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What are the origins of the two Latin names for boron, borium and boracium?
On Latin Wikipedia, there are a number of chemical elements with two Latin names, e.g. boron being borium and boracium. (Another example being nitrogen: nitrogenium or azotum.)
What is the etymology of borium and boracium and in what context should…
Earthliŋ
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Is there a semantic difference between the two perfect tenses in medieval Latin?
In medieval Latin active perfect forms started to use the auxiliary verb habere with perfect participle.
Thus amavi would be replaced with amatum habeo.
These two constructions must have coexisted for some time.
Was there any semantic difference…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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What is a skeleton called?
Other than homo osseus, are there any words for skeleton? In the sense of an enemy of in a video game or similar media, I would use larva, or "evil spirit." But, what about a formation of bones: a model skeleton, or human/animal remains? Are there…
Middle School Historian
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What does the suffix -mentum add to a word's meaning?
Lewis and Short lists 275 words ending in -mentum, many of which have come into English:
argumentum
augmentum
documentum
fragmentum
pigmentum
segmentum
etc.
Wiktionary (cited as an example, not as an authority) says that it is:
derived from the…
brianpck
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14
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Does liberi only refer to free children?
This issue came up in an answer and comments to this earlier question about comparing liberi and filii, and I think it's important enough to be treated in a separate question.
Also, the answer to this one is not really crucial for the other…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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14
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2 answers
What's the difference between nam and enim?
Both nam and enim are generally defined as meaning "for," the only difference between them being that nam comes first in a clause and that enim is postpositive (i.e., it comes second).
Is there a semantic difference between them?
Joel Derfner
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14
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Abbreviations in Latin dictionaries, especially Lewis and Short
When reading Lewis and Short online1, I have occasional trouble figuring out what the various abbreviations mean.
This includes authors and their works, but, more importantly to me, also other abbreviations.
At least this particular version does not…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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14
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Why do Latin nouns (like cena, -ae) include two forms?
So I recently learned the first declension nouns concept and my list of new vocabularies to learn suddenly changed.
Words were usually presented as:
sagitta
pecunia
etc.
Now, they indicate the following:
casa, -ae, fem
cena, -ae, fem,
etc.
I…
copper
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Research or other reliable statistics about Latin proficiency today
I would like to know how many people understand Latin fluently.
To that end, I would like to find research or statistics concerning Latin proficiency.
I am not asking how many people have studied Latin, but how many people are actually capable of…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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14
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Where does our knowledge of the ancient poetic meters come from?
I have seen several accounts of ancient poetic meters, but it just occurred to me that none of them discussed the origin of the information.
Where does our knowledge of the ancient poetic meters come from?
Was the theory explained by ancient…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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14
votes
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Translating "Nocte volat caelī mediō"
Line 184 of Vergil's Aeneid, Book IV, begins as follows:
Nocte volat caelī mediō
Would this be translated as "She of the sky flies in the middle of the night", or "At night she flies in the middle of the sky"? I remember learning that "medius,…
Sapphira
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When did the silencing of 'h' start?
I am reading (a bilingual version of) Augustine's Confessions, and I stumbled upon:
si contra disciplinam grammaticam sine adspiratione primae syllabae hominem dixerit (1.18.29)
Roughly translated to: "if, against the rules of grammar, one…
G Frazao
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What was the symbol used for 'one thousand' in Ancient Rome?
I saw an episode of QI (Quite Interesting, a British 'quiz' show that just sort of presents trivia). I don't know the episode or when it was produced (I've searched for it on youtube but haven't found it yet).
On this episode one of the questions…
Mitch
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Why is suus in the accusative feminine singular in this sentence?
I'm a very new Latin learner - I'm using Lingua Latina as my primary text to become fluent in reading (with the 'college' supplement and other texts for additional clarification).
I'm on chapter 6 (line number 20), and there is a sentence that I can…
Dave Johnson
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What is the optative?
Some conjunctive forms end in -im (and -is, -it, -imus, -itis, -int), but this is rare.
The examples I recall are sim, possim, velim, nolim, malim, and duim (alternative to dem).
These forms are sometimes explained to derive from an optative mood…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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