20
votes
What does memento mori actually mean?
"Memento" means "remember". Literally it's "remember to die", which means: "Remember you must die."
The Christian meaning is not just "remember you are a mere mortal", but especially "remember you ...
- 1,833
14
votes
Accepted
Are the cases in Latin always six?
Generally, most nouns and adjectives have six cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, and vocative). However, this isn't always the case.
Some words are defective, where they appear ...
cmw♦
- 50.7k
12
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of "suffragio" at the time of Calvin?
Note, in your Etymonline citation, that the word originally came into English with the meaning of "intercessory plea or prayer", rather than "vote"; that meaning wasn't established in English until ...
- 1,041
9
votes
Hac hic huc meanings/difference
Hīc means "here", as in "at this place". Historically, it was the locative of hic "this".
Hāc can also mean "here", as in "at this place". This is a ...
- 64.6k
9
votes
What is the difference in meaning between `nil` and `non` in "Primum non nocere"?
It's possible that nil is a noun here, but it's more likely that it's the adverbial nil, which would translate to something like "not at all."
B. Adverb. 1. Not (as a strengthened non), in ...
cmw♦
- 50.7k
8
votes
Accepted
Difference between "hiems" and "hībernum"
As you noted (almost correctly), hibernum comes from hibernus, -a, -um which does mean 'wintry'. Any neuter adjective can be made into a noun by simple use. It's a feature of the language.
However, ...
cmw♦
- 50.7k
8
votes
What is the meaning of "suffragio" at the time of Calvin?
I don't know about that late a period, but the two dictionaries available on Perseus project give this as one definition for suffragium:
B. In gen., a decision, judgment, opinion: “rhetor suffragio ...
- 1,274
8
votes
Accepted
How does "jus" distinguish between "duty" and "right"
The normal word for "duty" in Latin isn't ius, but officium, and it's well attested for this meaning from Plautus to Suetonius (and later), in prose and poetry alike. Cicero's De Officiis is always ...
cmw♦
- 50.7k
6
votes
Accepted
Did the Romans have a definition for a species of organism?
As Aristotle is generally considered as the father of biology — Darwin wrote: “Linnaeus and Cuvier have been my two gods… but they were mere school-boys to old Aristotle.” (in a letter to W. Ogle, ...
- 2,292
6
votes
Accepted
Can "Quae" Be "Which"?
Criticism of Latin Translation
First, a brief criticism of the Latin text that you are using as a source:
Expressing purpose: The English of the song is a purpose clause, i.e. "in order to tell ...
- 38.5k
6
votes
Accepted
What is the difference in meaning between `nil` and `non` in "Primum non nocere"?
Prīmum nōn nocēre means "first, to not cause harm". Nōn negates the verb.
Prīmum nīl nocēre means "first, to cause harm to nothing". Nīl is the object of the verb.
(Note that both ...
- 64.6k
6
votes
What is the origin for the act of "sex" and definition?
Latin had a word sex, but it didn't have the same meaning as in English. Instead, it's cognate with English "six", and means the same thing.
English "sex" comes from Latin sexus, -ūs, which comes ...
- 64.6k
6
votes
Are the cases in Latin always six?
Furthermore, outside of non-neuter words in the second declension the nominative and vocative aren't formally distinct, and for neuter nouns of any declension, the nominative and accusative aren't ...
- 8,648
5
votes
Accepted
What does the word "numquid" literally mean?
I am unsure of the answer to this question, but have come across this word twice in working through Learning Latin the Ancient Way: Latin Textbooks from the Ancient World by Eleanor Dickey. The book ...
- 2,630
4
votes
What does memento mori actually mean?
"Memento Mori" means "Remember you will die", however, it comes from a Roman Imperial custom and, only much later, became a Christian motto with a different meaning and goal.
In early Imperial Rome ...
- 41
4
votes
What is the meaning of "suffragio" at the time of Calvin?
A great resource, if you can get a copy, for medieval Latin is J. F. Niermeyer's Mediae latinitatis lexicon minor (Leiden: Brill, 1976). There are other post-classical dictionaries, but this is a ...
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4
votes
What can "dicere" mean in the context of a musical instrument?
It's not necessary to be too literal in translating something like this, and I can't see any objection to the poetic licence in your suggestion of 'reciting', which makes the English roll along nicely ...
- 18k
3
votes
What is the origin for the act of "sex" and definition?
Notice sex as a verb (e.g. "to have sex") is a 20th century English meaning. The earliest quote in the Oxford English Dictionary about this meaning is from 1921:
K. Burke Let. 20 Aug. in K. ...
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2
votes
What is the connection between figs and pride in the word Caprificus?
In its original sense, capri-fīcus just means "wild fig-tree". Its fruits are harder to eat and less pleasant than the domesticated fig-tree (fīcus), but goats can eat them just fine, so the ...
- 64.6k
2
votes
What does memento mori actually mean?
Source: Memento Explained
Memento mori translates to "remember you must die". It is a medieval Latin Christian theory that focuses reflections on death not as a morbid practice but as an inspiration ...
- 21
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