Questions tagged [grammar-identification]
Use this tag when asking about a grammatical structure you cannot name and want explained.
183
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What's the grammatical role of "mille passus" in this sentence?
In chapter XII of the 2003 edition of Lingua latina per se illustrata, one can read the following sentence (lines 93-94):
Aemilius in castrīs habitat mīlle passūs ā fīne imperīi.
I understand its ...
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1
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What is this word and what is it doing?
I'm reading Ανάβασις by Xenophon. Here Klearchos has basically said: "someone else might want to command at this point".
ὡς δὲ τῷ ἀνδρὶ ὃν ἂν ἕλησθε πείσομαι ᾗ δυνατὸν μάλιστα, ἵνα εἰδῆτε ...
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What's the meaning of "soli" in this sentence?
I found the following sentence in https://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Victimae_paschali_laudes:
Credendum est magis soli Mariae veraci quam ...
This appears to be literally translated into
More ...
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What's the role of the word "scribam" in this Cicero's sentence?
This sentence comes from a letter by Cicero to Atticus written when the former is in exile. It can be found in Epistulae ad Atticum 3, 5:
Ad te quid scribam nescio.
I understand that "nescio&...
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What does "pares" mean in this sentence from the "Living Latin" reader?
I am having trouble understanding this sentence from Living Latin: A Graded Reader:
Pro isto vestro in me officio pares agere gratias vix possum, referre nequaquam!
I guess it means something like
...
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4
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On the mechanics of reality
How would you say "on the mechanics of reality"
I'm not happy with my own translation but I can't quite put the finger of what im doing wrong
Help!
6
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"Sibi quisque nunc nominet eos quibus scit et vinum male credi et sermonem bene"
In Seneca's Moral Letters (letter 83):
Sibi quisque nunc nominet eos quibus scit et vinum male credi et sermonem bene.
How to parse the bold part grammatically? why are vinum and sermo in the ...
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Why is "se" used with "secum" in this quote from Livy?
In this quote from Livy (6.8.6):
"ita quocumque se intulisset victoriam secum haud dubiam trahebat."
"thus, in whatever direction he went, he carried certain victory with him."
...
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"minae quibus usque ad mortem timeri parum est."
In Letter 92 of Senecas's Moral Letters:
Sed tunc quoque cum inter homines est, <non> timet ullas post mortem minas eorum quibus usque ad mortem timeri parum est.
I don't quite understand how ...
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What conjunctive function does "ruat caelum" have in "Fiat justitia, ruat caelum"?
"Fiat justitia, ruat caelum" is often rendered as "May justice be done though heaven falls/may fall".
While I have no problem with the translation of "Fiat justitia", I ...
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Can we use the infinitive instead of supine with verbs of motion?
I was reading the verb "venio" in my dictionary and I saw this "venire populare" "to come to devastate". Then I checked my grammar about final clauses, and I didn't see ...
user11898
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Any idea what's going on with the middle term of this dedication?
So I think the words are clear enough—Nobilissimo Principi FREDERICO GEORGII ffilio Celsissimi, GEORGII Nep: Augustissimi, CAESARI destinato, M. BRITANNIAE spei, Delicijs, Animaq. desideratissimae, ...
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What are the usages of the doubting clauses here?
On P327 in Section 116. Doubting Clauses of Keller's Learn to Read Latin:
When an indirect question introduced by num, an (whether), or another interrogative word is preceded by a verb or other ...
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2
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Can Latin do Noun-Noun Adjuncts?
First, to begin, I'm a hobbyist with no formal background whatsoever in Latin. I only know what I can manage to successfully google and read on my own.
Anyway, I've read that Latin can't use nouns as ...
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Is the declension of "-ides" on Wiktionary wrong?
I found the suffix -ides tagged as "3rd. decl." on Wiktionary, with "-idis" as its genitive.
But as I learnt, the patronymic suffix -ides is a Greek-type 1st. decl. suffix (e.g. L&...
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Is there something special about "corpus"?
Metamorphoses Book V, the story of Proserpina. At this point Ceres has just thrown some soup in an impertinent man's face and turned him into a lizard (as you do).
mirantem flentemque et tangere ...
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Can a noun be qualified by two juxtaposed adjectives?
I read online (I'm sorry, I can't remember where) that if two adjectives refer to the same noun, you have to use a conjunction like "et" or "-que".
Socrates sapiens senex vir est. ...
user11979
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"nemo aliquid facit nisi qui" + indicative or subjunctive
In another question, a reference was given to Varro:
De subus nemini ignotum, nisi qui apros non putat sues vocari.
which was translated as:
As to swine, everybody knows — except those who think ...
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How is this perfect passive participle being used?
From Metamorphoses book II:
nec minus Heliades fletus et, inania mortimunera, dant lacrimas, et
caesae pectora palmisnon auditurum miseras Phaethonta querellas nocte
dieque vocant adsternunturque ...
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Which inflections of these participles are these, and why?
I'm following an ancient Teach Yourself Ancient Greek course. This is from a (presumably highly simplified) version of Xenophon's account of Spartan education:
βελτιον γαρ ἐστιν, ὡς φασιν, ὀλιγον ...
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How to determine when a noun is an objective genitive versus a subjective genitive?
St. Augustine writes in Soliloq. i, 10:
nihil esse sentio quod magis ex arce deiiciat animum virilem quam blandimenta feminæ, corporumque ille contactus sine quo uxor haberi non potest.
Is the ...
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Use of gerund with ablative of means or method
A beginner's question: when using an ablative of means/method where the means/method in question is a verb, does that verb take the gerund ablative form? This is the sentence which prompted the ...
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Correct way of writing "Lying is unforgivable" in Latin?
I'm curious if "Mendacium est irremissibile" is correct or even close, or would it be rearranged to "Mendacium irremissibile est"
6
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Ecquis as a modifying adjective
I'm unsure of the bolded part of the sentence:
Haec prima sententia est, quam ut clarius explicemus, diligenter attendendum venit, ecquis iuxta hanc sententiam tum in electionis tum in reprobationis ...
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Usage of passive in Summa Theologiae
This may be a simple question or may be answered elsewhere already, but I’m curious about the usage of the passive in the following simple sentence from Aquinas:
“Ad secundum sic proceditur”
He re-...
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How would you say “return to the stars” in Latin?
How would you say “return to the stars” in Latin in the form of a command for instance. Does not need to be an aggressive version of the commas, simply a pleading.
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Questions for Epistula XCVII (Trajan to Pliny)
Si deferantur et arguantur, puniendi sunt, ita tamen ut qui negaverit 'se Christianum esse' idque re ipsa manifestum fecerit, id est supplicando dis nostris, quamvis suspectus in praeteritum, veniam ...
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0
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Case Analysis - which of two potential alternatives is correct?
I have several sentences from c1700 of the form:
Ad hanc Curiam venit Johannes unus Tenentium Custumariorum hujus Manerii qui tenuit sibi pro termino vitæ suæ naturalis per Copiam Curiae Rotuli gerens ...
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Infinitive with “cum”
Hi all—I’m making my way through De Bello Gallico and came across the following (from Ch. 3): “His rebus adducti et auctoritate Orgetorigis permoti, constituerunt ea quae ad proficiscendum pertineret ...
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Use of "if" in a translation of Pliny the Elder's Natural History
Following John Bostock's 1855 translation of Pliny the Elder: The Natural History, II 44–45:
I know not whether she ought not to be considered as our instructress in everything that can be known ...
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Passive verbal noun, oblique cases
As far as I know, present infinitive is used as verbal noun for the nominative and accusative, and gerund is used as verbal noun in other oblique cases (genitive, dative and ablative).
I would like to ...
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Non prævalebunt adversus/adversum eam
After several years, a Bible verse I thought I knew well just blew my mind. (Well, they sometimes do, but not in the grammatical sense.)
Namely, Mt 16:18 says,
And so I say to you, you are Peter, and ...
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1
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What does "Vírgines téneræ" mean?
I´m a native Spanish speaker and I´m reading the book "Método para aprender latín" by Hermann Schnitzler. Right now, I am doing the exercises of the lesson VI (gender of words from the third ...
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2
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Double (identical) subject
What does one call a construction like;
The father works as a physician.
which becomes:
Pater medicus laborat.
Where we have multiple subjects. Now I now "medicus" would be the predicate ...
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"quae haec mihi dōna dedistī"
In the story "Atalanta" in Fābulae Syrae by Luigi Miraglia, Venus gives Hippomenes three golden apples to throw during a foot race with Atalanta, to distract her. As he throws the third ...
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1
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Can someone explain this construction?
I'm trying to read the opening (Latin) poem of Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy.
Here's a link to the page in the edition.
The title is Democritus Junior ad Librum Suum. For some reason ...
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Sentence in Rhetorica ad Herennium
Iste, inquies, qui se dici divitem putat esse praeclarum, primum nunc videte, quo vultu nos intueatur: ...
(IV. 63)
What's the structure of the qui-clause?
Should it be
qui(:=iste) putat [se dici ...
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1
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Questions for sentences in Phaedrus's «Aesopus Latinus»
I have some problems in understanding these sentences in Phaedrus, III.7 (the wolf and the dog):
Canis simpliciter: "Eadem est condiciō tibi, praestāre dominō sī pār officium potes."
Why ...
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Can an adjective modify a pronoun or an unmentioned subject in Latin?
In English it's quite awkward to modify a pronoun with an adjective. You can say: 'He, angered, answered the door' but that's not recommended. I just assumed that that rule applied to Latin as well ...
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Question for DE SERMONE COTIDIANO
I am reading the adaptation of De Sermone Cotidiano in Lingua Latina: Sermones Romani.
In the Discipulus (II) section, there is the sentence:
Inter haec iussū magistrī surgunt pusillī ad elementa, et ...
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1
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Non Nobis Domine - Sed nomini or nomine
Non nobis Domine, Domine
Non nobis Domine
Sed nomini, Sed nomini
Tuo da gloriam
Referring to the third line in Non Nobis Domine, I have seen this phrase written both 'Sed nomine' and 'Sed nomini'. In ...
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"utrum quod celebrem sit documento necne": why documento and not documentum
In Latin translation of the Analects (didn't find who are the translator(s)) we read in Chapter 1, verse 4:
Cotidie de tribus rebus me examino: utrum ...; utrum....; utrum quod celebrem sit documento ...
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6
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1
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"Quam" as relative pronoun or conjunction?
In LLpsI 38:106:
Italia, ..., longō cursū abs tē dīviditur: prius circum Siciliam tibi nāvigandum est quam in illā terrā urbem condere poteris.
What is the role of quam here?
If it is relative, what ...
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0
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Is "dante" a participle in Ps 103:28
What parts of the verb are dante and aperiente in Ps 103:28 (Vulgate)?
dante te illis colligent aperiente te manum tuam omnia implebuntur bonitate.
My guess is the ablative of the present participle (...
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1
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Simplex sigillum veri
G. Polya in How to Solve It translates simplex sigillum veri as "simplicity is the seal of truth".* In this discussion on latindiscussion.com, most people seemed to agree that the Latin is ...
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5
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1
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Question for a sentence in Adelphoe
In Terence's Adelphoe 3.4, there is:
fient quae fieri aequum est omnia.
omnia, quae, fient are all plural, why is aequum est singular, what is the role of quae in its clause?
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2
votes
2
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What happened to the expected -ε- thematic vowel in present active indicative 1 p sg and 3 p pl?
I am trying to understand how Greek verbs are formed, having just begun learning their formation in present active indicative. The model verb used is λύω, which I understand to be formed as such:
...
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1
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Questions about some sentences
I met some sentences in Lingua Latin per se Illustrata: Roma Aeterna that I can hardly understand:
Hīc Aenēās genitōrem Anchīsēn āmīsit, ille enim cōnfectus aetāte ē vītā excessit — nēquīquam ex ...
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When to use present form for a past thing?
I'm reading the passage about the Trojan War in Lingua Latina per se Illustrata: Roma Aeterna (Ch. 37).
The verbs are mostly in past forms (imperf., perf. or plup.), but in line 140~142:
Aenēās vērō, ...
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1
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Sentences hard to understand (LLpsI)
Ecce eī in somnō appāruit maestissimus Hector, fīlius Priamī mortuus — sed quālis erat, quantum mūtātus ab illō Hectore quī ex tot proeliīs victor redierat!
Sordidam barbam crīnēsque cruentōs gerēbat ...
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