance reinforced the position of Latin as a spoken and written language by the scholarship by the Renaissance humanists . Petrarch and others began to change their usage of Latin as they explored the texts of the Classical Latin world. Skills of textual criticism evolved to create much more accurate versions of extant texts through
7208-571: The differences between the two were not significant and that therefore the former should be synonymized with the latter. A study published in 2012 examined the phylogenetic relationships between the Eurasian and North African species in the Bufo ;bufo group and indicated a long evolutionary history for the group. Nine to thirteen million years ago, Bufo eichwaldi , a recently described species from south Azerbaijan and Iran, split from
7314-429: The displacement exceeded three kilometres (two miles). The males arrive first and remain in the location for several weeks while the females only stay long enough to mate and spawn. Rather than fighting for the right to mate with a female, male toads may settle disputes by means of the pitch of their voice. Croaking provides a reliable sign of body size and hence of prowess. Nevertheless, fights occur in some instances. In
7420-540: The drainage of wetlands where it breeds, agricultural activities, pollution, and mortality on roads. Chytridiomycosis , an infectious disease of amphibians, has been reported in common toads in Spain and the United Kingdom and may affect some populations. There are parts of its range where the common toad seems to be in decline. In Spain, increased aridity and habitat loss have led to a diminution in numbers and it
7526-413: The earliest extant Latin literary works, such as the comedies of Plautus and Terence . The Latin alphabet was devised from the Etruscan alphabet . The writing later changed from what was initially either a right-to-left or a boustrophedon script to what ultimately became a strictly left-to-right script. During the late republic and into the first years of the empire, from about 75 BC to AD 200,
7632-670: The emergence of the common toad from hibernation as one of the most moving signs of spring. Latin Latin ( lingua Latina , pronounced [ˈlɪŋɡʷa ɫaˈtiːna] , or Latinum [ɫaˈtiːnʊ̃] ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages . Latin was originally spoken by the Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio ),
7738-420: The eyes are two bulging regions, the paratoid glands, which are positioned obliquely. They contain a noxious substance, bufotoxin , which is used to deter potential predators . The head joins the body without a noticeable neck and there is no external vocal sac. The body is broad and squat and positioned close to the ground. The fore limbs are short with the toes of the fore feet turning inwards. At breeding time,
7844-467: The females being browner and the males greyer. The underside is a dirty white speckled with grey and black patches. Other species with which the common toad could be confused include the natterjack toad ( Bufo calamita ) and the European green toad ( Bufo viridis ). The former is usually smaller and has a yellow band running down its back while the latter has a distinctive mottled pattern. The paratoid glands of both are parallel rather than slanting as in
7950-460: The field, growth was increased and metamorphosis accelerated, but at others, there was no significant difference between the experimental tadpoles and controls. Nevertheless, certain unusual swimming patterns and a few deformities were found among the experimental animals. A comparison was made between the growth rate of newly metamorphosed juveniles from different altitudes and latitudes, the specimens studied being from Norway, Germany, Switzerland,
8056-445: The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and some important texts were rediscovered. Comprehensive versions of authors' works were published by Isaac Casaubon , Joseph Scaliger and others. Nevertheless, despite the careful work of Petrarch, Politian and others, first the demand for manuscripts, and then the rush to bring works into print, led to the circulation of inaccurate copies for several centuries following. Neo-Latin literature
8162-692: The finding of a toad in a house was considered evidence that a witch was present. In the Basque Country , the familiars were believed to be toads wearing elegant robes. These were herded by children who were being trained as witches. Between 1610 and 1612, the Spanish inquisitor Alonso de Salazar Frías investigated witchcraft in the region and searched the houses of suspected witches for dressed toads. He found none. These witches were reputed to use undomesticated toads as ingredients in their liniments and brews. An English folk tale tells how an old woman,
8268-531: The ground, sometimes in basements, often in droves with other amphibians. Rarely they spend the winter in flowing waters with the common frogs and green frogs . The post-meiotic intra-testicular sperm of B. bufo undergoes senescence over time as measured by sperm motility. This type of sperm senescence does not occur at a genetically fixed rate, but rather is influenced by environmental conditions that include availability of mating partners and temperature. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species considers
8374-416: The growing season, the toads grew and matured at much the same rate from the four colder localities. These juveniles reached maturity after 1.09 years for males and 1.55 years for females. However, the young toads from lowland France grew faster and longer to a much greater size taking an average 1.77 years for males and 2.49 years for females before reaching maturity. Common toads winter in various holes in
8480-515: The highest rate of mortality from roadkill among amphibians. Many of the deaths take place on stretches of road where streams flow underneath showing that migration routes often follow water courses. In some places in Germany , Belgium , the Netherlands , Great Britain , Northern Italy and Poland , special tunnels have been constructed so that toads can cross under roads in safety. In other places, local wildlife groups run "toad patrols", carrying
8586-546: The history of Latin, and the kind of informal Latin that had begun to move away from the written language significantly in the post-Imperial period, that led ultimately to the Romance languages . During the Classical period, informal language was rarely written, so philologists have been left with only individual words and phrases cited by classical authors, inscriptions such as Curse tablets and those found as graffiti . In
8692-703: The invention of printing and are now published in carefully annotated printed editions, such as the Loeb Classical Library , published by Harvard University Press , or the Oxford Classical Texts , published by Oxford University Press . Latin translations of modern literature such as: The Hobbit , Treasure Island , Robinson Crusoe , Paddington Bear , Winnie the Pooh , The Adventures of Tintin , Asterix , Harry Potter , Le Petit Prince , Max and Moritz , How
8798-704: The language of the Roman Rite . The Tridentine Mass (also known as the Extraordinary Form or Traditional Latin Mass) is celebrated in Latin. Although the Mass of Paul VI (also known as the Ordinary Form or the Novus Ordo) is usually celebrated in the local vernacular language, it can be and often is said in Latin, in part or in whole, especially at multilingual gatherings. It is the official language of
8904-405: The language, Vulgar Latin (termed sermo vulgi , "the speech of the masses", by Cicero ). Some linguists, particularly in the nineteenth century, believed this to be a separate language, existing more or less in parallel with the literary or educated Latin, but this is now widely dismissed. The term 'Vulgar Latin' remains difficult to define, referring both to informal speech at any time within
9010-617: The lower Tiber area around Rome , Italy. Through the expansion of the Roman Republic it became the dominant language in the Italian Peninsula and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire . By the late Roman Republic , Old Latin had evolved into standardized Classical Latin . Vulgar Latin refers to the less prestigious colloquial registers , attested in inscriptions and some literary works such as those of
9116-604: The main lineage. Further divisions occurred with Bufo spinosus splitting off about five million years ago when the Pyrenees were being uplifted, an event which isolated the populations in the Iberian Peninsula from those in the rest of Europe. The remaining European lineage split into Bufo bufo and Bufo verrucosissimus less than three million years ago during the Pleistocene . Very occasionally
9222-467: The male develops nuptial pads on the first three fingers. He uses these to grasp the female when mating. The hind legs are short relative to other frogs' legs and the hind feet have long, unwebbed toes. There is no tail. The skin is dry and covered with small wart-like lumps. The colour is a fairly uniform shade of brown, olive-brown or greyish-brown, sometimes partly blotched or banded with a darker shade. The common toad tends to be sexually dimorphic with
9328-431: The meanings of many words were changed and new words were introduced, often under influence from the vernacular. Identifiable individual styles of classically incorrect Latin prevail. Renaissance Latin, 1300 to 1500, and the classicised Latin that followed through to the present are often grouped together as Neo-Latin , or New Latin, which have in recent decades become a focus of renewed study , given their importance for
9434-400: The remains of the strings and feed on the jelly. They later attach themselves to the underside of the leaves of water weed before becoming free swimming. The tadpoles at first look similar to those of the common frog ( Rana temporaria ) but they are a darker colour, being blackish above and dark grey below. They can be distinguished from the tadpoles of other species by the fact that the mouth is
9540-400: The same compound (and its parent steroid , bufotalin ) from the Japanese toad , Bufo japonicus . By 1986, researchers at Arizona State University had succeeded in synthesizing the toad toxin constituents bufotalin, bufalitoxin and bufotoxin. The chemical formula of bufotoxin is C 40 H 60 N 4 O 10 . Its physical effects resemble those of digoxin , which, in small doses, increases
9646-436: The same location year after year and over 80% of males marked as juveniles have been found to return to the pond at which they were spawned . They find their way to these by using a suite of orientation cues, including olfactory and magnetic cues, but also visual cues help guide their journeys. Toads experimentally moved elsewhere and fitted with tracking devices have been found to be able to locate their chosen breeding pond when
9752-401: The same width as the space between the eyes, and this is twice as large as the distance between the nostrils. Over the course of a few weeks their legs develop and their tail gradually gets reabsorbed. By twelve weeks of age they are miniature toads measuring about 1.5 cm (0.6 in) long and ready to leave the pond. The common toad reaches maturity at three to seven years old but there
9858-421: The sciences , medicine , and law . A number of phases of the language have been recognized, each distinguished by subtle differences in vocabulary, usage, spelling, and syntax. There are no hard and fast rules of classification; different scholars emphasize different features. As a result, the list has variants, as well as alternative names. In addition to the historical phases, Ecclesiastical Latin refers to
9964-425: The spring and missed a year before reproducing again. The males mount the females' backs, grasping them with their fore limbs under the armpits in a grip that is known as amplexus . The males are enthusiastic, will try to grasp fish or inanimate objects and often mount the backs of other males. Sometimes several toads form a heap, each male trying to grasp the female at the base. It is a stressful period and mortality
10070-536: The spring migration on a quiet country road (ten vehicles per hour) was compared with the number of strings of eggs laid in nearby fens. A 30% mortality rate was found, with the rate for deaths among males likely to be of a similar order. The main substance found in the parotoid gland and skin of the common toad is called bufotoxin . It was first isolated by Heinrich Wieland and his colleagues in 1922, and they succeeded in identifying its structure about 20 years later. Meanwhile, other researchers succeeded in isolating
10176-622: The strength with which the heart muscle contracts; synthesized from foxglove plants ( Digitalis purpurea ), digoxin is used in the treatment of congestive heart failure . The skin of the South American cane toad contains enough similar toxin to cause serious symptoms (or even death) in animals, including humans. Clinical effects include severe irritation and pain to eyes, mouth, nose and throat, cardiovascular and respiratory symptoms, paralysis and seizures, increased salivation, vomiting, hyperkalemia , cyanosis and hallucinations . There
10282-578: The styles used by the writers of the Roman Catholic Church from late antiquity onward, as well as by Protestant scholars. The earliest known form of Latin is Old Latin, also called Archaic or Early Latin, which was spoken from the Roman Kingdom , traditionally founded in 753 BC, through the later part of the Roman Republic , up to 75 BC, i.e. before the age of Classical Latin . It is attested both in inscriptions and in some of
10388-555: The toad. The saliva of the toad was considered poisonous and was known as "sweltered venom" and it was believed that it could spit or vomit poisonous fire. Toads were associated with devils and demons and in Paradise Lost , John Milton depicted Satan as a toad when he poured poison into Eve 's ear. The First Witch in Shakespeare's Macbeth gave instructions on using a toad in the concoction of spells: Round about
10494-471: The uses of adversity Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head. Mr. Toad is one of the main characters in the children's novel The Wind in the Willows , by Kenneth Grahame . This has been dramatized by several authors including A. A. Milne who called his play Toad of Toad Hall . Mr. Toad is a conceited, anthropomorphic toad and in the book he composes
10600-422: The written form of Latin was increasingly standardized into a fixed form, the spoken forms began to diverge more greatly. Currently, the five most widely spoken Romance languages by number of native speakers are Spanish , Portuguese , French , Italian , and Romanian . Despite dialectal variation, which is found in any widespread language, the languages of Spain, France, Portugal, and Italy have retained
10706-569: The years. The Caucasian toad is found in the mountainous regions of the Caucasus and was at one time classified as B. b. verrucosissima . It has a larger genome and differs from B. bufo morphologically and is now accepted as Bufo verrucosissimus . The spiny toad was classified as B. b. spinosus . It is found in France, the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb and grows to a larger size and has
10812-783: Was also used as a convenient medium for translations of important works first written in a vernacular, such as those of Descartes . Latin education underwent a process of reform to classicise written and spoken Latin. Schooling remained largely Latin medium until approximately 1700. Until the end of the 17th century, the majority of books and almost all diplomatic documents were written in Latin. Afterwards, most diplomatic documents were written in French (a Romance language ) and later native or other languages. Education methods gradually shifted towards written Latin, and eventually concentrating solely on reading skills. The decline of Latin education took several centuries and proceeded much more slowly than
10918-491: Was extensive and prolific, but less well known or understood today. Works covered poetry, prose stories and early novels, occasional pieces and collections of letters, to name a few. Famous and well regarded writers included Petrarch, Erasmus, Salutati , Celtis , George Buchanan and Thomas More . Non fiction works were long produced in many subjects, including the sciences, law, philosophy, historiography and theology. Famous examples include Isaac Newton 's Principia . Latin
11024-503: Was largely separated from the unifying influences in the western part of the Empire. Spoken Latin began to diverge into distinct languages by the 9th century at the latest, when the earliest extant Romance writings begin to appear. They were, throughout the period, confined to everyday speech, as Medieval Latin was used for writing. For many Italians using Latin, though, there was no complete separation between Italian and Latin, even into
11130-529: Was perceived as a separate language, for instance early French or Italian dialects, that could be transcribed differently. It took some time for these to be viewed as wholly different from Latin however. After the Western Roman Empire fell in 476 and Germanic kingdoms took its place, the Germanic people adopted Latin as a language more suitable for legal and other, more formal uses. While
11236-431: Was shut down in June 2019), and Vatican Radio & Television, all of which broadcast news segments and other material in Latin. A variety of organisations, as well as informal Latin 'circuli' ('circles'), have been founded in more recent times to support the use of spoken Latin. Moreover, a number of university classics departments have begun incorporating communicative pedagogies in their Latin courses. These include
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