14
votes
Accepted
When did the silencing of 'h' start?
Before the late Republic
Already in Republican inscriptions we find people leaving off H's, as in Oratia for Horatia, or adding them where they don't belong, as in havet for avet. During this time, ...
- 64.4k
12
votes
Why do some Latin adverbs have accent on the last syllable?
This seems to be a mystery. I haven't found any good explanation yet; I don't know if this is because the subject has been neglected so far, or if it's because the very occurrence of the phenomenon is ...
- 26.5k
10
votes
How do you translate this sentence from St. Augustine?
You're basically there. Utrum ... an can indeed be taken as "whether ... or":
da mihi, domine, scire et intellegere "grant me, Lord, to know and understand"
utrum sit prius invocare te an laudare ...
- 30.6k
9
votes
Why do some Latin adverbs have accent on the last syllable?
An important note about my sources:
A question has been raised by another user re: sources in my answer. Anyone can easily check the accuracy of my statements and sources. Dr. Stotz is an expert in ...
- 11.6k
9
votes
Accepted
Augustine, De Civitate Dei, Book XVII, Ch. XVI
I think you may be overthinking this a bit: this particular meaning of audire is idiomatic, but derives pretty directly from the base meaning. I think the bolding of the L&S entry gives somewhat ...
- 38.5k
8
votes
Accepted
How to parse "in eo quod"?
How to parse "in eo quod"?
It appears that in eo quod is not a syntagma, but rather that the preposition in goes with manent to form a different syntagma. The syntagma maneō in quōd is ...
- 2,630
7
votes
Accepted
Does "quidam Ciceronis" indicate respect for the person?
Does quidam have a special meaning in this context? I have been unable to find any indication, beyond Chadwick's assertion, that using "quidam" was a "rhetorical convention of the time" to express ...
- 38.5k
6
votes
Why do some Latin adverbs have accent on the last syllable?
It seems that Saint Augustine in your quote is describing the same phenomenon that we can see consistently marked in later Latin.
While trying to read Marracci's 'Refutatio Alcorani' (https://books....
- 1,196
6
votes
Accepted
The usage of present passive infinitive
My suggestion with complex sentences is always to try to identify the core and to rewrite it into a simpler independent sentence.
Here the core, as far as your question is concerned, has to do with ...
- 110k
6
votes
Analysis of Dative in >>Confessions<<
Here is the relevant passage:
Augustine. Confessiones 2.3.6: Itaque illa exilivit pia trepidatione ac tremore et, quamvis mihi nondum fideli, timuit tamen vias distortas in quibus ambulant qui ponunt ...
- 7,511
6
votes
Accepted
How is curavit being interpreted in a negative sense?
As James O'Donnell notes in his commentary, non enim should be taken with ita curavit.
I would suggest that non enim et illa means "For not even she," and everything from "quae" to ...
- 6,219
6
votes
Accepted
Why is the neuter perniciosius used in this sentence?
Formally, perniciosius can be either a comparative adverb or a comparative adjective in the nom./acc. sg. neuter. Syntactically the neuter seems to fit better here:
as if he might think any enemy to ...
- 30.6k
6
votes
Augustine: me dare mihi velle quod eis dabas
Me is indeed not the object of dare but, as noted by cnread in a comment to a since-deleted answer, of nutrire, so nutrientes me are "those who bring me up, those who nourish me."
As ...
- 31.7k
5
votes
How to parse "in eo quod"?
quod facta sunt, in eō manent = what they [= entities] have been made (as/into), they remain in that state/as that thing. The singular is needed because quae facta sunt (as in the first clause) means ‘...
- 5,957
5
votes
How to parse "in eo quod"?
Here is the translation offered by the Works of Saint Augustine:
Because when the things that have been made remain as what they were
made, to the extent they received it, like those things that have ...
- 6,219
5
votes
Accepted
Does "plurimi" imply "vast majority" in Augustine's Enchiridion?
One can use quam as an intensifier of plurimi, so that quam plurimi is most naturally translated as "very many" as in the translation you cite, or perhaps "quite many".
There are several classical ...
- 110k
4
votes
What does "suscipies et enutries omnes" mean in Augustine?
That English translation is very good, in my opinion. For the sake of comparison, here's my rendering.
And you say: "if you live [literally "will have lived"] piously in Christ, all good things ...
- 64.4k
3
votes
Confessiones, sentence analysis
It is nominative singular.
Literally translated, your phrase (which is subordinated to a larger sentence) means:
. . . though meanwhile this same father did not busy himself over what kind [of ...
- 38.5k
1
vote
How to determine when a noun is an objective genitive versus a subjective genitive?
As you can read in grammar books, the subjective and objective genitive can be ambiguous, especially in the case of a noun as we have here.
In this particular sentence, it seems clear to me that ...
- 5,127
1
vote
How would you translate "circumferens" in this passage from St. Augustine's Confessions?
At the risk of sounding like I'm suggesting some schoolboy calque, I think translating circumferens as "carrying around" is pretty spot on. Man is carrying around his mortality and his various ...
- 4,373
1
vote
Why do some Latin adverbs have accent on the last syllable?
TO DEFINE WHAT IS AT ISSUE:
Augustine is focusing on the inflexion, the rise in pitch, acute, aigu; in contrast to the lowering of the voice.
The English phrase 'at least,' is iambic (both in the ...
- 8,613
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