Adani Renames Oz Coal Business "Bravus" (Latin): "Crooked", "Deformed", "Mercenary" Poss. Meanings
Mining company Adani has changed its name to a Latin word that means “crooked”, “deformed”, “mercenary or assassin”, after mistakenly thinking that it meant “brave”. The controversial mining group, which is responsible for the Carmichael coalmine in central Queensland, announced on Thursday it would change the name of its Australian operation to “Bravus”, a word identified by chief executive David Boshoff as the medieval Latin word for “courageous”.
Boshoff told the Australian Financial Review it was a good fit because the company “took a lot of courage to get where we are and we will stand up for what we believe in”.
However, multiple Latin experts have pointed out that “bravus” does not mean “brave” and is more accurately translated as “crooked” or “mercenary”. Dr Christopher Bishop, from the Australian National University’s centre of classical studies, said “bravus” did not mean “brave” in either classical or medieval Latin. “They are wrong,” he told Guardian Australia. “It would have to be something like ‘fortis’, for brave, if you are going for your classical. You know, something like ‘fortuna favet fortibus – fortune favours the brave’. That’s a schoolboy thing – everyone knows that.”
Dr Juanita Feros Ruys from the University of Sydney agreed. “The most common Latin term for the concept of ‘brave’ would be ‘fortis’ (from where we derive ‘fortify’, ‘fortitude’) and that would appear to be the case for both classical and medieval Latin, for each of which there are many examples,” she said.
EDIT
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/nov/05/crooked-not-courageous-adani-renames-australian-group-bravus-mistaking-it-for-brave
