Questions tagged [verbs]
Questions concerning verbs: words describing action.
204
questions
2
votes
1answer
67 views
What's going on with ablaut in forms like ἔβην, βῆναι, φανῆναι?
Verb forms like ἔβην, βῆν, βῆναι, and φανῆναι seem to have some ablaut going on. My understanding of the phonological rules of ablaut in ancient Greek is from Pharr, 4th ed., p. 277, along with the ...
5
votes
1answer
75 views
"To hold a grudge" in Latin?
How does one say "to hold a grudge against someone" in Latin? A grudge is "a feeling of deep-seated resentment or ill will".
3
votes
1answer
70 views
Why κιχείη rather than κιχάνοι?
Book 1 of the Iliad has the optative form κιχείη. Wikipedia says that ordinarily we expect to see the -η- infix in singular optative forms when the verb is athematic or a contract verb. Neither seems ...
5
votes
1answer
315 views
Why do edo (eat) and edo (generate) have different forms?
Why do edo (eat) and edo (generate) have different forms?
So, for example, both are edit in the 3rd person singular. But in the 2nd person perfect, one is edisti and the other is edidisti.
They are ...
2
votes
1answer
77 views
Why does the contraction rule ε+εν -> ειν apply to the formation of λύειν?
In their discussions of the formation of the infinitive, both Pharr and White remark on the contraction of -εεν to -ειν, but I don't understand why this would apply to most of the examples that come ...
2
votes
1answer
58 views
Resource request: formation of the Greek infinitive, including Homeric Greek
As suggested by cmw, I'm spinning off this resource request from an earlier question that was long and unwieldy.
Can anyone suggest resources that do a good job of giving a complete presentation of ...
0
votes
0answers
68 views
Is the Greek infinitive regular?
My general understanding of Greek verbs is that if you know the six principal parts, you should be able to infer all forms of the verb (although there may be complications such as contractions, the ...
2
votes
1answer
50 views
Why τράφεν rather than ἐτράφησαν?
For the verb τρέφω, to nurture, Pharr lists the principal parts for the Homeric dialect as τρέφω, θρέψω, ἔθρεψα/ἔτραφον, τέτροφα, τέθραμμαι, ἐτράφην. (Wiktionary also lists ἐθρέφθην as a possible ...
2
votes
1answer
73 views
What are the verb conjugation names called in Latin?
What are the terms in Latin for the Latin verb conjugations? I would like to also know the Latin for the mixed conjugation (or if preferred that known as the io sub conjugation) and any term for verbs ...
3
votes
1answer
179 views
Why does conscio not have four principal parts?
I have been using working through some latin translations and stumbled across conscio, -ire, -ivi in my latin dictionary, which it lists as a transitive verb meaning "to have on one's conscience.&...
3
votes
1answer
160 views
Omicron sometimes becoming omega in conjugation of ἀπόλλυμι
Homer has, for example:
Τυδέα δ’ οὐ μέμνημαι, ἐπεί μ’ ἔτι τυτθὸν ἐόντα
κάλλιφ’, ὅτ’ ἐν Θήβῃσιν ἀπώλετο λαὸς Ἀχαιῶν. (Iliad 6.222)
But Tydeus I remember not, for he left me whilst I was yet young, ...
4
votes
1answer
128 views
What would be a proper reaction to the question: "Can you come over?" or how do you say "Coming" in Latin?
In a comment to this question, JoonasIlmavirta suggests a spin-off question.
I have had this question simmering for quite some time, but this is a nice incentive.
Consider the following cross-language ...
5
votes
2answers
134 views
Do imperative verbs usually go first or does it still follow the regular SOV order?
In this example, what would make more sense:
MITTE MIHI PICTURAM PRODUCTI
or
PICTURAM PRODUCTI MIHI MITTE
3
votes
1answer
62 views
How to express singing a song rather than singing about something
If I'm understanding correctly, άείδω is used with the accusative, and it means to sing about something. In English the object of the verb would be the song, not the thing being sung about. In Greek ...
5
votes
1answer
166 views
The verb 'utor' in gerundive constructions
I was wondering about the logic of the usage of the verb utor in gerundive constructions. The following relevant quote is from Woodcock's (1959: 164) A New Latin Syntax: "one can say ad hanc rem ...
6
votes
1answer
153 views
Double accusative in abdico (abdicare cibum aliquem)
In several dictionaries I encountered under abdico (1st conj.):
Abdicare cibum aliquem (Plin.) to prohibit the use of any meat as not good (Thomas Thomasius dictionary)
Abdicare cibum aliqem (Plin. ...
-1
votes
1answer
55 views
How does "send to" mean "allow to enter"?
Ayto doesn't expound the shift from "send to" toward "allow to enter"? I don't understand the "hence".
admit [15]
This is one of a host of words, from
mission to ...
7
votes
3answers
469 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 ...
6
votes
1answer
762 views
Why the π in ἀπιεῖ?
I wanted to pick a -μι verb to use as a paradigm to memorize for Homeric and koine, so I thought I would use ἀφίημι. I looked up the present-tense conjugation on U Chicago's morpho utility, and then ...
1
vote
0answers
59 views
On the (necessary or typical?) relationship between double accusative and causation
I was wondering if there is a syntactic/semantic generalization that can account for the so-called "double accusative" predicative frame in Latin (verbs with person & thing (docere ...
8
votes
1answer
414 views
What form is 'numerārī'?
In chapter X of Orberg's Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata there is this sentence: Piscēs numerārī nōn possunt.
From the context I would translate this as an infinitive. But the infinitive should be ...
3
votes
0answers
114 views
What would the perfect stem of 'apparere' be?
Lewis and Short only give present stem forms of the verb appărĕre, appărio.
They say, quite rightly so, that it comes from ad+părĕre, and one would therefore expect the conjugation to be as that ...
4
votes
0answers
110 views
Can a finite verb modify another verb as if it were a gerund? (De manibus delapsa arma ceciderunt)
How should we interpret the connection between delapsa and ceciderunt in the following:
de manibus audacissimorum civium delapsa arma ipsa ceciderunt (Cic. De Officiis)
Naturally I could not see ...
4
votes
1answer
2k views
How do I say "Remember death, but do not forget to live" in Latin?
it's been a few years since I was in a Latin class, but I've been wanting to get a tattoo in the language for a while now, and "Remember death, but do not forget to live" is the phrase I've ...
2
votes
2answers
100 views
How to say, "I escape" in Latin?
Would it be "ego evado?"
If I put "evado" in Google translate for some reason it says it means "gain."
I want to be able to say things like,
I escape in my Corolla.
and
...
5
votes
2answers
118 views
Is there a dictionary that actually shows the verb patterns?
Is there a Latin dictionary that actually show the verb patterns?
Patterns like
Adiuvare + accusative somebody
Ire + dative location
Otherwise I only see the examples and it is not possible to ...
5
votes
0answers
70 views
Why do some sources give the principal parts in a different order, or include an extra, fifth principal part?
Many online sources state categorically that ordinary (non-deponent, non-defective) Latin verbs have four principal parts. It is often also implied that they have a fixed order (1st pers. sgl. ...
6
votes
0answers
73 views
What was the use and frequency of use of Latin "mactāre"?
In What are the key differences between the main Latin verbs meaning "to kill"? we saw a lot of verbs meaning "to kill" and the differences between them. The fun part of it is that ...
3
votes
1answer
207 views
Impersonal Verbs: Are Active Transitives Possible?
Latin utilizes some verbs that pretty much only occur impersonally, like oportet. One can also regularly form impersonal actives from intransitive verbs like placeo and impersonal passives from ...
3
votes
2answers
288 views
6 types of person in verb or 3?
People always say that there 6 types of person in the conjugation of a verb:
I
he, she, it
you (single)
we
you (plural)
they
Somehow there is another group of people say that there are only 3 ...
3
votes
2answers
89 views
Active verb with future passive and perfect participle?
How does the active verb "veniunt" work with the word "consideranda"? Almost like a periphrastic? As I have translated below:
"Ac initio quidem duo principalia decreta ante omnia consideranda ...
8
votes
1answer
132 views
When/whether to use "ineō" instead of "eō"
I am learning Latin for the first time this year, and I have a question about the usage of the verb 'eō', I go. The textbook that I am using, Henle Latin 1st Year, lists 'eō' as follows:
eō, īre, ...
2
votes
1answer
102 views
Livy Book 1 27.1 type of subjunctive, sequence of tenses
Invidia vulgi, quod tribus militibus fortuna publica commissa fuerit, vanum ingenium dictatoris corrupit.
What kind of subjunctive is fuerit and why. What tense is corrupit — perfect with or ...
8
votes
2answers
397 views
effeminare = evirare (?)
Assuming that (i) the meanings of vir and femina are indeed opposite and (ii) the meaning of the prefix ex- is quite transparent, why are the verbs evirare and effeminare then synonymous? Are there ...
1
vote
2answers
75 views
When conjugating a verb, when should the vowel preceding a personal ending contain a macron? [duplicate]
I am working through ch 1 of Wheelock's Latin, and I am confused as to when the vowel immediately preceding a personal ending should receive a macron. For example, here is the present indicative ...
7
votes
1answer
146 views
Are there unprefixed location verbs in Latin?
Two basic types of prefixed denominal locative verbs can be distinguished in Latin: the ones in (1) can be said to “agglutinate” a prepositional phrase expressing (dis)location, i.e., the place (cf. ...
2
votes
1answer
175 views
What verb forms εἴσηκται as 3 s pf m/p?
I’m certain the form εἴσηκται is 3rd sing. perfect M/P but can’t for the life of me come up with what verb this is. Does anyone recognize this? Is it a misprint, or am I forgetting something obvious?
4
votes
1answer
147 views
difference between Impleo (+acc) and Impleo (+abl)
I found two instances in Augustine's Confessions:
"... caelum et terram ego impleo" (book 1, cap. 2)
and:
"et quo refundis quidquid impleto caelo et terra restat ex te?" (book 1, cap. 3)
I ...
7
votes
2answers
377 views
"Middle constructions" in Latin?
I was wondering how so-called "middle constructions" like the English ones exemplified in (1), which are typically translated with a reflexive verb in Romance languages (e.g., see the Catalan examples ...
9
votes
3answers
1k views
Dropping "to be" and other verbs in Latin?
Some languages, like Indonesian, can drop the verb to be when the meaning is obvious.
They are zero-copula languages.
I heard that some Latin authors wrote some sentences with this feature.
Do you ...
5
votes
0answers
159 views
Why does "urgueo" exist as a variant of "urgeo"?
The rule I learned for the pronunciation of the digram "gu" before a vowel in Latin was /gw/ after "n", vs. g + vocalic u anywhere else. But I just discovered the exception urgueo /urgweoː/. This is a ...
2
votes
1answer
242 views
Gerundial arguments selected by verbs taking Genitive: e.g., "Memento moriendi"? "Me paenitet vivendi"?
As a follow-up of two previous questions on Latin grammar, I was wondering if examples like Memento moriendi (cf. Memento mori) and Me paenitet vivendi (cf. Me paenitet vivere) are also attested.
...
4
votes
0answers
191 views
ante solem occasum vs. *ante diem adventum
The intransitive verbs that typically enter into constructions with perfect participles of the so-called "dominant" type are deponent: e.g., ante Ciceronem mortuum, post Ciceronem natum, etc....
7
votes
2answers
582 views
How can I find a verb root in ancient greek?
If I have a verb in ancient greek, how can I find its root?
For instance, if I have
λείπω
νέω
ἔμαθον
μανθάνω
how can I do to know that, respectively, these verbs have
λιπ-/λειπ-/λοιπ-
νευ- (<*...
5
votes
2answers
202 views
What is the correct etymology of ignōscō "pardon"?
The verb ignōscō, with the meaning "pardon, forgive", is explained in some sources as coming from the negative prefix in- and (g)nōscō. For example, Lewis and Short says "lit., not to wish to know, ...
4
votes
2answers
918 views
Was there ever a difference between 'volo' and 'volo'?
The words "I want" and "I fly" are both volō.
Was there ever any difference in pronunciation in the classical era or later?
I expect such differences to be more likely in vulgar Latin.
The rest ...
2
votes
1answer
81 views
Did Latin lack a denominal verb directly from 'patria'?
According to Etymonline and OED (below), Latin had repatriare, but English 'patriate' wasn't allegedly coined by Lester B. Pearson until 1966.
This tardive coining suggests a lack of a denominal ...
4
votes
1answer
195 views
What is the grammatical "logic" of ablative case in «Tuā et meā māximē interest tē ualēre» (Cic. Fam. 16.4)?
Assuming that ablative case is always a semantic case (see the typical lists of its associated meanings in Latin grammars), I was wondering if Latin speakers could still assign a synchronic more or ...
5
votes
1answer
479 views
Are there linguistic arguments for the claim that "Odi et amo" in Catullus (LXXXV) cannot be translated as 'I hate and I love'?
On the basis of literary arguments, Arkins (2011) THE MEANING OF ‘ODI ET AMO’ IN CATULLUS 85 came to the interesting conclusion that Odi et amo in the following famous poem by Catullus (LXXXV) cannot ...
3
votes
1answer
219 views
What is the grammatical "logic" of impersonal constructions like "Me non solum piget stultitiae meae sed etiam pudet" (Cic. De Dom. 29)?
What is the grammatical "logic" of the impersonal construction with psychological verbs like pudet, piget, paenitet, taedet, miseret? (here is a short descriptive characterization of so-...