Questions tagged [grammarians]
For questions about grammarians, or people who have studied grammar. Not to be confused with tags related to grammar itself.
32 questions
4
votes
0
answers
96
views
What is the "fairly outdated grammatical apparatus" in Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar?
Please recommend Reference Grammar for someone with an undergraduate degree in Linguistics says:
I don't know if this commenter had known of the 2006 edn of Allen
and Greenough's New Latin
Grammar
...
- 1
4
votes
1
answer
198
views
What is wanting in Gildersleeve's declension charts?
In Gildersleeves Latin Grammar you can find declension charts with the word wanting inserted in 3 places
I
II
III
Nom. a.
us (os) ; wanting ; um (om).
s ; wanting.
Gen. ae (ās, āī, āi).
ī (ēī).
is ...
12
votes
0
answers
304
views
Just how out of date are the major 19th/early 20th century English grammars of Latin (G&L, A&G, Bennett)
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there were a slew of Latin grammars published in English that stuck around are still popular today (in the Anglophone world). A survey of various resources ...
cmw♦
- 58.2k
8
votes
4
answers
931
views
Why is the first person singular the citation form?
In both Latin and Greek, the most common citation form for a verb is the first person singular present indicative active. In other words, dictionaries will generally be indexed by amō and λύω rather ...
- 69.3k
9
votes
1
answer
535
views
Origin of "animabus illis"
In the offertory of the requiem mass there occurs the phrase "tu suscipe pro animabus illis quarum hodie memoriam facimus". I understand that *animabus is used instead of animis, because the ...
- 3,004
12
votes
1
answer
535
views
Numbering of persons
It is conventional to number the three persons of Latin and Greek and many other languages so that the first person is the speaker, the second one is the listener, and the third one is anyone else.
...
- 116k
3
votes
1
answer
236
views
Agreement and possessive genitive
What we do in the following example?
I need to combine two words in a phrase: 'professional' and 'holiday'.
There is no adjective 'professional' in Latin or my searching is bad. So I can use the ...
- 349
5
votes
0
answers
104
views
Did the Romans ever distinguish between present perfective and past aoristic?
The Latin "perfect" forms are a combination of two different tense-aspect combinations: past aoristic ("I ate"), and present perfective ("I have eaten"). The two are generally indistinguishable, but ...
- 69.3k
5
votes
1
answer
116
views
Is there a Latin equivalent to ἐπίκοινος?
The Ancient Greek grammatical tradition, going back to Dionysius Thrax (or maybe farther), distinguishes five types of nouns: masculine, feminine, neuter, common, and epicene (ἐπίκοινος). Four of ...
- 69.3k
2
votes
1
answer
178
views
Is the word nihilanus/nihilumanus properly constructed? (From "nihil/nihilum" meaning "nothing" and the suffix "-anus" to denote origin)
I've been reading that the word silvanus comes from Latin silva (“forest”) + -ānus (“from, of the”). So, "silvanus" literally means something like "who comes from the forest" or something similar.
I ...
- 23
4
votes
1
answer
188
views
Should one use the singular or plural when the number is unknown?
It just occurred to me (I'm that guy maybe starting the YouTube channel) that I don't know whether to use the singular or plural to address my audience in Latin.
My thinking goes like this: plural ...
- 2,973
4
votes
2
answers
273
views
Subjunctive mood in comparison
In Spinoza's Ethics we see:
nihil in natura clarius quam quod unumquodque ens sub aliquo attributo debeat concipi
I know meaning of the sentence. My question is about debeat. Why is this verb ...
- 1,587
3
votes
2
answers
208
views
Timeline of classic grammarians
I'm seeking a timeline of classic (Greek/Latin) grammarians/grammar books. The timeline could either be a graphical one or a textual listing (like this one for the English language).
Most favorable ...
- 193
6
votes
2
answers
108
views
History of grammatical term "Clause"
Does the present analysis of sentences to "clauses" (subordinate, etc.) has any roots/relatives in the classic grammar books (in Ars grammatica books, etc.)? I would be tankful for any hints or ...
- 193
4
votes
2
answers
183
views
Speech errors in Ancient Rome
What records are there of Latin speech errors in Ancient Rome?
I know of spelling errors, e.g. in graffiti, which provide evidence of sloppy or varied pronunciation, but I'm interested to hear about ...
- 16.5k
5
votes
1
answer
304
views
What did the Romans misunderstand about Latin?
There were grammarians in antiquity, and they analyzed Latin.
Several grammarians have studied various aspects of Latin grammar in the modern era as well.
I find it hard to believe that modern ...
- 116k
5
votes
1
answer
177
views
How do we know where the Roman prose stress was?
I have been taught that the stress in classical Latin is on the second last syllable if it is long and on the third last syllable otherwise.
In two-syllable words the stress is on the first syllable.
...
- 116k
5
votes
2
answers
526
views
Can aliquis function as an adjective?
Aliquis is typically a pronoun, but can it also function as an adjective like aliqui? For example, aliqui homo currit versus aliquis homo currit.
- 893
22
votes
1
answer
4k
views
A story of a king who wanted to simplify Latin grammar
I vaguely remember reading a story years ago, and it was something like this:
A king in medieval Europe knew some Latin but made mistakes.
I think there was something like him writing plurals ...
- 116k
11
votes
1
answer
670
views
Why is the supine called "supine"?
I think I understand most Latin grammatical terms in relation to what seems to be their etymology in Latin: cases from nominare, accusare, genus, dare, auferre; tempora from praesens, perfectum; ...
- 116k
18
votes
1
answer
475
views
What was a language for the Romans?
Defining "language" is not easy, and for many not even necessary.
There are many aspects to this, and I'm interested in something more specific: distinguishing a language from a dialect.
Where did ...
- 116k
3
votes
1
answer
102
views
How to say "interrogative mood"? Is it "modus interrogativum"?
I'm curious as to how to say "interrogative mood" in Latin. Is it modus interrogativum?
- 893
5
votes
0
answers
62
views
Ab eo abeo ; In clino inclino Are there other jingles of this form?
Quintilian told his students to watch out for ambiguity where two words could be heard as one. Medieval writers seem to have enjoyed such word-play.
Are there other examples like these either written ...
- 8,703
14
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Does 'verbum' mean both word and verb?
The word verbum means "word", but I want to find out whether it can also have the more specific meaning "verb" (as opposed to other kinds of words).
Lewis and Short does not list &...
- 116k
11
votes
2
answers
207
views
When did the grammarians first recognize a question?
I previously asked about indicating a question in writing, and I got interested in how questions were recognized in the first place.
To know if a question mark would be used after a question, one ...
- 116k
13
votes
2
answers
811
views
Why do we call a case a casus? And why rectus, obliquus?
I would translate the grammatical word casus (whence English case) as "a fall". And, indeed, the German word is Fall, Dutch naamval ("name fall"). Why is this word used for the grammatical function of ...
- 20.3k
13
votes
2
answers
547
views
Did the Romans confuse a long vowel with two short ones?
Consider the words sūs and sŭŭs.
The former has one long u, the latter has two short ones in two syllables.
For another similar pair with a different vowel, consider īmus and ...
- 116k
17
votes
1
answer
797
views
What did the Romans consider the "basic" form of a verb?
Many of us are used to using the (active present) infinitive form of a verb as a "label" or "basic form" or "representative" of the verb.
By this I refer to uses like dictionary entries or grammatical ...
- 116k
6
votes
1
answer
172
views
Year in dates near the end of a year
Using the traditional dates of the Roman calendar, December 31 and December 30 would be pridie Kalendas Ianuarias and ante diem tertium Kalendas Ianuarias.
The day is expressed in relation to the ...
- 116k
9
votes
2
answers
1k
views
When can the gerund take an object?
Typically the gerundive is employed when one using a gerund with an object seems possible.
For example, I have understood that aqua bibenda est and rei faciendae causa are preferable to aquam bibendum ...
- 116k
15
votes
1
answer
252
views
Were there grammatical disagreements in Latin?
Latin has such a long history that at some point some native — or otherwise very fluent — speakers surely have disagreed about what is correct and grammatical Latin.
I would like to know ...
- 116k
12
votes
2
answers
354
views
Did grammarians consider the adverbial -e a case ending?
For adjectives of the first and second declension, the corresponding adverb is formed with the ending -e.
For example, pulchre (beautifully) comes from pulcher (beautiful).
Canonically this -e is ...
- 116k