A recent Q concerned the use of "fair enough" at the termination of a conversation/ debate-cum-argument about Brexit, or extending the Empire, or whatever. The OP (What does OP stand for?) advised a Russian colleague, presumably the rest of us, to ask a new Q if we wished to pursue this. What was required, here, was a quote from the literature. Overwhelmed at the prospect of such a search, deployed initiative, a pithy aphorism: "(id est) iustum" giving "well-grounded"; "well-deserved". The OP was, quite naturally, disgruntled; but, failed to respond to the follow-up--how would a Roman have interpreted this; if the Latin is incorrect, why is it?
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1On Stack Exchange sites "OP" usually refers to "original poster" (the one to ask the question that started the whole discussion) or sometimes "original post" (which is essentially equivalent in many situations).– Joonas Ilmavirta ♦Apr 28, 2019 at 16:46
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@tony I sympathise with your point of view, and have appended another answer to the original question, which I hope will clarify things.– Tom CottonApr 30, 2019 at 8:35
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1 Answer
English and Latin tend to express general evaluations differently. English prefers a substantive; Latin uses an adverb.
That's right! = recte
Good job! = bene
That's true! = vere
If I saw id est iustum in Latin, I would expect the id to connect to a relative clause that would provide further elaboration.
E.g., Id est iustum, quod in lege ponitur. (What is written in the law is just.)
