Questions tagged [classical-latin]
Questions concerning Latin of the classical era, approximately 75 BCE to 300 CE
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How would you translate this sentence?
I am currently working on a translation passage adapted from Livy 43.4 by Ashley Carter, titled Hortensius at Abdera, but got stuck only a few lines into it. Here is the sentence that I am struggling ...
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Negotia Essentialia and Essentialia Negotii
As Per Essentialia negotii transaction's essentials.
Did the Classical Roman Scholars in Roman Law use Essentialia Negotii?
Wouldn't it be more gramatical to use Negotia Essentialia to refer to ...
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2answers
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Is “mobile (vulgus)” used to refer to a “mob”?
According to Wiktionary, the English term "mob" (as in group of people) comes from the Middle English "mobile", which comes from the Latin "mobile (vulgus)" (a moving crowd). Is this meaning attested ...
3
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2answers
119 views
How do I say “I own myself” in Latin?
I am trying to grasp the difference between "I" and "myself" in Latin.
How would the phrase "I own myself" translate to Latin?
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Translation of “Love makes it grow” in Latin for my tattoo
Thank you very much for all your replies. However the answers do not exactly match the meaning.
"Love makes [anything] grow." -- This anything can be anything - a person, work, condition, anything ...
5
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1answer
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Seneca’s Epistula Moralis XLI: “God” or “a god”?
The Loeb translation by Richard M. Gummere of Seneca's Epistula XLI, "On the God Within Us":
Non sunt ad caelum elevandae manus nec exorandus aedituus ut nos ad aurem simulacri, quasi magis ...
5
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2answers
241 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 ...
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3answers
243 views
Does Latin have any Portmanteau words?
English has many examples of portmanteau words (e.g. "motel" is a combination of "motor" and "hotel"). Does Latin have any such phenomena?
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2answers
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Doubt on pronunciation of verbs (stressing)
I have recently heard somebody (quoting Virgil) saying "Timèo Danaos...". This sounds awkward to me, but I confess I have not studied Latin for ages.
I remember that timeo is a verb like moneo, II ...
4
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1answer
76 views
Found eius but pēius in the same text: is it some kind of mistake?
While I was reading Lingua Latina per se Illustrata - Familia Romana, I noted something: the vocabulary list has ĕius but pēius, is that by accident? Also I noted meī as mēī in line 92 of chapter 25, ...
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1answer
42 views
Translation of “the past shall live” into Latin
I am translating the motto, "The Past Shall Live" into classical Latin. Currently, I have Praeteritum Vivet, which I think makes sense, but I'd appreciate the input of those more skilled than I.
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Elit Scelerisque Mauris Pellentesque Pulvinar - Could some one please help to translate this
Could someone please help to transtale "Elit Scelerisque Mauris Pellentesque Pulvinar" to English?
Many thanks and best regards,
Phuong
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How was the original Ovid Metamorphoses formatted/punctuated most likely?
What punctuation was used in Classical Latin? was very insightful, but it doesn't go into specifics. Wikipedia said we don't have any original sources of Ovid's Metamorphoses until the 9th or 10th ...
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0answers
76 views
How did the Romans salute the Republic?
Are there any known phrases that were used by Romans to celebrate or cheer for the Republic? Something like Ave Res Publica ?
Or maybe they'd cheer for something else, like for the Senate or for the ...
3
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2answers
74 views
Translate “Crater Lake” into classical Latin
From what I have read of this post, Latin doesn't really use nouns as adjectives in the way that English does, although that post mentions you can use a noun in genitive case to achieve this. I am ...
6
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1answer
364 views
Translate “loyal animal” into classical Latin
I am translating the short phrase "loyal animal", or "faithful animal" into classical Latin. In this case, "animal" is intentionally very broad - I don't want to limit it to just domesticated animals ...
5
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1answer
127 views
How did the Romans refer to people of unknown gender?
Reference to other people's gender has become a delicate issue in today's world.
I expect that the Romans had no controversy over it, but they must have encountered situations where they have to write ...
5
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1answer
88 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:...
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Indirect questions and the passive subjunctive
How would you translate: "He asked if the the city had been captured?"
Quaerit num civitatem captum esse?
Here I am using an accusative (captum) plus infinitive (esse).
Am I right?
Thank you!
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1answer
111 views
Pronunciation of “Formulæ”
What is the pronunciation of Formulæ in Latin ?
Is there any difference (in pronunciation) between classical and vulgar Latin ?
The answer can be in International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) format.
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1answer
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Translate “Everything burns” into classical Latin
In a project of mine I have an event which was named "everything burns", or potentially "Everything burned" (I am open to both tenses). What would this be in classical Latin? I tentatively have this ...
4
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1answer
64 views
Translate “collective unconscious” into Latin
I would like to translate the phrase "collective unconscious" coined by Carl Jung, into classical Latin. It does not need to be a literal translation as long as it conveys the same concept of a shared ...
7
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1answer
410 views
Diminutive -ula
I didn't find -ula among the diminutive endings discussed on this site in the question "Constructing Latin diminutives." Hadrian's famous poem "Animula vagula, blandula" uses these 3 diminutives plus "...
2
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1answer
43 views
reus et debitor
I run into this sentence of the Digest - D.9.2.54
Legis Aquiliae debitori competit actio, cum reus stipulandi ante moram promissum animal vulneraverit.
I understand that the person who has ...
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1answer
41 views
Explanatory and Etymological dictionary of the Latin Language
With the term explanatory I am translating ερμηνευτικό. A dictionary which defines words comprehensively and clearly.
If one considers Oxford University to be the authority on the English language ...
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2answers
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Essentialia negotii transaction's essentials
So essentialia negotii is transaction's essentials. How would one say The transaction's essential things, transactions' essential things, essential things of the transaction and essential things of ...
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Is the adjective in latin put after the noun or before?
E.g Is the legal term essentialia negotii correct use of the grammar(declension, agreement, word order) rules or not?
Should it not be negotiorum essentialium so that the case, the number and the ...
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2answers
111 views
Is the locative used with multi-part city names?
The Duolingo Latin course mentions New York a lot.
(I'd rather have it focused on the geography of ancient Italy than the modern US, but that's beside the point now.)
The locative comes up regularly: ...
2
votes
2answers
113 views
What is a “robot” in Latin?
I read in Wikipedia the word robotum and robotor. Also, there is automaton, and androides. I don't see such a word in the [short online version of the] Lexicon Recentis Latinatis by the Vatican (which ...
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1answer
116 views
What is “heart” as the emotional organ?
In English one uses the word "heart" in a variety of ways to express deep emotion, as in "She will always be in our hearts".
Is there a corresponding "emotional organ" in Latin?
How should I go about ...
4
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1answer
65 views
Do Latin novellas exist to help develop vocabulary for reading Vergil's Aeneid?
I'm taking a 4th semester Latin class in which we are jumping right into Vergil's Aeneid, said to be quite difficult. We were discussing the relatively recent phenomenon of 'novellas' being written in ...
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Any material on so-called “inverse analysis” and “minimal pairs” to practice Latin grammar?
I was wondering if anyone could provide me with references on any online material (pdf, links, etc.) of Latin Grammar which can contain exercises based on so-called "inverse analysis" and "minimal ...
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2answers
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When did “virgo” gain its sexual meaning?
The primary meaning I associate with virgo, virginis is "young woman", perhaps a bit older than a puella but not yet a mulier.
However, the descendants of this word (in English and the Romance ...
3
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2answers
108 views
Did the Romans ever use 'decimatio' in a generalized sense?
Decimātiō was a Roman term for a military punishment where a group was reduced by a tenth. But in modern English, decimation is used generically to mean 'greatly reduced or damaged', often in ...
2
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1answer
49 views
Which word best translates spark as in a spark of energy?
Any latin, my tags aren't a mistake. The more variations the better thanks
3
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1answer
71 views
Latin expression for “carrying something on one's back”
In Spanish, the word cuesta is nowadays used as slope. Nonetheless, the etymology of the word indicates that it comes fom Latin costa, ae meaning "a side" but also "a rib". In fact, an old meaning for ...
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3answers
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How was “gnosco” pronounced?
I've heard it said before that Classical Latin /gn/ between vowels (as in magnus) was probably realized as [ŋn] (as in "hangnail"). This is supported by Romance descendants and the spelling of certain ...
5
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1answer
119 views
Is it better to memorize verb's 1st person perfect tense?
Is it necessary to memorize verb's perfect form like paro, parare, paravi?
Or can I predict a verb's perfect forms if I remember the rules by which perfect stems are formed. Like, the suffix -v/iv or ...
2
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1answer
90 views
What is “password” in classical Latin?
The concept of passwords predates computers:
To gain access to, say, some heavily guarded premises, one may need to be able to say a secret phrase to the guards.
I would imagine this concept was not ...
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Historicity doubted by Romans
The Roman historians seem happy to mix history with myth with no discussion on the reliability of one's sources — or even a mention of the sources in the first place.
I would like to imagine ...
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2answers
90 views
Can “ave, vire” be used colloquially as “hey, bro”?
There's a Spanish webcomic called ¡Eh, tío!, an expression that can be translated into English as hey, man or maybe as hey, bro. The webcomic had some time ago a story arc set in an alternate universe ...
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338 views
How would Marcus Aurelius have pronounced his Latin?
It is my understanding that Julius Caesar, Cicero, Octavian (Augustus) would have pronounced Latin in a manner that is decidedly Classical, characterised by:
"v" as /w/
"c" and "g" always hard (i.e., ...
6
votes
1answer
116 views
When did the classical period of Latin end?
When did the classical period of Latin end? I found that it is different in various books.
Wikipedia: 75 BC–AD 3rd century
Oxford Latin Dictionary: ? BC–AD 200
Lewis and Short: unknown
Allen and ...
3
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2answers
118 views
How did the Romans call the days of the week?
As a prequel to this other question, as suggested by Joonas Ilmavirta I would like to know how did the Romans call the days of the week (if they had names at all) in the different systems they had.
...
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0answers
54 views
Did the Romans abbreviate the days of the week?
In current Spanish when we have to abbreviate the days of the week using only one character, in most places (but not everywhere) to tell apart martes (Tuesday) from miércoles (Wednesday) we use 'M' ...
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2answers
62 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 ...
8
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1answer
366 views
Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum – Lucretius
I saw this quote in someone's forum sig file (signature): "Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum." - Lucretius
Curious, I consulted Google Translate, which my professional translator brother cautions ...
2
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1answer
67 views
Branches of Roman military in Latin
The military force of a country is often divided in branches such as an army, a navy, and an air force.
There are many other branches out there, but the point is that I am looking for a division of ...
4
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1answer
41 views
Understanding a sacrifice in Horace's carmen 1.5
In Carmina 1, poem 5, Horace writes about an untrustworthy and seducing lady.
He ends the poem in:
(...) Me tabula sacer
votiva paries indicat uvida
suspendisse potenti
vestimenta maris deo.
...
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0answers
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I need help translating two sentences into Latin [closed]
Phrase 1 : Life is in the doing.
Phrase 2 : The wood belongs to the families who have their roots in it.
