Questions tagged [comparative]

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multo/magno in comparative adjectives

In the sentence "Hi milites sunt magno meliores viribus quam illi." can "multo" substitute for "magno"?
Euler's user avatar
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13 votes
4 answers
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To what extent are Koine and modern Greek mutually intelligible?

How difficult would it be for a person who knows Koine Greek to communicate with a native speaker of modern Greek, aside from the non-existence of words for modern inventions?
Someone's user avatar
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-4 votes
1 answer
51 views

What is a list of 2 or 3 english words which somtimes make good substitutes for the word "quam"?

If you were to fill in the blank cell of the following table with an English word, what would you write? ego beatior sum quam ille I happier I am he
Samuel Muldoon's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
119 views

Are "ἑκάτερος" and "ἕκαστος" different degrees of the same adjective?

ἕκαστος (hekastos) means "each of many"; ἑκάτερος (hekateros) means "each of two." These forms look (respectively) like the superlative and comparative degree of the same word *...
brianpck's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
278 views

Translating "venustiorum" in Catullus 3

I am curious about the use of the comparative form of venustus in the opening sentence of Catullus 3: Lugete, o Veneres Cupidinesque, et quantum est hominum venustiorum. The translations I've read ...
manthanomen's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
196 views

How do you say "5 times easier than" or "x times easier" in Latin?

I put in packhum #bis# ~ difficil. And nothing came up, same with 'facil'. I looked in the L&S dictionary under 'totiens' hoping that would shed some light but it did not. Perhaps the Romans ...
bobsmith76's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
331 views

How are the objects of comparatives handled grammatically?

I am doing some Latin exercises and the sentences are given as the following (by Rosetta Stone): Puer plus lactis habet quam vir. Femina plures canes habet quam vir. In the first case ("more ...
Tyler Durden's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
117 views

"Multi quidem facilius se abstinent ut non utantur, quam temperent ut bene utantur" (the usage of comparatives)

From Augustine De Bono Coniugali: Multi quidem facilius se abstinent ut non utantur, quam temperent ut bene utantur. While the meaning of the sentence is clear, I'm not sure about the grammatical ...
d_e's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
435 views

Why does "Hominem unius libri timeo" use comparativus unius instead of positivus unum?

Why does "Hominem unius libri timeo" use comparativus unius instead of positivus unum? Does it mean "I fear a man of one book (more)"? Or does that unius belong to hominem because ...
oguzalb's user avatar
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8 votes
3 answers
485 views

Is this Latin statement idiomatic? (Can't quite link it to the English translation)

Consider the Bible verse 1 Corinthians 1:25. There are varied English translations of this verse (see here). The two most common are: For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of ...
luchonacho's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
707 views

Optimus and the comparative and superlative uses of adjectives in Latin

What are the superlative and comparative forms of "optimus"? Why is it also used as a simple adjective, meaning simply "excellent" and not a comparative? Isn't "optimus" a suppletive comparative for ...
Quidam's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
173 views

Grammatical analysis of comparative parts (i.e. "tam … quam", etc.)

I have the following sentence from Seneca, epistula 1, §2: "Cum placuerit fieri, toto illum pectore admitte; tam audaciter cum illo loquere quam tecum." However, I'm not sure what the "tam audaciter ...
Niels Thogersen's user avatar
13 votes
4 answers
1k views

Comparison of participles

Participles behave much like adjectives. Do they also have comparative and superlative forms? They are easy enough to form: ferentior, dicturissimus. More precisely, are any comparatives or ...
Joonas Ilmavirta's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
289 views

Ablative of Comparison w/ Relative Pronoun?

Fairly frequently in Latin one encounters a "backwards" comparison, in which the relative pronoun in the ablative precedes the term of comparison. ...philosophiam ad te adlegem, qua nec ...
Kingshorsey's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
432 views

Why is the comparative adjective of "clarus" not "clariusis"?

The neuter genitive singular comparative of clarus is clarioris. Why is this? Shouldn't it be 'clariusis', since the form of neuter adjectives in the comparative form ends on -us?
Tanius's user avatar
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4 votes
0 answers
60 views

Misquoting Linnaeus or correcting him?

I found a couple books that quote the introduction to the Systema Naturæ thus: Tanto igitur magis nosse naturam operæ pretium, quo nullum majus est! Linnaeus actually wrote: Tanto igitur magis ...
Ben Kovitz's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
156 views

In the sentence "Glory is better than fame", is "fame" a predicate nominative?

With the intent of translating this sentence to Latin, what case is the word "fame"?
FieryPhoenix's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
152 views

Comparative applied to things other than adjectives or adverbs

How would you say the following sentences in Latin? He reads more books than his friend. (comparative applied to countable things) He is the one that has more books. He eats more sugar than his ...
Alfie González's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
186 views

When did plus and minus start to mean mathematical operations?

The Latin adverbs plus and minus mean "more" and "less". They are also neuter compatative adjectives. In all languages I know these two words are used for mathematical the operations of addition and ...
Joonas Ilmavirta's user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
754 views

Jenney's First Year Latin, Lesson 37, comparatives with "quam"

I'd like some clarification on which cases are appropriate during the use of the word "quam" with comparatives. I'm teaching Jenney's First-Year Latin (1990). In Lesson 37 (page 426 of the 1990 ...
BrennickC's user avatar
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15 votes
2 answers
726 views

Are there many irregular adjectives for the Latin comparison?

I just learned the comparison for adjectives. Most adjectives have regular conjugations (every case/grammatical gender has its own output). But I learned a few irregular adjectives as well (all in ...
L. Peters's user avatar
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