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Manilius nesciebat quid scribebat
When the formidable classicist A. E. Housman published his critical edition of Manilius' Astronomicon, he stated in his infamous preface, "When Scaliger says at v 39 Manilius nesciebat quid scribebat his judgment is sounder than his grammar."
My…
Figulus
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Meaning of "Spiritus Libertatis"
Another question from the frequent latin expressions in Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. Here a character is complaining about evil followers from Spiritus Libertatis. I saw that this could translate to "spirit of freedom", but didn't find any…
franksands
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Why is the proper name Apollos not declined in the Vulgate
Saint Apollos was a companion of Saint Paul mentioned several times in the New Testament. In the Latin Vulgate, his name is transliterated as an indeclinable noun, Apollo. My question is, why was his name not declined? Why not transliterate it as…
Figulus
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In what case is "Venetiarum" in "Patriarchatus Venetiarum"?
Also, is it a noun or an adjective? What's the nominative?
(moved second question here)
Sorry, I'm a total n00b and checked all sorts of declension tables but I just can't figure this one out.
PatVen
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effeminare = evirare (?)
Assuming that (i) the meanings of vir and femina are indeed opposite and (ii) the meaning of the prefix ex- is quite transparent, why are the verbs evirare and effeminare then synonymous? Are there further similar pairs/examples of verbs in…
Mitomino
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Is cultura a future participle?
Some nouns derived from verbs look like future participles: cultura from colere, sepultura from sepelire, scriptura from scribere…
These do not have a future meaning, but are merely names for the activity associated with the verb.
Are they actually…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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On different expressions of partitivity in Latin
I was wondering whether there is any difference between the following partitive expressions in Latin: ūnus tribūnōrum and ūnus ex tribūnīs 'one of the tribunes' (cf. the so-called 'partitive genitive' and prep. ex + ablative, respectively).
Another…
Mitomino
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Were the rules for elision in old Latin more lenient than in classical Latin?
Note: As any reader of the below answer will realise, it turned out I was completely wrong when trying to identify the metre discussed below. Due to this error, assumptions about elisions were made, which necessarily no longer are required. That…
Canned Man
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Which ancient Latin works survived into the Middle Ages or later but are now lost?
While reading Saint Aldhelm's 'Riddles' I saw a reference to Lucan's Orpheus, a Latin poem written in the first century AD. The seventh century writer Aldhelm had a copy of Orpheus, but it is now lost and survives only in quotations from his prose.…
Scott Brown
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What is a leap year in Latin?
Now that it's 29th of February, there is no way not to ask:
What is a leap year in Latin?
Leap month and leap day (mensis/dies intercalaris or intercalarius) are well attested.
In the Julian calendar a leap day is added every four years, whereas…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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Identifying a type of dog transliterated from Latin to Hebrew
This post relates to a medieval Jewish scholar who uses what I believe to be transliterated Latin in his work. Below I provide some basic background to his comment, with the main question beginning below the horizontal rule.
Rabbinic Jewish law…
DonielF
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How do I know if there's an "invisible yod"?
I've been told that the first syllable of abiciō is long by position, because it's actually an underlying *abjiciō, which causes it to be syllabified as *ab-ji-ci-ō before the *ji simplifies to i. So the first syllable has a coda consonant, despite…
Draconis
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Which name came first, Lucius or Λουκᾶς?
The etymology of the name Luke is commonly said to be the Latin name Lucas, itself from Lucius, from the praenomen Lucius, from the root Lux (gen. Lucis).
[A separate etymology says Λουκᾶς/Λουκανός, derived from a term meaning "man from Lucania".…
Johan88
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When to use a genitive pronoun instead of a possessive adjective
The genitive form of the personal pronouns (e.g. mei, tui, nostri, nostrum, etc.) seem to occur fairly often in the following contexts:
Partitive genitive: to indicate a part of some whole.
Quis vestrum non morietur?
Objective genitive
Metus…
brianpck
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Why plural "laudantium" with singular "militiae"?
In the Latin Vulgate, Luke 2:13 is translated:
Et subito facta est cum angelo multitudo militiæ cælestis laudantium
Deum, et dicentium ...
"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying ..."…
LarsH
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