Questions tagged [vocabulary]
This tag is for questions concerning the meaning and usage of individual words or a few words in conjunction with each other.
628
questions
3
votes
1answer
90 views
I’m exploring names for a fictional space agency. Which would be more correct?
I’d like it to have the acronym "ET"
Would it be better for it to be:
excelsior terra
or
excelsior tellus
I’m sure that there are better ways to express this though I have always liked the ...
5
votes
2answers
2k views
Latin word for “liar”
Is there a succinct pronoun for a person who is a liar? You could make a phrase for a person who lies using mentior, or construct a sentence about the lie itself with mendacium, but what a single word ...
5
votes
1answer
132 views
Translate compound word “airship” to Latin
Is there a more idiomatic way to translate "airship" than something like navis aeris (maybe this already is natural to a native speaker)? A compound word like "Airship" in English feels like a more ...
4
votes
1answer
77 views
Translating “lesson” into Latin
Salvete,
How do people normally translate "lesson" into Latin for use in modern conversation?
English and many other languages derive their word from lectio (reading), so I suppose that would only be ...
18
votes
1answer
2k views
Are there Latin words known only by reconstruction from Romance languages?
I presume that many Latin words made it to the Romance languages, but were never attested in writing, whether because they were limited to Vulgar Latin or just because by chance no writer used them ...
2
votes
3answers
77 views
How do I know the difference between crying out, crying tears, and war cry?
All the words just say cry. I want to find a word that means crying as in crying tears, but all I see are words for war cry and crying out.
4
votes
2answers
122 views
How would the Romans have borrowed the word “Dune”?
Following up on my previous question about a latin word for "dunes", how would the Romans have adopted and latinized a word of Germanic origin like "dune"? I found a few examples of similar sounding ...
6
votes
1answer
521 views
Is there a Latin word for “dune”?
Did the Romans have a word for "dune", as in sand dunes? There are plenty of words relating to sand itself, but I can't find anything specifically about dunes. There is a placed called Arenae Montes (...
9
votes
1answer
186 views
What does “non oportet” mean?
When verbs that recommend an action to some degree (such as should, must, ought) are negated, there are two possible interpretations: (a) the action is simply not recommended, nor anything else; or (b)...
5
votes
3answers
1k views
Latin Translation for “Death to the enemies of mankind”
I'd like to translate "Death to the enemies of mankind" into Latin. How can I do that? If there are multiple ways of saying it, I would like it structured as close to a motto as possible, since that's ...
6
votes
1answer
100 views
Complete list of Greek -μι verbs
Is there an exhaustive list somewhere of all the simplex -μι verbs in Greek?
Searching Perseus for words ending in -μι brings up a long list of results, most of which are prefixed forms of the same ...
7
votes
2answers
1k views
Latin Phrase for “It goes without saying”
The title of the question pretty much sums it up.
I am looking for a Latin phrase for the English expression "It goes without saying." I am not sure if an analogous expression exists- although I would ...
3
votes
1answer
93 views
How would you translate “circumferens” in this passage from St. Augustine's Confessions?
I'm reading the beginning of St. Augustine's Confessions (Liber I Caput I), and had some trouble translating the word circumferens. How would you translate it?
magnus es, domine, et laudabilis ...
4
votes
3answers
224 views
Best Latin translation of an English Phrase “Always Present, Never Seen”
I am designing some potential products for my organization, and I want to include a version that includes a tag line written in Latin of one of the our organizational values. The phrase I'm looking ...
7
votes
2answers
2k views
How do you say this phrase in latin? Venisti, vedisti, you destroyed?
Can someone help me with this expression?
I want it to say "You came, you saw, you destroyed".
I know the first two parts... but I can't seem to find how to say the last one.
I would appreciate the ...
9
votes
1answer
152 views
What word did the Romans use to describe a hot, dry, sandy desert?
Did the Romans during the classical era have a word for a dry, hot, desert? There is desertum, but that is more "wilderness" than explicitly desert in the sense we might think of today. ...
4
votes
1answer
169 views
Inaccurate translation of phrases in Latin with word “defender”
I'm trying to translate the following words to Latin (see blockquote). And I've used various translation tools, but I have a strong feeling it's inaccurate.
These ones I would like to have correctly ...
4
votes
1answer
129 views
“Aliquid scribere” or “de aliquo scribere”
Scaliger once wrote Manilius nesciebat quid scribebat, by which he obviously meant that Manilius did not know what he was writing about.
In English, there is a big difference between "writing ...
2
votes
1answer
33 views
What are the proper terms for highly-educated people?
I'm curious about terms that can be used to describe these people, or the qualifications themselves:
College/university graduate
Somebody with a "Master's" qualification
Somebody with a "Doctorate" ...
5
votes
1answer
335 views
Is there a Latin equivalent of “lady”?
In English the word "lady" generally carries a positive connotation - that's why Aung San Suu Kyi is also referred to as "The Lady".
I'm wondering if Latin has an equivalent for "lady". Google ...
5
votes
2answers
140 views
What creative pursuits can I follow using the Latin Language?
While we're stuck in quarantine I have plenty of time to create. Here's what I've tried doing so far:
Helping answer easy questions on the Stack Exchange
Translating songs into Latin/Writing songs in ...
24
votes
3answers
8k views
What is bullshit in Latin?
If a statement is blatantly wrong or shows lack of interest in the truth, one can call it bullshit in English.
But how about Latin?
Is there something more strong and colorful than falsus?
I am not ...
2
votes
1answer
118 views
How to determine the ending of a Latin noun?
In LLPSI, I have seen Latin be Latina, Latinum, and Latinae. What are the differences of these words and how do I determine which to use?
15
votes
7answers
8k views
Can you say “the” in Latin?
I'm reading Collar and Daniell's First Year in Latin right now and they mention that Latin has no articles such as "a", "an", and "the". Is this true? I have heard the book be inaccurate before.
9
votes
3answers
892 views
What is a leap year in Latin?
Now that it's 29th of February, there is no way not to ask:
What is a leap year in Latin?
Leap month and leap day (mensis/dies intercalaris or intercalarius) are well attested.
In the Julian calendar ...
6
votes
2answers
235 views
Deciphering a sentence
I have just encountered this sentence from an old book, however I can't understand it. not only I can't understand 3 words in bold, but also the entire sentence I can't make up.
Alia vero multo ...
2
votes
1answer
78 views
Salsissimum futura erit - is this right?
I need this translation for an artwork
"future will be salty"
Salsissimum erit futura
Salsissimum futura erit
it's a joke for an illustration of Diocletian announcing the salt as payment.
6
votes
0answers
111 views
How does Homer say “finger” and “leg?”
The English-Greek dictionary by Woodhouse translates finger as "δάκτυλος." However, the Homeric dictionary by Cunliffe doesn't have this word, and searching in the text of Homer doesn't seem to turn ...
3
votes
0answers
45 views
προσώπατα versus πρόσωπα, προσώπασι versus προσώποις in Homer
I'm working on learning Homeric vocabulary, and for this purpose I've written a script using CLTK to search for forms of a particular word through the Iliad and Odyssey. The idea is that I don't want ...
3
votes
0answers
78 views
Gen 1:28 only animals that move or all living beings?
The book of Genesis, 1:28 reads:
Crescite et multiplicamini et replete terram et subicite eam et dominamini piscibus maris et volatilibus caeli et universis animantibus, quae moventur super terram
...
2
votes
1answer
84 views
How can I say “school/university of life” in Latin?
I want to translate "school/university of life" into Latin. Meaning, where you learn about life.
Thank you in advance.
2
votes
0answers
45 views
Duumvir vs Duovir
A Duumvir, or Duovir, is one member of a two-man council.
Why are there two spellings, what does the nuance imply, and which one is correct under which circumstance?
5
votes
1answer
100 views
Counting to ten in Homeric Greek
How do you count to ten in Homeric Greek? The following is what I put together by knowing how to count to ten in modern Greek, and then looking for ancient forms that looked similar. Is this right for ...
5
votes
0answers
53 views
Old illustrated books showing daily life in ancient Greece or Rome
When I was learning French, I found it very helpful to work on my vocabulary using a picture book called First Thousand Words in French. For example, it would have something like a full-page picture ...
1
vote
1answer
120 views
Translation of ab and de in Greek,
How would one best translate ab and de from Latin to Greek in order to capture the different nuances?
In Greek both are usually translated as από.
I am trying to capture the nuances so I am using ...
1
vote
1answer
46 views
What do “inexquisitum” and “supramemorati” mean?
In a medieval document I am reading the words "inexquisitum" and "supramemorati" appear. I do not know these words, can not find them on Google and they are not in my dictionary. Does anyone know what ...
9
votes
2answers
1k views
When can “qui” mean “how”?
From brianpck's comment on another answer:
"qui" quite often means "how" in Plautus
This took me by surprise, since I'd never seen that use before.
In what contexts can quī mean "how"? And where ...
0
votes
1answer
78 views
How to translate: “If anyone asks what you are now learning tell them they are unworthy?”
I am curious about the best way to translate this sentence into Latin:
"If anyone asks what you are now learning tell them they are unworthy"
Thanks in advance!
-Sue
7
votes
2answers
169 views
What is “appactim”?
The asker of another question cited a passage from a Hebrew-Latin lexicon:
At הֲלוֹם, arab. هَلُمَّ particula, huc, usque huc. pr. appactim.
Another edition of the book seems to confirm this ...
5
votes
2answers
327 views
Advenit versus Venit
In Cap. VII of LLPSI, Ørberg introduces Advenit with the following sentence
Ecce Iulius ad villam advenit.
It's curious to me that the verb includes the preposition; why not just use venit alone ...
6
votes
1answer
236 views
What does “Filiane” mean?
I am learning Latin from Collar and Daniell's FIRST YEAR LATIN. In LESSON IV: THE GENITIVE CASE TO DENOTE POSSESSION, an exercise is given (sentence translation).
Some examples:
Līberatne? Līberō, ...
3
votes
1answer
349 views
Lists of words to memorize before reading Lingua Latina Per Se Ilustrata classified by type: nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc
I read that a good way to use LLPSI is by memorizing lists of words before going to the text. Does anyone know where these word list are?
2
votes
1answer
58 views
Translation request
I would like to translate the term "always loved" - referring to 2 parents.
Would it be acceptable to translate this as semper carissimi rather than semper amati?
5
votes
2answers
427 views
Translating “newsletter” or “bulletin”
Is there any analogue of English newsletter or French bulletin in Latin?
2
votes
0answers
77 views
Discere and Studere
When "discere" can be synonymous with "studere"?
I read an old book saying that:
"discere" and "studere" aren't usually synonymous, but they can be in some particular contexts.
I'd like to know in ...
2
votes
1answer
55 views
ULD adpositions
To familiarize myself with Latin adpositions, I tried to translate the first chapter of the Universal Language Dictionary.
I would like to find for each term the least ambiguous and most common ...
3
votes
1answer
97 views
Fill vs fill up in Latin?
If I wanted to translate "To fill a cup" and "To fill up a cup", are there in Latin 2 different words to translate "fill" and "fill up"?
To fill up = to fill totally.
6
votes
1answer
221 views
Substantivization of “continuum”
I wonder how to translate "continuum hypothesis" into Latin. Indeed, "continuum" is an adjective in Latin (so we would have "continuous hypothesis" if we were trying a literal translation) and I don't ...
5
votes
1answer
631 views
Generic toast in classical Latin
Was there a generic toast that Romans would say to each other when drinking, along the lines of Cheers, or Sláinte. It doesn't need to have the meaning of those so much as have the same cultural usage:...
2
votes
2answers
132 views
How do I translate this phrase?
The phrase is "apud milites questus fratrem sibi insidias comparare". I know all the words individually but for some reason, the sentence just is not coming together in my mind.
To give some context, ...
