The verbs tag has no usage guidance.
9
votes
2answers
940 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
0answers
116 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
votes
1answer
168 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
votes
1answer
74 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
115 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
votes
1answer
47 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 ...
4
votes
1answer
53 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 (...
6
votes
0answers
37 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
59 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 ...
4
votes
0answers
42 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
73 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 ...
6
votes
1answer
58 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
votes
1answer
49 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 ...
10
votes
0answers
65 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
63 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
votes
5answers
494 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
23 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 ...
8
votes
0answers
52 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
votes
1answer
50 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
votes
1answer
87 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
votes
1answer
89 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 ...
7
votes
2answers
92 views
Are there other verbs in -uō?
Someone asked me recently about the conjugation of the obscene verb futuō, futuere, futuī, futūtus—and in particular about the quantity of the ū in the participle.
I intended to look at some other -...
8
votes
1answer
132 views
Active perfect stem conjugation and forms of esse
Many forms formed from the perfect stem (habitav-, fec-, tetig-, and others) resemble forms of esse.
It looks as if a form of esse was directly attached to the perfect stem.
In perfect conjunctive an -...
3
votes
2answers
58 views
Understanding 'percepset' instead of 'percepisset'
When looking at the L&S entry for percipio, I came across a surprising perfect form: percepset.
The contraction percepisset > percepset lookst similar to cogitavisset > cogitasset.
Are ...
5
votes
1answer
65 views
Why vesperascit instead of vesperescit?
I was recently working on a little translation project and my intuition and memory suggested that "evening comes" is vesperescit.
Checking dictionaries corrected me: it is vesperascit instead.
Why is ...
5
votes
1answer
170 views
ἔερθαι: valid verb form? What verb?
This is l. 28 (the last line) of P.Sapph. Obbink:
I read it as:
ΝΘ̣€Ρ+ . . +Ι̣
where the uncertain theta could be an epsilon (Obbink reads €̣) and the pluses denote a blank spot in the papyrus, ...
4
votes
0answers
30 views
What combinations of tenses appear in periphrasis?
Periphrastic verb forms, specifically a participle plus an auxiliary verb, are very common in English ("I am writing now"). They also appear in Latin and Ancient Greek and a number of Romance ...
5
votes
1answer
51 views
How to translate “evaluate”?
In mathematics people say that
Evaluate f at x
What word in Latin means "evaluate"? The construction ex-valor-are -> evaloro, -are, -avi, -atum seems to be an analogue but I am not sure if this ...
1
vote
1answer
47 views
Revertere or reverti in transitive use?
If I want to use the verb revertere/reverti transitively (with an object different from the subject), should I choose active or passive forms?
Intuition suggests that active forms are preferred for ...
5
votes
1answer
38 views
How to “undelete” in Stack Exchange in Latin?
In the Stack Exchange network questions, answers, and comments can be undeleted.
What would be a good Latin verb for "undelete" in this context?
To "delete" is naturally delere, but I see no good way ...
4
votes
2answers
153 views
Is there a Latin verb for enabling?
This question is based on the same book "Wolmar Schildt — sata uudissanaa" my question yesterday.
The second of the two words that caught my attention was the Finnish verb "mahdollistaa", which was ...
2
votes
1answer
38 views
Is there a classical Latin verb for furnishing?
I recently read a booklet called "Wolmar Schildt — sata uudissanaa" which is built around a list of a hundred neologisms by Wolmar Schildt (1810–1893), one of the most active promoters of ...
7
votes
2answers
170 views
Regular passive forms of “facere”
Have regular passive forms of the verb facere ever been used?
If so, what is the first occurrence?
In all of the Latin I have seen, the passive forms of facere are replaced by fieri.
Regular passive ...
4
votes
3answers
123 views
Different registers of urination
In English and Finnish (and probably most languages) there are different verbs for urination to be used under different circumstances:
clinical: urinate, mictuate; virtsata
childish: pee, wee; ...
7
votes
2answers
202 views
Why is “et sine ipso factum est nihil quod factum est” translated into past tense?
I'm a beginner and noticing "est" a present tense verb, being translated in dozens of resources as "was." Why?
et sine ipso factum est nihil quod factum est = and without him nothing was made that ...
4
votes
1answer
42 views
What is Latin for “relate”?
I mean that sense of relate which we find in:
A relates to B as C does to D.
or when we speak of A and B's relation, meaning whatever may be said of A and B without further specification.
If ...
4
votes
2answers
133 views
Understanding Lewis and Short: Why sūbĭcĭo and not subjĭcĭo?
I just searched for Christmas questions on our site, and ended up reading this question and its answer.
There was a mention of the Lewis and Short entry on the verb subicere, and I was puzzled by the ...
6
votes
1answer
37 views
A rough comparison of different derivatives of plere
There seems to be a large number of verbs derived from plere, all meaning "to fill" to some extent:
plere, supplere, complere, implere, explere, opplere.
I understand that replere means "to refill" ...
4
votes
1answer
81 views
Credere with Dative or Accusative
I came across this sentence in a fictional dialog in my Latin lesson.
difficile est mihi hoc credere.
In this context, hoc refers to someone else's claim of accomplishment. I had learned earlier ...
4
votes
1answer
65 views
Instances of Actions - Verbs into Nouns
In English, we can take a verb like "swim" and refer to it as a noun in reference to occurrences. For example,
"That was a good swim,"
"I have three swims next week."
Is there a similar construct ...
5
votes
1answer
58 views
Future-Perfect?
In North & Hillard, Ex 215, the following sentence:
There can be little doubt that the guides, whether through treachery or ignorance, were mainly responsible for the disaster.
is translated ...
8
votes
2answers
549 views
Are Deponent Verbs a feature of the Latin Language or Means of Translation?
sequi as an example is a deponent verb. All forms are translated active, but look like passive forms.
Is this a feature of the Latin language (i.e. were contemporary linguists aware of such a feature)...
5
votes
0answers
84 views
Translation of Greek “ἅπτω” in John 20:17
English versions of John 20:17 show two types of accounts:
Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father
and
Jesus says to her, "Do not touch me, for not yet ...
2
votes
1answer
98 views
With which verb can I park a car?
What would be a good Latin translation for the verb "to park"?
I mean contexts like "I parked my car in front of his house".
I would prefer to have a classically attested verb, so my main question is ...
2
votes
1answer
135 views
Origin of supine form?
Where did the supine form originate? It seems strange that for there to be a verbal noun with only accusative and ablative forms. This, at least to me, suggests that there was once other forms, ...
5
votes
1answer
57 views
What can “dicere” mean in the context of a musical instrument?
Apuleius, Metamorphoses VI.24.3:
scaena sibi sic concinnata ut Musae quidem chorum canerent, tibias inflaret Saturus, et Paniscus ad fistulam diceret.
This is from the Loeb edition, which ...
13
votes
2answers
345 views
Latin passive endings: Why is -mini sticking out
The Latin passive ending usually feature an additional letter R compared to the active endings: laud-or, -aris, -atur, -amur, -antur. However, the second person plural is different, using the ending -...
6
votes
1answer
74 views
What is the difference between sum and existo?
What is the difference between "sum" and "existo" verbs?
Would "Cogito, ergo sum" be equivalent to "Cogito, ergo existō"?
2
votes
1answer
69 views
What is the uncontracted form of “κεῖμαι”? (Greek)
I got this word κεῖμαι while trying to learn ὑποκείμενον, found in this answer to another question.
All the deponent verbs I've run across so far had an ο for theme vowel, as in: βούλομαι or ...
2
votes
0answers
47 views
When and how did the distinction between the gerund and the gerundive develop?
The gerund and the gerundive look similar and have similar meanings, but they are still distinct as any Latin grammar will tell us.
But how did classical Latin come to have these two close but ...
