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Does there exist an passive form of sum, esse, fui?
I've never seen anything except this provide passive forms of the verb esse. And even with that most of the passive forms are crossed out. Why is this? It would make sense for there to be no passive forms of esse, because of the structure of…
tox123
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Are vowels long before "gn"?
Allen and Greenough, §10d, provide a general rule:
A vowel before ns, nf, gn, is long: as in cōnstāns, īnferō, māgnus [emphasis modified]
This seems to agree with Priscian:
'gnus' quoque vel 'gna' vel 'gnum' terminantia longam habent vocalem…
Nathaniel is protesting
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what does “less correctly” mean in the Lewis & Short?
1.
L&S: caenum (less correctly coenum)
L&S: cena (not coena, caena)
It seems “coenum” and “coena” both are medieval spellings which were straight borrowed from Greek. So both of them should be completely incorrect, right?
2.
L&S: contio (less…
nye
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Most used word for "quince" in classical Latin
A typical Spanish dessert is the quince jelly (Spanish: carne/dulce de membrillo), which is also known as codoñate in areas of Catalan influence. Now, the Spanish word for quince is membrillo, which comes from Latin melimēlum 'honey apple'. But…
Charlie
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What is the difference between "novi" and "scio"?
Latin has at least two words that straightforwardly translate to English "know":
novi (perf. of nosco)
scio
Plautus combines the two pleonastically:
nec vos qui homines sitis novi nec scio
Here's one way of asking my question: Are there any…
brianpck
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11
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Tantibus: genuine Latin word, or made-up?
I came across the word tantibus while reading this page (as part of a bigger word, amalgotantibus), where it's claimed to be Latin for "nightmare"; a little bit of digging also revealed that it's the basis for the name of a My Little Pony:…
MarqFJA87
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What makes a syllable "heavy" or "light"?
The rules for positioning of syllable stress in Latin are relatively simple; they are as follows:
In two-syllable words, the stress always falls on the first syllable.
In three or more syllable words, the stress falls like so:
a. If the…
Ethan Bierlein
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Is -um (instead of -ōrum) a typical genitive plural ending outside of poetry?
I understand that Vergil often uses the -um genitive plural ending for some second declension nouns, instead of -ōrum. For example:
huc delecta virum sortiti corpora furtim (Aeneid, Book II, line 18)
Allen & Greenough, §49d, provide a bit of…
Nathaniel is protesting
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Is it possible to predict the gender of nouns?
As you are probably aware, Spanish owes a significant portion of its vocabulary to Latin. An interesting difference however is that Spanish has only two genders for nouns - feminine and masculine. The coincidence of the Spanish gender with that of…
luchonacho
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Why νώ (rather than νῶ) from νόω? (Greek)
Consider these masculine nominative singular and masculine nominative dual forms:
νοῦς, νώ
κανοῦν, κανώ
μνᾶ, μνᾶ
γῆ, γᾶ
I understand that the circumflex in these forms represents an acute accent that used be on the penult before a…
Catomic
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What is "parecbolae"?
Researching an answer for this question, I found a book of regulations of the University of Oxford, dating from the early 19th century. The title is:
I cannot find the meaning of Parecbolae anywhere. L&S returns nothing. If you google that word,…
luchonacho
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11
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Are there any Latin words with sharply contrasting meanings?
The English word madam can mean
A polite form of address for a woman or lady.
(slang) A woman who runs a brothel, particularly one that specializes in finding prostitutes for rich and important clients.
(Wiktionary)
These two meanings stand in…
ktm5124
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Aut "rex Azteca" aut "rex Aztecus"?
In Spanish, azteca as an adjective doesn't seem to inflect for gender, though it does for number: azteca, aztecas. Hence the phrase el rey azteca.
In Italian, azteco seems to be a perfectly regular adjective.
What precedent is there for preferring…
Ben Kovitz
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"How about" in Latin
How do you propose an idea for someone else to accept, reject, or counteroffer, as in this conversation?
A. Where would you like to have dinner tonight?
B. How about Rex Aztecorum on Fourth Street?
I'm thinking that visne is not quite right,…
Ben Kovitz
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11
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Relationship between early Latin and Greek?
I am just restarting my schoolgirl Latin, but have already become fascinated with its links to Greek. According to Wheelock, whom I have absolutely no right to question, both Latin and Greek are independently descended from PIE, with no direct input…
TheHonRose
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