Questions tagged [ablative-absolute]
Absolute ablative is a grammatical construction in Latin which is used as a short form of temporal clauses. "Absolute" in its name means "disconnected", as it, unlike most ablatives, does not describe the predicate.
29
questions
5
votes
1
answer
345
views
How would you say "I think our stick insect will die by me giving it to our hamster to eat."? Can you use absolute ablative to mean a cause of death?
My attempt would be:
"Ego censeo nostrum phasmidum (insectus qui ut baculum parvum videtur) moriturum esse me danti eum nostro criceto, ut cricetus noster eum voret."
But I don't know ...
- 4,908
4
votes
1
answer
162
views
Subject of the ablative absolute in the main clause
In the Historia Regum Britanniae there is the following sentence:
Superveniente ergo illa cesserunt ei Saxones et aliquantulum dilapsi vix iterum sese consociaverunt.
The editor makes the following ...
- 7,357
6
votes
0
answers
128
views
On the (alleged) ambiguity of "Fabricius a subsellis demisso capite discesserat" (Cic. Clu. 58)
Some Latinist scholars (e.g. Lavency (1986) and Longrée (2014), i.a.; see the full references at the bottom of this post) have noted that the following example from Cicero could in principle be ...
- 9,036
1
vote
0
answers
86
views
Searching for a proper definition of "Ablative Absolute" (AA)
When including the following two examples from Cicero in what turned out to be a too long! answer to a previous post, a terminological question came to my mind: How would one classify those ...
- 9,036
7
votes
1
answer
421
views
Cethegus (...) recitatis litteris debilitatus atque abiectus conscientia repente conticuit. (Cic. Catil. 3, 10)
I was wondering about the correct/preferred syntactic analysis of recitatis litteris in the following complex sentence from Cicero:
Tum Cethegus, qui paulo ante aliquid tamen de gladiis ac sicis, ...
- 9,036
5
votes
1
answer
147
views
Declension usage for the King on a diploma
In my PhD diploma, the first lines are the following:
D D
IMPERANTE AUGUSTISSIMO
CAROLO XVI GUSTAVO
SUECORUM REGE
DOMINO NOSTRO CLEMENTISSIMO
IUSSU FACULTATIS SCIENTARUM UPSALIENSIS
EGO
<name of &...
- 233
11
votes
1
answer
383
views
Why is nominative instead of ablative absolute used in 'Ibi egressi Trojani'?
In LLPSI 2 'Roma Æterna', Chapter XLI 'Origines', it is written:
Ibi [Siciliâ] egressi Trojani, quibus ab immenso prope errore nihil præter arma et naves supererat, cum prædam ex agris agerent, ...
6
votes
0
answers
99
views
Is "Te id dicente id non fit." good Latin for "You saying so does not make it so."?
Is "Te id dicente id non fit." good Latin for "You saying so does not make it so."? There are a couple of things I am not sure about it. When the participle is in ablative ("...
- 4,908
5
votes
1
answer
375
views
On the alleged ambiguity of the Ablative Absolute "Mutatis mutandis"
According to the wikipedia entry of Mutatis mutandis, "Mutatis mutandis is a Medieval Latin phrase meaning 'with things changed that should be changed' or 'having changed what needs to be changed'...
- 9,036
7
votes
3
answers
547
views
Grammatical structure of "Obsidibus imperatis centum hos Haeduis custodiendos tradit"
@Mitomino points out in this comment that my understanding of what modifies what in the sentence shown below from De Bello Gallico (VI.4.3) is mistaken. I'll diagram my understanding below. Can you ...
- 16.2k
9
votes
1
answer
433
views
Inveniturne participium futuri activi in ablativo absoluto?
Constructio ablativi absoluti, quae vocatur, frequenter affirmatur constare ex nomine in casu ablativo et participio, quod cum nomine congruere debeat. Tria autem genera participiorum habet lingua ...
- 34.7k
3
votes
2
answers
619
views
The difference between ablative absolute and a participle coniunctum
(old misleading title: The difference between ablative absolute and present participle)
On participles A&G notes:
The present and perfect participles are often used as a predicate, where in ...
- 11.5k
3
votes
1
answer
581
views
participium coniunctum vs. ablative absolute of transitive deponent verbs
I was wondering why the "active meaning" and the transitivity of deponent perfect participles like cohortatus in (1) are not naturally preserved in the Ablative Absolute in (2). Why is it ...
- 9,036
6
votes
1
answer
264
views
What is the literary effect of an Ablative Absolute?
I'm analyzing Book 4, lines 129-139 for my final in Virgil's Aeneid:
Oceanum interea surgens Aurora reliquit.
It portis iubare exorto delecta iuventus;
retia rara, plagae, lato venabula ferro,
...
- 2,973
11
votes
1
answer
243
views
Scope of negation with absolute constructions
In Latin and Greek, when a negator appears in an absolute construction (ablative absolute, genitive absolute), it is generally taken to negate the predicate within that construction:
hostibus ...
- 31.5k