28
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Do *Mundi* and *Mundum* mean different things?
These are the exact same word, and yes both mean "world" but no you cannot substitute them for each other. Latin is a fully inflexional language, which means that the words have endings which change ...
cmw♦
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19
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Latin plural of Curriculum Vitae?
It's the former, curricula vitae. As the article linked in Wikipedia points out, vitarum would indicate that there are multiple lives mentioned per each curriculum. However, vitae as a genitive is ...
cmw♦
- 52.2k
17
votes
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What is the correct way to say "Noctis Avem"?
If you want to say "night bird" with the words "night" (nox) and "bird" (avis), you should say "bird of the night", avis noctis.
When you decline this expression, noctis (of the night) remains in the ...
- 111k
16
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What is the logic behind the order of the cases
The Greek - and hence Roman - tradition is to list cases in the order: NOM - GEN etc. Dionysius Thrax (170-90 BCE) is considered to be the first extant record of this system - see a screenshot from ...
- 11.6k
15
votes
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Is the Phrase "Sola Dea Fatum Novit" Proper Latin?
Yes, the grammar of this sentence is perfectly fine. It's a very simple sentence composed of subject, object and verb.
Sentence Outline
Subject: Sola dea - The subject needs to be nominative here. ...
- 411
15
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Does Latin have a mechanism to disambiguate possessive pronouns of the same gender referring to distinct persons?
Two key mechanisms of disambiguation come to mind:
Using hic (latter) and ille (former) is one way. Simple example: "A and B meet. The former eats, the latter drinks." — A et B conveniunt. Ille ...
- 111k
15
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Is it acceptable/regular to use diacritics (macron) in written texts?
Latin doesn't have a single standardized orthography. The spelling "perfectio" is a fine way to write the Latin word for "perfection". In fact, a number of people would prefer "perfectio" over "...
- 27.3k
15
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Could we say "dies mirabilis" as we say "annus mirabilis"?
Yes, dies mirabilis is perfectly valid!
You can use the adjective mirabilis with any noun.
You have to use the correct form, but that is fortunately easy.
In masculine and feminine it's mirabilis, in ...
- 111k
15
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How to say "To serve, not to be served" in Latin?
Welcome to the site!
Non ministrari, sed ministrare (VG Mt 20,28)
Is a well-attested phrase with that exact meaning. It literally means not to be served but to serve. The context is Jesus in the ...
- 11.1k
15
votes
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Why is this a correct sentence: "Iūlius nōn sōlus, sed cum magnā familiā habitat"?
Although it's possible that the verb est has been omitted here, as Adam says, I find it more likely that the sentence really is equivalent to Iūlius nōn sōlus habitat, sed cum Aemiliā et cum magnā ...
- 19.3k
14
votes
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Is "esse est percipi" grammatical, even with infinitives?
The expression esse est percipi is grammatical.
Notice that the gerund does not have a nominative form at all.
If you want the corresponding nominative (or accusative when there is no preposition), ...
- 111k
14
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Do *Mundi* and *Mundum* mean different things?
The Latin word used for "world" here is mundus.
This word has several forms (singular/plural):
nominative: mundus/mundi
accusative: mundum/mundos
genitive: mundi/mundorum
dative: mundo/mundis
...
- 111k
14
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How do I specify how many "litterae" or "castra" there are?
You should use a distributive. Cicero, ad Atticum, 5. 3:
ibi mihi tuae litterae binae redditae sunt tertio abs te die
This works for all such plural nouns, but you should take care over the case ...
- 18k
13
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What is the difference between -us and -io?
Unfortunately, it seems that people have tried for centuries to answer this question, with limited success or at least limited consistency. For example:
In his 1841 Dictionary of Latin Synonymes, ...
- 16.4k
13
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Why *In medias res* and not *In media res*?
You are confusing two words:
The noun medium means "center".
The adjective medius means "central".
In this idiom one goes into "central things".
The word res is feminine (the singular nominative and ...
- 111k
13
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What cases were used in compounds?
Though bare-stem compounding is the usual method in Indo-European, compounds with an inflected first member are actually not uncommon in many IE languages. It seems that all cases could be used. For ...
- 30.9k
13
votes
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Shouldn't "decursus" be accusative in Psalm 1:3?
The noun decursus belongs to the fourth declension, not the second. You know this because, if you look it up in a dictionary, the two forms that are given (the 'principal parts') will be dēcursus, -ūs,...
- 19.3k
13
votes
Is the phrase professor emerita grammatically correct?
In theory, the feminine of professor would be profestrix. However, this is a rather awkward formation, and isn't attested classically—the use of -trix on a dental-stem noun is incredibly rare in any ...
- 65.1k
13
votes
Why is Thesaurus Musicarum Latinarum in the feminine?
Simply, it's because musica is a feminine noun.
As to why it might be plural, which is a separate question really, it seems here to mean something more akin to "musical arts." This isn't ...
cmw♦
- 52.2k
13
votes
Caesar's use of 'ad equum'
I assume you mean this quote:
Quod cum fieret, non inridicule quidam ex militibus X. legionis dixit: plus quam pollicitus esset Caesarem facere; pollicitum se in cohortis praetoriae loco X. legionem ...
cmw♦
- 52.2k
13
votes
Why the use of "eum" instead of "eius" in
Here's the context:
Ancilla ānulum gemmātum in digitō dominae pōnit. In quō digitō? In digitō quārtō, nam ānulus ad eum digitum convenit.
My translation:
The servant girl places the jewelled ring ...
- 8,779
12
votes
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12
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How to emphasize adjectives?
Using nimis (or related words) before an adjective strengthens it, but in a specific direction: nimis frigidus is "too cold", not "very cold".
You can also reach a similar tone ...
- 111k
12
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Dropping "to be" and other verbs in Latin?
It definitely isn't rare, and it definitely isn't found only in poetry. Any good Latin grammar will address this topic.
In Gildersleeve and Lodge, Latin grammar, the index entry for esse includes a ...
- 19.3k
12
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Why is 'cum' followed by the dative in this sentence?
It's actually the ablative, not the dative. It's an i-stem, and Latin allows some i-stems to have an ablative singular in ī. I've copied the relevant section from Allen and Greenough below:
The ...
cmw♦
- 52.2k
12
votes
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Why the use of "eum" instead of "eius" in
Both eum and eius would be grammatically correct, but they mean different things.
Eum (from is, ea, id) when modifying a noun is a demonstrative pronoun. The ring fits that finger as opposed to a ...
- 6,339
11
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Is the Phrase "Sola Dea Fatum Novit" Proper Latin?
Sola dea is the subject, and the subject must be nominative.
Fatum is in the accusative, and not the nominative, and must be, since sola dea is in the nominative. It's the direct object, and the ...
cmw♦
- 52.2k
11
votes
"Dies unus"—non primus?
It's a cardinal number, not an ordinal number, in the original Hebrew. Look at the other uses of the same Hebrew phrase:
Genesis 1:9 (NIV):
And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered ...
- 1,425
11
votes
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When do I use the gerundive vs. participle forms of a verb in Latin?
I think that your question will become a lot clearer when you realize that the gerundive is a participle: specifically, it is the future passive participle.
This is thus not a question of choosing ...
- 39.5k
11
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Manilius nesciebat quid scribebat
This is an example of an indirect question, e.g.
I asked where he was.
I know what he did.
I told you what I would do.
Or, as in this case:
"He didn't know what he was writing."
This construction ...
- 39.5k
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