Questions tagged [dual]
The dual tag has no usage guidance.
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πλήθει, dual use of πλῆθος in Philebus
One word seems to me somehow very strange with its dual number. It is in a passage from Plato's Philebus:
φωνὴ μὲν ἡμῖν ἐστί που μία διὰ τοῦ στόματος ἰοῦσα, καὶ ἄπειρος αὖ
πλήθει, πάντων τε καὶ ...
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How was the "elliptical dual" used?
In a comment on this answer, TKR brought up an interesting point of grammar I'd never heard of.
Αἴαντε [Ajax-DUAL] is an interesting case. Though readers of Homer since antiquity have interpreted ...
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When was the dual number used in Attic Greek?
I have only studied the very basics of Greek years ago, so the question might be simple, but I couldn't find a clear summary anywhere.
Attic Greek has a dual number alongside singular and plural.
When ...
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Was there ever dual conjugation in Latin?
Latin effectively lost its dual number.
It left behind some remnants, most notably duo and ambo.
However, all examples or relics of the dual number in Latin I have seen are in declension.
I would ...
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Remnants of the dual number
To my understanding, Latin doesn't have a dual number at all. The adjectives duo "two" and ambō "both" have some special forms derived from the PIE dual (-ō, -ābus, -ōbus), but are considered ...