Questions tagged [verbs]
The verbs tag has no usage guidance.
187
questions
6
votes
2answers
358 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
714 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
47 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 ...
7
votes
1answer
386 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
107 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
106 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
479 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
90 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
112 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
65 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
71 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
176 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
188 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
81 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
124 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
93 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 ...
5
votes
1answer
247 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
57 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
132 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
173 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
132 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 ...
6
votes
1answer
292 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
145 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
180 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
180 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
421 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
188 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
885 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
79 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
170 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
423 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
171 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-...
8
votes
2answers
750 views
Did the Vulgar Latin verb “toccare” exist?
According to the Royal Spanish Academy dictionary, the word tocar 'touch' has its origin in the toc toc onomatopoeia. Something similar is registered in Etymonline for the English verb touch:
from ...
7
votes
1answer
272 views
Are Latin verbs of motion satellite-framed or verb-framed?
Are Latin verbs of motion satellite-framed, verb-framed, both, or neither?
Native English verbs of motion are said to be satellite-framed: the verb usually indicates the manner of motion and a "...
1
vote
2answers
79 views
“ferro se petentem”
Valete,
I have this sentence (written by Ulpianus in Digest 9.2.5) :
Sed et si quemcumque alium ferro se petentem quis occiderit
But if someone (quis) killed anyone else (quemcumque alium) when ...
3
votes
1answer
49 views
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 ...
5
votes
3answers
202 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
votes
1answer
121 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
votes
1answer
102 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 ...
4
votes
0answers
196 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
votes
2answers
596 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
votes
2answers
118 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 ...
2
votes
2answers
118 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
votes
1answer
169 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 ...
3
votes
2answers
135 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
votes
3answers
128 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
votes
0answers
53 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. '...
5
votes
3answers
485 views
How accurate is the typical definition of a deponent verb?
Deponent verbs are often 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 without ...
3
votes
1answer
252 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 ...
