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From this question, I'm curious what the poet is doing with quam Karus:

Sic fugiens, dux, zelotypos quam Karus haberis.

Thus fleeing, O leader, you are regarded with jealousy like Karus.

Imagery aside, it looks unusual to me, since zelotypos isn't a comparative.

I'm not so sure section 9 under L&S works applies here.

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    Is the os at the end of zelotypos meant to represent the Greek adverbial ending -ως? I've also seen versions of this line where the word is given as zelotypus (m. nom. sg.). Either way, perhaps tam has been ellipsed before zelotypos/zelotypus? Ellipsis of the demonstrative member of a correlative pair is pretty common. In that case, the line could mean 'you're regarded with as much jealousy [zelotypos] as Karus' or 'you're considered as jealous [zelotypus] as Karus').
    – cnread
    May 8, 2017 at 16:57
  • @cnread Fairly certain it's a Greek nominative. I'm also fairly certain you're right, so you should turn that into an answer (with examples, if you can).
    – cmw
    May 8, 2017 at 17:04
  • Ah well, Joonas has beaten me to it. It's strange though: 'with jealousy' in the translation that you quoted does seem to point to an adverb (i.e., zelotypos = ζηλοτύπως) rather than a nom.sg. adjective, don't you think? (I just checked LSJ, and the Greek adverb is attested.)
    – cnread
    May 8, 2017 at 20:15
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    @cnread Do you have stats on how often the Greek adverb is used? Even as it stands, you have enough for an answer (at least in my opinion). I had guessed at tam...quam, but I didn't consider the Greek adverb at all!
    – cmw
    May 8, 2017 at 20:36
  • @cnread I had meant to write that answer for a while, but I was distracted by work. I didn't realize the possibility to parse it as a Greek adverb. That would make an interesting answer. There is nothing wrong with having several answers even if they are similar (quite the opposite, really), and in this case you have something crucial to add.
    – Joonas Ilmavirta
    May 8, 2017 at 20:56

1 Answer 1

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I don't think any comparison is implied. I would read quam Karus as "(just) like Karus", as in the translation you give.

L&S says that quam can be used with an elliptic tam (II.A.2). In this reading quam does not seem to differ much from sicut. That is, zelotypos quam Karus haberis ≈ tam zelotypos quam Karus haberis ≈ zelotypos haberis sicut Karus.

I am not sure if sic and quam should be parsed as a pair in the spirit of II.A.9 in L&S. I would rather consider them separate, with an implicit tam to go with quam.

I got the impression that zelotypus is typically spelled with -us. The word seems to have a Greek origin, so the Grecism in the nominative is understandable. Choosing between the nominative endings has no effect on whether all letters of the alphabet are covered or not.

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