Questions tagged [syntax]
Syntax are the rules for how sentences and phrases are constructed in a language, including word order and how words change based on their relations to other words (snl.no/syntaks).
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LLPSI: Ch. 13, Ln. 120, 'Hōc annī tempore...'
My question stems from a passage of Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata Familia Romana in chapter 13 on page 99 beginning at line 120 as follows.
Question
What is the role of “Hōc annī tempore” in the ...
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Haec verba tandem mercātōrem perturbātum aliquid cōnsōlāri videntur
In page 236 line 12–126 of lingua latina per se illustrata there is the following sentence
Haec verba tandem mercātōrem perturbātum aliquid
cōnsōlāri videntur.
I gets to me that it is trying to say ...
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1
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Syntax of sentences with the verb "pudet"
In Lewis and Short, I have seen that the verb pudeo is chiefly used as an impersonal verb. In fact, I have found some examples of such usage in chapter XXIII of Lingua latina per se illustrata. ...
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Position of reflexive pronouns
In Allen and Greenough all the examples of reflexive pronouns have them come before the verb, but Pliny the Younger in e.g. letter 6.20.11 has 'non moratus ultra proripit se effusoque cursu...' and ...
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Translation of "Fluctuat nec mergitur"
Hello fellow native speakers,
For a tattoo with my sisters I wanted to translate the Latin motto “Fluctuat nec mergitur”, used by the city of Paris, into English.
Searching for the correct translation ...
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0
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How would you understand this sentence from Karlstadt's commentary on Augustine's de Spiritu et littera?
In his Augustinkommentar, Karlstadt attacks the opinions of many Catholic "scholastic" theologians. In this passage, he seems to attack both the Thomists and Gabriel Biel, but I lose the ...
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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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How would you say "I can't help but wonder whether..." in Latin?
I am trying to translate the lyrics of the Eric Bogle's song "The Green Fields of France" to Latin. The first two verses of the last stanza of the song are:
And I can't help but wonder, oh ...
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ut sibi complaceam in Stabat Mater
Verse 10 of the Stabat Mater reads:
Fac ut ardeat cor meum/
in amando Christum Deum/
ut sibi complaceam.
I am stumped by "sibi" in line 3. Most translations give "that I may please him&...
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How would you translate "to" in "I am happy to still be a child." or "You are lucky to be alive."?
I know that English infinitives often do not correspond to Latin infinitives (for example, you cannot grammatically translate "Here to save the day." as "Hic servare diem."), and I ...
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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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Greek "datives of agent" in Latin classical prose?
When including the following poetic examples from Horace and Ovid in what turned out to be a long answer to a previous post on datives of agent, I made this hesitant remark: Perhaps I'm wrong but I'd ...
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On the alleged passive meaning of so-called (miscalled?) "passive periphrastic"
As is well-known, the use of "datives of agent" in so-called "passive periphrastic" constructions (formed by the gerundive/verbal adjective with -nd- and the verb esse) like the ...
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Searching for a proper definition of "Ablative Absolute" (AA)
When including the following two examples from Cicero in what turned out to be a too long! answer to a previous post, a terminological question came to my mind: How would one classify those ...
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Should -que be used with a noun or adjective?
A recent question about linking words with -que prompted another question in my mind. If you have two sets of nouns with modifying adjectives, do you add -que to the adjective, noun, or whichever you ...
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How would you say "The older a rabbit gets, the more it behaves like a dog."?
How would you say "The older a rabbit gets, the more it behaves like a dog." in Latin? The literal translation from English would be "Senior cuniculus sit, plus agit ut canis.", ...
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1
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Odyssey A.65: how is περὶ used in περὶ νόον ἐστὶ βροτῶν, περὶ δ᾿ ἱρὰ θεοῖσιν // ἀθανάτοισιν ἔδωκε?
The use of περὶ in verse 65 of Odyssey A is not entirely clear to me, neither in syntax nor in meaning:
πῶς ἂν ἔπειτ᾿ Ὀδυσῆος ἐγὼ θείοιο λαθοίμην,
ὃς περὶ μὲν νόον ἐστὶ βροτῶν, περὶ δ᾿ ἱρὰ θεοῖσιν
...
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How would you say "for the longest time" in Latin?
"For the longest time" is a name of a song by Billy Joel. And ReasonTV, a libertarian podcast, modified the lyrics of it to parody the Traveling Security Administration. George W. Bush ...
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Question about consecutio temporum in fabulae syrae
I am reading Fabulae Syrae and I am having some questions about consecutio temporum. I do know the basic rules from familia romana.
However there are some sentences that are causing me some trouble.
1....
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Use of 'suus' in 'ignoranti quem portum petat nullus suus ventus est'
Seneca, Epistolae LXXI: ignoranti quem portum petat nullus suus ventus est
commonly translated as 'he who does not know which port he is heading to has no favourable wind'.
Could anyone explain what ...
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How do you say "Don't get too close!" in Latin?
So, how would you say "Don't get too close." in Latin? I know the Latin for "getting close" is "approximare", so my guess is that it starts with "Noli approximare...&...
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How would you translate "join", as in "join us" or "join the dead heroes" (i. e. "die in a war")?
I am trying to translate the lyrics of the Eric Bogle's song The Green Fields of France. In the first stanza, you have:
I see by your gravestone, you were only nineteenwhen you joined the dead heroes ...
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Why is it "Gaudeamus igitur, *iuvenes dum* sumus!" rather than "Gaudeamus igitur, *dum iuvenes* sumus!"?
Why is it "Gaudeamus igitur, iuvenes dum sumus!" rather than "Gaudeamus igitur, dum iuvenes sumus!"? In English, "Let's be happy, therefore, young while we are." sounds ...
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How would you translate "too" and "to" as in "The science is *too* bookish and nerdy *to* understand, oh no!" to Latin?
So, how would you say "The science is too bookish and nerdy to understand, oh no!" in Latin? My attempt would be "Scientia ita litteraria et incircumscripta est, ut non possit ...
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How do you say "a sign that" as in "That is *a sign that* your rabbit loves you."?
How do you say "a sign that" as in "That is a sign that your rabbit loves you."?
Would it be "Id est signum quod tuus cuniculus te amet."? Or "Id est signum ut tuus ...
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In the construction "magno argumento esse", does "argumento" take an explanatory infinitive?
Cicero, Phil. 2.16: Quod autem idem maestitiam meam reprehendit, idem iocum, magno argumento est me in utroque fuisse moderatum.
Cicero, ND 1.1 (LCL 268): De qua tam variae sunt doctissimorum ...
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Is there a poetic term for breaking up a phrase, rather than a word?
In the classical rhetorical tradition, the term "tmesis" is used for breaking up a compound word, as in Ovid's circum virum dant for virum circumdant.
Is there a term for breaking up a noun ...
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0
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Which sounds more natural in latin?
I know you can often shuffle the order of words in Latin sentences, preserving the meaning of the sentence if you do it right. Still, there are some things that just don't sound "natural" or ...
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Cethegus (...) recitatis litteris debilitatus atque abiectus conscientia repente conticuit. (Cic. Catil. 3, 10)
I was wondering about the correct/preferred syntactic analysis of recitatis litteris in the following complex sentence from Cicero:
Tum Cethegus, qui paulo ante aliquid tamen de gladiis ac sicis, ...
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Use of reflexive pronoun in passive periphrastic constructions
As I understand it:
the reflexive pronoun is used when the object of a sentence relates to the subject e.g. puer cor suum sequitur - the boy follows his (own) heart.
to convey a meaning of ...
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How do you say "One more question for you." in Latin?
So, how do you say "One more question for you." in Latin? I think it would be "Unam plurem quaestionem ad te.", but I am not sure.
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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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How do you say "I've been serving my master my whole life." in Latin?
How do you say "I've been serving my master my whole life." in Latin? I think it is "Totam vitam servo dominum meum." (literal translation of Croatian "Cijeli život služim ...
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LLPSI: Cap. XIII, '...quibus haec sunt nōmina...'
My question concerns the sentence which begins at Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata, chapter 13, line 1.
What are the cases of 'haec' and 'nōmina' in the following excerpt?
"Annus in duodecim ...
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LLPSI: "Mārcus Quīntum ad terram cadere uidet."
I am attempting to come to a elementary understanding any clauses in the Latin sentence
"Mārcus Quīntum ad terram cadere uidet"
on page 73 in the work entitled "Lingua Latina Per Se ...
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Should apposition in ancient Greek be identified as juxtaposition or coordination?
I have noticed in Greek grammars that varying descriptions of the syntactic relationship of elements placed side-by-side (with no conjunction) have been alternately described as either A) (...
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Can There Be Multiple Subjects in a Clause Where One Is the Subject of Another Clause
I want to construct "I like learning, but learning from a book only can be boring": "Discere amo, sed discere a libro ipso sit taediosum."
I was wondering if you can omit "...
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How can you best teach possessive pronouns to English-speaking students?
Background
Latin and Germanic languages such as German, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, and probably several more, have a specific word to denote possession: As Latin says suus, sua, suum, I as a ...
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Analysis of sentence "hunc Dātamēs vīnctum ad rēgem dūcendum trādit Mithridātī"
I am confused by the grammar (or rather wikipedia's analysis) of the sentence
Hunc Dātamēs vīnctum ad rēgem dūcendum trādit Mithridātī. (Nepos)
It appears in a wikipedia article where its ...
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On the analysis of "mihi" in "Praesidium mihi in perpetuum comparatum est" (Cic. Cat. 3.12.27)
I was wondering about the correct analysis of the dative mihi in the sentence Magnum enim est in bonis praesidium quod mihi in perpetuum comparatum est, which is included in the text below from Cic. ...
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Case query: LLPSI FM p. 82
What is the syntax of "Aemilia nōn putat medicum puerum aegrum sānāre posse."?
I cannot understand the agreement of "medicum puerum aegrum sānāre posse.".
Regards
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Plato's Phaedo - a syntax question
Plato, Phaedo, 105b-c:
εἰ γὰρ ἔροιό με ᾧ ἂν τί ἐν τῷ σώματι ἐγγένηται θερμὸν ἔσται, οὐ τὴν [105ξ] ἀσφαλῆ σοι ἐρῶ ἀπόκρισιν ἐκείνην τὴν ἀμαθῆ, ὅτι ᾧ ἂν θερμότης
I guess it can be rearranged so:
εἰ ...
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Is "hic" the implicit subject for "compulit" in this sentence?
This sentence is from the book "De antiquitate regum Norwagiensium", and was written by Theodoricus Monachus.
Hic consuluit ei fugam et quodammodo compulit, ut in Rusciam pergeret, ubi et ...
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Is "regem" the subject of both "evasisse" and "adisse" in this passage by Theodoricus Monachus?
The sentence is from the book "De antiquitate regum Norwagiensium", and was written by Theodoricus Monachus.
Ibi tunc quidam dicunt regem scapha evasisse et ob salutem animae suae exteras ...
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Are "Sueino", "Olauus", and "Ericus" the subject of "invenerunt" in this sentence by Theodoricus Monachus?
This is a sentence from a medieval book known as "De antiquitate regum Norwagiensium", which was written by Theodoricus Monachus.
Quinto ergo anno regni Olaui, filii Tryggua, intulerunt ei ...
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Can you please help me analyse this sentence with an accusative with infinitive clause?
This sentence is from "De antiquitate regum Norwagiensium", which was written by Theodoricus Monachus. Here is the sentence and my thoughts about it:
Northmanni, inquit, de Scythia ...
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1
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Can anyone help me analysing the words "luna" and variabilis" in the first sentence of the poem "O fortuna"?
This sentence is from the poem "O fortuna" in the work "Carmina Burana". Here is the sentence and my thoughts about it:
O Fortuna, velut luna statu variabilis, semper crescis aut ...
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Is the subject inexplicit for the verb "pervenerunt" in this sentence from the book "De antiquitate regum Norwagiensium"?
everyone. This sentence is from a medieval book known as "De antiquitate regum Norwagiensium", which was written by Theodoricus Monachus. What follows are the sentence and what I think about ...
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1
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Questions about analysing syntax in a few Latin sentences
everyone. The two sentences are from a medieval book called "De antiquitate regum Norwagiensium". Here are the sentences and my thoughts about them:
Sentence:
Inventum est etiam uas ...
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How to analyze and translate "non se luxu neque inertiae corrumpendum dedit" (Sal. Jug. 6)?
By taking a look at various translations of the sentence in bold below, which is excerpted from a famous portrait of Jugurtha by Sallust, one could infer that the datives luxu (cf. luxui) and inertiae ...
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