Caesar wrote in De Bello Gallico: "Ea nascuntur alces, animalia quae reliquis in locis visa non sint.". Why didn't he simply write "alibi" there? Is there a difference in meaning? And why doesn't "in" go before "reliquiis"? Did he maybe mean "by other (people) in (other) places"?
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2If your text has reliquiis rather than reliquis it's wrong.– CairnarvonCommented Sep 18, 2021 at 21:58
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@Cairnarvon What is the difference? Is reliquiis a noun and reliquis an adjective, or?– FlatAssemblerCommented Sep 19, 2021 at 12:03
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3Reliquis is from the adjective reliquus 'remaining', reliquiis would have to be from the noun reliquiae 'remains' (a plurale tantum).– CairnarvonCommented Sep 19, 2021 at 14:40
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1 Answer
The difference is the same as the difference between "elsewhere" and "in other places" in English. Latin is a language, it has multiple ways to express a given concept.
Single-syllable prepositions, and especially cum, dē, ex, and in, will often be placed between the adjective and noun following it. You can see this as a kind of hyperbaton if you like, but it's idiomatic and very common.
Reliquis in locis is definitely a coherent prepositional phrase, and reliquis cannot mean "by others"—an ablative of personal agent requires a preposition ab/ā.
answered Sep 18, 2021 at 21:56
