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Salvete,

How would I sign my name at the end of a letter in Latin? Would the Nominative (Paulus) case be the normal way? Or do I need the ablative (Paulō) to imply "from/by Paulus"?

Gratias vobis ago.

Paulus/Paulō ??

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The final chapter of Milena Minkova's introductory textbook on composition is about letter writing. The classical examples she gives put the name of the sender in the nominative at the beginning, not at the end, with the addressee in the dative, typically a with term of endearment.

Tullius Terentiae suae (Tully to his Terentia)

These letters typically end with vale or valete or any one of many alternatives. In the Vulgate, Saint Paul ends his with a blessing. He mentions his name, however, at the end of 1 Corinthians, at the end of Colossians, and at the end of 2 Thessalonians, Salutatio mea manu Pauli (in the hand of Paul).

Vatican decreta, for what it's worth, are typically signed at the bottom, like our modern day letters, preceded by the location and date of the signature. An example from my prayer book:

Ex aedibus Congregationis pro Cultu Divino, die 7 aprilis 1985, dominica Paschae, in Resurectione Domini.

Augustinus Mayer, Pro-Praefectus

Vergilius Noe, a Secretis

Which means, I think, that Augustinus authorized the decretum, which Vergilius wrote.

Prefaces to books are also written in a similar style, but I can't seem to find an example easily. It's not obvious that Kurt Aland, Barbara Aland, Michael Hetzenauer, or Roger Gryson, who wrote prefaces that I have on my shelf, are putting their names in the nominative or simply not declining them.

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