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Cum cucurbitis aegris ex aqua
In his 1924's "Autobiography", Serbian author Branislav Nušić mocks doctors' habit of speaking Latin in presence of a patient to justify higher fees:
Then they switched to Latin to impress my parents and justify a higher fee:
"Volete ire, collegae,…
Quassnoi
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Understanding the stem(s) of 'struere'
The present, perfect, and participle stems1 of the verb struere are stru-, strux-, and struct-.
The -s- in the perfect stem and the -t- in the participle stem are nothing unusual, but they seem to follow a consonant that is absent from the present…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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What is an Adverbial Accusative?
In book II, line 141 of Vergil's Aeneid (shown at the end of the question), my notes describe the first word 'quod' as an 'adverbial accusative', but no explanation as to what that means.
So my question simply is, what is an adverbial accusative,…
Cataline
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What is the difference between accusative and genitive with meminisse?
The verb meminisse can take an accusative or a genitive object.
Also other constructions are possible (see the entry in L&S), but I want to focus on comparing these two in classical Latin.
Are the accusative and genitive always interchangeable?
Does…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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12
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Do Roman numerals stand for something?
This may be an incredibly obvious question, but if so it's not immediately clear to me and probably deserves a question here.
Two Roman numerals seem to have an obvious parallel to an existing word:
M = 1000 = mille
C = 100 = centum
The rest,…
brianpck
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12
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3 answers
En Marche ! in Latin
Macron's victory in France has got me wondering what would be the best way to capture the phrase "En Marche" in Latin?
My first thought was to use the incedere with perhaps prorsus, but the English meaning of "to march" is probably intruding into my…
cmw
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12
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Is the Spanish translation of the "Exultet" chant literal?
I am reading the Exultet, an ancient Christian chant.
The first two lines are:
Exultet iam angelica turba caelorum,
exultent divina mysteria
In the Spanish translation, these two lines are:
Exulten por fin los coros de los ángeles,
Exulten…
luchonacho
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12
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Is "victa serpente" an ablative absolute?
I'm reading Ovid's Metamorphoses, and there's this sentence:
Delius hunc nuper, victa serpente superbus,
viderat adducto flectentem cornua nervo
“quid” que “tibi, lascive puer, cum fortibus armis?”
dixerat: ...
emphasis mine
The phrase…
anon
12
votes
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What are the arguments for Classical pronunciations vs. Ecclesiastical pronunciation?
I know to some degree it's a matter of taste, but are the arguments for one pronunciation being used over another? Is it simply a matter of taste, or are there claims that one is "correct" and another is not?
As a personal note, this always trips me…
James Kingsbery
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Can masculine 1st-decl. nouns be feminine? (e.g. "Nauta perita"?)
Certain nouns, including agricola, nauta, athleta, pirata, and others, are classified in textbooks as masculine. But are these always masculine, even when referring to a female, as in "Haec femina est nauta peritus"? Or should it be nauta perita,…
fpsvogel
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The many forms of William?
In my genealogical research in England I have come across many different spellings of the name William in Latin documents: Gulielmus, Guglielmus, Wilhelmus, Willelmus, to name just a few.
I know that spelling was not standardised in most languages…
Harry Vervet
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Can esse be used with a present participle?
I do not recall ever seeing esse in any form used with active present participles (like faciens).
One could imagine something similar to the English distinction between "he does" and "he is doing" in Latin: facit ≠ faciens est.
I do not claim that…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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When to use -ris vs. -re as a passive verbal ending
Anyone who has read Cicero's famous line,
Quo usque tandem, Catalina, abutere patientia nostra?
...knows that the 2nd person singular passive personal ending "-ris" is often changed to "-re":
laudaris > laudare
hortaberis > hortabere
mittaris >…
brianpck
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12
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What is the difference between Iesus and Jesu?
In the Latin version of the Gloria, the name Jesus is rendered as "Domine Fili unigenite Jesu Christe".
However, in the Latin Vulgate, the name of Jesus is rendered as "Iesus". What is the name of Jesus Christ in Latin? Why the difference?
This Guy
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How do you say "perhaps" or "maybe"?
I have a very good guess about how to say "perhaps" or "maybe". But I suspect there are several ways of saying it, with varying degrees of certainty. I wanted to get a better idea.
My guess is this.
fortasse (also fortassis , but rarely, and not in…
ktm5124
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