Most Popular
1500 questions
17
votes
2 answers
What colours did different colour words mean, exactly?
There are many different words for colours in Latin, but it's not easy to tell what kind of colour was exactly meant by each word.
Do we know what different colour words meant?
In particular, is there a source that lists Latin colour words and…
Joonas Ilmavirta
- 113,294
- 21
- 192
- 587
17
votes
2 answers
In Classical Latin, what was the geographic extent of "Asia"?
On the first page of Lingua Latina per se Illustrata, students review a map of the Roman Empire, which is marked with the names of three continents and several smaller regions. The borders of the continents, however, are not shown, leading to some…
Nathaniel is protesting
- 11,379
- 4
- 40
- 119
17
votes
1 answer
What's the difference between amare and diligere?
In honor of the day (at least in the US): what specific differences can we point to in the usage of amo and diligo, as well as their corresponding nouns amor and dilectio?
Lewis and Short indicates:
amo means "to like, to love (ἐράω, φιλέω) both in…
brianpck
- 40,688
- 5
- 94
- 204
17
votes
2 answers
Do *Mundi* and *Mundum* mean different things?
I came across this expression in the book: The Invisible Man, (H.G. Wells)
Griffin contra mundum...with a vengeance
From my very basic knowledge of Latin (I'm a Bio. student) I take it that contra mundum literally translates to "Against the…
paracetamol
- 273
- 2
- 7
17
votes
1 answer
What did the Romans consider the "basic" form of a verb?
Many of us are used to using the (active present) infinitive form of a verb as a "label" or "basic form" or "representative" of the verb.
By this I refer to uses like dictionary entries or grammatical statements similar to "the active indicative…
Joonas Ilmavirta
- 113,294
- 21
- 192
- 587
17
votes
2 answers
How to read mathematics out loud?
Reading symbolic mathematical expressions out loud in any language is mainly folklore: everyone in the field knows how to do it but finding explicit written instructions is surprisingly hard.
I have yet to find good written instructions for any…
Joonas Ilmavirta
- 113,294
- 21
- 192
- 587
17
votes
2 answers
What do animals say in classical Latin?
It is well known that the way animals "speak" is amusingly different in different languages.
(See lion below.)
This makes it hard to guess what kinds of words the Romans would have put in the mouths of various animals.
Are there attested animal…
Joonas Ilmavirta
- 113,294
- 21
- 192
- 587
17
votes
6 answers
Difference between "Lacrimosa" and "Lacrymosa"
This movement from Mozart's Requiem is known as either "Lacrimosa" or "Lacrymosa" (see for instance the Wikipedia article, which uses both spellings).
Why is there two different spellings and which one is considered correct (if any)?
laurent
- 273
- 3
- 7
17
votes
2 answers
What is the most neutral word for "shield"?
As you know, Latin language has several terms for what we call "shield", namely clipeus, scutum, parma, pelta etc. I'm just wondering which among them is the most "neutral" or "common" word that referring "shields", or is there perhaps a blanket…
broccoli forest
- 395
- 4
- 10
17
votes
4 answers
Why do fear clauses invert the meaning of ut and ne?
In a fear clause, we'd write something like this:
Timeo ne angue necer
I fear I will be killed by a dragon
As usual, my Latin writing is bad, and I only barely remember passive subjunctive. Please correct as needed.
But that doesn't make sense. In…
anon
17
votes
2 answers
Is there a difference between 'a' and 'de' when the meaning is 'from'?
The Latin preposition de takes an ablative object and has several different translations including 'about', 'of', 'down from' and 'from'. The preposition a/ab also has multiple meanings including 'after', 'by' and 'from'.
Both words can mean 'from'.…
LJD200
- 271
- 1
- 5
17
votes
1 answer
Are there Latin words known only by reconstruction from Romance languages?
I presume that many Latin words made it to the Romance languages, but were never attested in writing, whether because they were limited to Vulgar Latin or just because by chance no writer used them in texts we now have.
We can still reconstruct the…
Joshua Fox
- 545
- 2
- 10
17
votes
1 answer
What are the relative frequencies of cases in Latin?
Latin has seven cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative, vocative, locative.
What are their relative frequencies in classical Latin?
I suppose an answer would have to be based on analyzing an annotated corpus or something…
Joonas Ilmavirta
- 113,294
- 21
- 192
- 587
17
votes
1 answer
Meaning of "cum inter nonnullos"
I'm reading The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco, which has a lot of Latin phrases and expressions, since the story is set in the 14th century and the protagonist is a franciscan friar. The expression I'm having trouble with is "cum inter…
franksands
- 365
- 2
- 7
17
votes
2 answers
Nonne "a fortiori, a priori, a posteriori" solecismi sunt?
Are the terms a fortiori, a priori, and a posteriori bad Latin? If so, how and when did they become established?
I understand that the dative case never takes a preposition in Latin—a most welcome clue in a language where the dative and ablative…
Ben Kovitz
- 15,914
- 2
- 32
- 86