Questions tagged [plural]
The plural tag has no usage guidance.
3
votes
0answers
40 views
Conjugation/grammar for fictitious title
In a work of fiction, I have an Order of ordained detectives that do not exist. I use the term Lictor Rebus Sanctorae for the Order, and Lictor Rebus Sanctorus for the male protagonist. I know this ...
8
votes
1answer
123 views
Why did the Romans perceive darkness, ᴛᴇɴᴇʙʀᴀᴇ, as a plural count noun?
Why did the Romans perceive darkness, tenebrae, as a plural count noun? [Perseus corpus-search reference]
Or perhaps the better question is: what special nuance is conveyed by the
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3
votes
2answers
165 views
Why is plural of “mons pubis” not “montes pubum”
Latin newbie here. Was talking with a friend about Martian landforms like Olympus Mons. Then we talked about other uses of mons, like mons pubis. But then I realized I didn’t understand something.
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5
votes
1answer
102 views
Plural in 4th declension
I know that virtually all masculine and feminine nouns in Latin have an e or i in the nominative plural and that the genitive singular is often similar. This is quite widespread in Indo-European ...
2
votes
1answer
74 views
Can a morphologically singular collective noun be syntactically plural?
In English the noun "family" is singular but it means a group (of people).
Syntactically it can be singular or plural: one can say "the family is/are…" with either choice.
Can this kind of ...
6
votes
1answer
79 views
Singulae aut unae scopae?
Tuomo Pekkanen's grammar (§92.1) explains how to express the number of something that is expressed by a plural-only word.
Numbers greater than one are expressed with bini, trini etc. but a single one ...
6
votes
1answer
185 views
How common is the genitive plural ending -um in the first declension?
In an answer, Draconis said the genitive plural -um (instead of -arum) is sometimes used in the first declension. Now, while -um is fairly common in poetry and with certain specific words, like deum, ...
10
votes
3answers
279 views
What would the singular of a tribes-people like Caledonii be?
This map names a lot of tribes-people. The one in Scotland is called "Caledonii".
I'm assuming "Caledonii" is the plural form of the people. I've also seen other maps where the land is called "...
8
votes
3answers
2k views
Alea iacta est, plural version?
I was thinking about the famous Phrase "alea iacta est", and I was wondering: how would be the plural version of it?
I thought about
ALEAS IACTA SUNT
Because aleas needs to be in the accusative ...
11
votes
2answers
248 views
How do I specify how many “litterae” or “castra” there are?
Certain words in Latin have a special meaning in the plural, which is often translated with the English singular. One obvious example of this is litterae, -arum, which means, "a letter."
Litteras, ...
7
votes
1answer
130 views
How can “everyone” be singular or plural?
I don't understand how quisque and quique are different. How can a pronoun referring to all people be singular or plural? In which situations would one use either of these?
11
votes
1answer
268 views
Where do the plurals of locus come from?
The word locus is masculine in the singular, but it can be masculine or neuter in the plural.
Geographical places are loca, but places in a text are loci.
As far as I know, this is the only Latin word ...
6
votes
2answers
216 views
What is the plural of virus, vulgus and pelagus?
There are three neuters in the second declension ending in -us: virus, vulgus and pelagus.
(See this previous question for origin and listing of such words.)
My grammar tells me that these words are ...
9
votes
1answer
531 views
What is the origin of the 3rd-person plural perfect ending “-ēre”?
Laudavēre is an (apparently older) alternative to laudaverunt. What is the origin of this ending? Is it connected with any other known endings or affixes?
Clackson & Horrocks say it is from an ...
13
votes
2answers
382 views
Where did pluralis-ut-singularis come from in Latin?
Anyone who reads Cicero's letters cannot fail to notice that he quite frequently uses nos and noster to mean ego and meus. Earlier I heard a paper where nos in Lucretius' proem was meant singularly (...
