Questions tagged [verbs]
The verbs tag has no usage guidance.
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Are there Latin verbs with Greek cognates in all four conjugations?
Off the top of my head, I can think of a few Latin verbs with obvious Greek cognates: pherō~ferō "to bear", pheugō~fugiō "to flee".
But all the words I can think of are in the third conjugation. Are ...
4
votes
3answers
81 views
Why there are several words for swimming?
The words nō, natō, adnō are all verbs which means to swim. They have their own conjugation respectively.
Maybe there are not only three, but I'm not sure.
I wonder why there are several words in ...
3
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1answer
76 views
Did the Romans create any irregular verbs?
Most newly-formed Latin verbs were put into the nice, regular first conjugation: both deriving from existing words (dīcō, -ere > dīctō, -āre) and with borrowings (Graecissō, -āre).
English is mostly ...
3
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1answer
79 views
On the interpretation of “ipse” in anticausative constructions
After having answered a question on "ipse" from a very different perspective (a philosophical one: [Does 'ipse' truly mean change? ), I return to linguistics: now I was wondering if ipse must ...
3
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0answers
131 views
How things change in Latin
After having provided an answer to Draconis’ question ( Did Latin have any ergative verbs? ), I was wondering about the (very subtle?) meaning differences involved in triads like {aperit/se aperit/...
6
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2answers
567 views
Prodigo = pro + ago?
According to Wiktionary, prodigo is a verb which etymology comes from "pro + ago". The same is suggested by L&S. However, I cannot see how ago fits here. The conjugation of this verb seems at odds ...
3
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2answers
64 views
Difference between “immergo” and “summergo”
In Spanish we have the verb sumergir, coming from Latin:
sum-mergo (subm-), si, sum, 3, v. a.,
I. to dip or plunge under, to sink, overwhelm, submerge, submerse.
Nonetheless, some related ...
1
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2answers
55 views
Do contracted perfects have long or short vowels?
Many verbs have a suffix -v- in the perfect tense, which tends to disappear (or "contract" or "syncopate") before the ending: amā- > amāvisti > amāsti "you loved", audī- > audīvisti > audīsti "you ...
4
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1answer
132 views
Understanding “audieritis” in Psalm 94
Consider the following excerpt from Psalm 94 in the Vulgate.
Hódie, si vocem eius audiéritis, nolíte obduráre corda vestra, sicut in exacerbatióne secúndum diem tentatiónis in desérto: ubi ...
1
vote
2answers
61 views
Understanding entries in Latin dictionary [duplicate]
I started learning Latin yesterday by myself using the Wheelock's Latin textbook
My question was why are there 4 variations given of a word but only one translated meaning? What do these words mean?
3
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2answers
43 views
How to do indefinite person with verbs
In English you can conjugate like so:
I eat
You eat
He/she/it eats
We eat
You all eat
They eat
But you can also conjugate with a variety of “indefinite” pronouns:
One eats
Everyone ...
3
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0answers
42 views
Verbal Adjective of Necessity vs. Possibility
Greek distinguishes between verbal adjectives ending in -τέος and verbal adjectives ending in -τός. The latter (according to Smyth) express either possibility or the perfect passive participle (e.g. '...
4
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3answers
219 views
How accurate is the typical definition of a deponent verb?
Deponent verbs are often (always?) defined as verbs that have passive forms but active meanings. But how accurate is this typical definition/generalization? It seems clear that this definition applies ...
3
votes
1answer
30 views
Which Latin verb was closer to the current meaning of English “solve”?
Nowadays the English verb solve means:
Find an answer to, explanation for, or means of effectively dealing with (a problem or mystery).
The etymology of the word indicates that it comes:
from ...
4
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3answers
80 views
Choosing a “wait” - exspecto, opperior or maneo
I hope that my question won't seem too flippant or strange... I'm not any sort of Latin scholar or student, but I am trying to coin a term based on Latin. I've been trying through several routes to ...
4
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2answers
230 views
'plecto, plectere, plexi', -tor/-sor form (agent noun)
How would one add the agent noun suffix (normally -tor) to the verb 'plecto' (I weave/twist)? It's been a few years — about 10 — but if I recall correctly, verbs whose stem ends in 't' ...
5
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4answers
175 views
Could “essentia” be understood in Latin as “the act of being”?
Almost every verb has a noun that implies "the act and effect of" whatever the verb is. So, an existence is the act of existing. Nonetheless, the most simple verb, to be seems to lack such a noun, at ...
8
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1answer
234 views
aret = aridus est?
Is there any semantic or aspectual difference between aret and aridus est (cf. rubet/ruber est; calet/calidus est, candet/candidus est, i.a.)?
Ager aret. (Col. 2.8.5)
Ager aridus erat. (...
4
votes
2answers
101 views
How is the subject of the verb identified in this verse of the Vulgata?
In 2 Kings 4:4 we read:
Erat autem Jonathae filio Saul filius debilis pedibus : quinquennis enim fuit, quando venit nuntius de Saul et Jonatha ex Jezrahel. Tollens itaque eum nutrix sua, fugit : ...
6
votes
1answer
141 views
Is there a Latin 'studiare'?
The Latin verb for studying is studere, but a number of descendants look as if they came from studiare.
These include the Italian 'studiare', French 'étudier', and the Spanish 'estudiar'.
Was there ...
10
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1answer
544 views
Why “dilatasti” instead of “dilatavisti” in Psalm 4:2?
(Psalm 4:2) cum invocarem exaudivit me Deus iustitiae meae in tribulatione dilatasti mihi miserere mei et exaudi orationem meam
When I called upon him, the God of my justice heard me: when I was ...
6
votes
2answers
220 views
The use of participle in “Ceres a generendo”
I'm trying to read this sentence, where Cicero finds Roman Gods in relevance to the Latin verbs:
Saturnus quia se saturat annis, Mavors quia magna vertit, Minerva quia minuit aut quia minatur, ...
5
votes
1answer
101 views
Where did the Latin language get its infinitive verb endings from?
Some time ago, a user in the Spanish language site asked if the Spanish verb endings -ar, -er and -ir had a special meaning. I then answered that the endings do not have any meaning by themselves, at ...
6
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1answer
33 views
Translating “order of protection and conservation”
An author friend recently asked me for help with a Latin name: in his book, a group calls itself the "order of protection and conservation", but in Latin to be pretentious (altum videtur…).
My ...
8
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2answers
113 views
What does the verb “luere” mean in the Angilberti carmina?
Angilbert is asking what the women (the sisters and daughters of Charles the Great) might think of the return of their nephew/brother Pepin from Italy in the poem AD PIPPINUM ITALIAE REGEM by ...
4
votes
1answer
54 views
Why is dignetur used as if it were in the active voice?
For 2 Thessalonians 1:11, the Vulgata has the following:
In quo etiam oramus semper pro vobis: ut dignetur vos vocatione sua
Deus nosteret impleat omnem voluntatem bonitatis, et opus fidei in
...
5
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1answer
66 views
What sort of Greek words are regularly distinguished only by tone?
In the postscript to this answer, Varro comments:
…the L&S entry for ἰχθυβολος shows two possible accents, a paroxytone ἰχθυβόλος for an active meaning, and a proparoxytone ἰχθύβολος for a ...
2
votes
1answer
44 views
future passive imperative of a verb + fuit (perfect active indicative of 'sum') =?
Just to give you some language background from my side, I have not learned the Latin language at all, and my mother tongue is neither English nor any other Indo-European language. I am reading ancient ...
10
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2answers
144 views
What is the difference between “novi” and “scio”?
Latin has at least two words that straightforwardly translate to English "know":
novi (perf. of nosco)
scio
Plautus combines the two pleonastically:
nec vos qui homines sitis novi nec scio
Here'...
12
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2answers
998 views
Do plural names referring to a singular thing require a plural verb?
Another question related to my geography of the Roman Empire which I am writing has arisen: during the time of Trajan, 117 AD, there were several provinces which had names in the plural, especially ...
4
votes
2answers
247 views
Did Latin have any ergative verbs?
An "ergative verb" is a verb that can either take two nouns (a subject and an object) or only one (a subject), where the object of the two-noun form corresponds to the subject of the one-noun form.
...
6
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1answer
227 views
What forms are the verbs in “Omnibus rebus paratis, Caesar milites naves conscendere jussit”?
In "Omnibus rebus paratis, Caesar milites naves conscendere jussit", what forms are the verbs "paratis" and "jussit", and why?
This sentence was taken from Gramática latina de Napoleão Mendes, from ...
6
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1answer
89 views
Ubī ūtar verbō “queō” prō “possum”?
The word queō ("I am able") is back-formed from nequeō ("I am not able") and, to the best of my knowledge, is equivalent in meaning to possum.
When would one use queō over possum, or vice versa?
5
votes
1answer
423 views
What’s the difference between meminisse and memini?
I’d love to get a tattoo saying ‘remember’ in Latin, but would rather not use memento. Would it be possible to either use meminisse or memini? I’d like remember to be like a reminder for myself to ...
3
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1answer
75 views
Is there something like an “anti-deponent” verb in Latin?
Deponent verbs are those who are written (normally) in passive form but are active in meaning. loquor, loquī, locūtus sum is a common example in Latin. I wonder if the opposite exists, i.e. a verb ...
5
votes
1answer
70 views
Where does quire come from?
Where does the verb quire come from?
L&S is unsure of the etymology but compares it to a Sanskrit word.
Do we know more about the etymology of the verb?
Is composed of ire ("to go") and another (...
8
votes
1answer
91 views
Future: why -am instead of -em?
The future tense of third and fourth conjugation verbs is marked by -ē-, as in trahes and audies.
The regular personal endings are added after this vowel.
But in the first person singular the ...
7
votes
1answer
66 views
Why does the verb πολυπραγμονεῖν use the noun stem and not the verb stem? (Greek)
In Plato's Republic, Socrates sets forth the following idea, which he later refutes:
τὸ τὰ αὑτοῦ πράττειν καὶ μὴ πολυπραγμονεῖν δικαιοσύνη ἐστί,
justice is to do one's own business and not to ...
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0answers
68 views
Cur coniugationes systematis praesentis sunt tam dissimiles cum eae cum coniugationibus systematis perfecti comparentur?
TL;DR & the actual question
For those who don't need an explanation of all verb endings and the ways in which they differ from each other, my question follows below. For those who might need a ...
8
votes
1answer
87 views
Is the nominative gerund attested?
I'd always heard that the gerund had no nominative, with the present active infinitive taking the place of the missing form: volāre difficile est, rather than *volāndum.
However, in the comments on ...
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1answer
76 views
What was the most common and generic word used in classic Latin that meant “to speak” or “to talk”?
Nowadays in Spanish the verb used for "to speak" or "to talk" is hablar, which comes directly from Latin fābŭlor, meaning:
1 to talk familiarly, to chat, to converse
2 to invent a story, to make ...
5
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1answer
140 views
How to continue doing something?
There are many Latin verbs meaning roughly "continue", but I failed to find a description how to use any of them with another verb.
I would like to say things like "Keep walking!" and "She continues ...
11
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1answer
147 views
Third conjugation passive infinitive: why -i and not -eri?
The active infinitive is uniform (-re from -se by rhotacism) across the regular Latin conjugations, but the passive one is not: the third conjugation loses the consonant.
We have amare/amari, habere/...
5
votes
2answers
68 views
Which verb do insects fly with?
Having read a question (and answer) about flies flying, I started to wonder whether flies would really fly with the verb volare.
I had always somehow imagined that volare referred to more elegant and ...
5
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5answers
517 views
Touching emotionally
In English or Finnish I can say that I was touched by something or an experience was touching, meaning that I was touched emotionally, not physically.
How can I express the same in Latin?
Does tangere ...
2
votes
0answers
30 views
Did meminisse ever had a present tense?
The verb meminī, meminisse, *mementus ever have any sort of (morphologically) present tense? If not, why not? If so, at what point was it lost in Latin?
Bonus points: if the present tense had ...
9
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1answer
145 views
Where did the passive infinitive come from?
The etymology of the present active infinitive seems well-documented. Proto-Italic had an infinitive-like suffix *-si, so *dōnā- + *-si = *dōnāsi > dōnāre by regular sound changes (s → z → r between ...
5
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1answer
83 views
Are there verbs in -o-?
Verbs conjugated in -a- (amō, amāre, amāvī, amātus), in -e- (habeō, habēre, habuī, habitus), and in -i- (audio, audīre, audīvī, auditus) are common and well-known. Verbs in -u- (acuō, acuere, acuī, ...
6
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1answer
97 views
Why is there a short ŭ in rŭtus?
In Cerberus's list of u-stem verbs, rŭō, rŭere, rŭī, rŭtus is the only one with a short ŭ in the participle stem.
Why is this? Does it go back to different types of verbs in PIE, as with stătus ...
5
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1answer
137 views
Do other verbs use different stems for their perfect passive and future active participles?
In his answer to another question, Cerberus remarked that many verbs with perfect participles in -ūtus had future active participles in -uitūrus. This struck me as odd, as I had been taught that those ...
