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Questions tagged [syntax]

Syntax are the rules for how sentences and phrases are constructed in a language, including word order and how words change based on their relations to other words (snl.no/syntaks).

7 votes
1 answer
528 views

Is "necesse est tibi esse placidus" valid classical Latin?

Say we want to say: "you should be calm", could we use "necesse est tibi esse placidus" -- at first it sounded little odd, but on a second consideration perhaps that's fine? I was ...
-3 votes
0 answers
150 views

How would you ask "Why should I get vaccinated against a disease that I don't know if it is real with a vaccine I don't know is safe?" in Latin?

How would you ask "Why should I get vaccinated against a disease that I don't know if it is real with a vaccine that I don't know if it is safe?" in Latin? My attempt would be: "Cur ...
3 votes
1 answer
122 views

Bellum Gallicum I Specific Translation

"Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli appellantur." In the first part of the sentence "...
6 votes
0 answers
92 views

How is Petrarch using an ... an in this passage?

In Invectiva contra quendam magni status hominem, Petrarch complains that his former friend, who used to be very complimentary of him, has recently been calling him ignorant. Petrarch asked what has ...
8 votes
1 answer
197 views

Exercitia Latina, Ch. 16: "...nāuigantī..."

My question stems from a task of comprehension from the exercises for Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata Familia Romana. What is the grammatical class of "nāuigantī" in the following excerpt ...
4 votes
1 answer
977 views

If a Latin sentence cannot end in a preposition, how would you say "I have never seen that before." in Latin?

If a Latin sentence cannot end in a preposition, how would you say "I have never seen that before." in Latin? Would you say something along the lines of "Numquam illud vidi ante hoc ...
3 votes
0 answers
128 views

Sentence without a verb

After finishing Haury's Latin translation of The Little Prince, namely Regulus, I found another Latin version by Alexander Winkler. In Chapter 1, I noticed this sentence (in boldface): Semper vero ...
5 votes
0 answers
98 views

What is the correct analysis of the personal dative in the so-called "double dative constructions"?

The so-called “double dative construction” contains a "dative of purpose" (e.g. maxumo terrori in ex. (1) below) and a personal dative (e.g. Numantinis in (1)) that turns out to be affected ...
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 ...
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, ...
6 votes
1 answer
632 views

What is μέγεθος referring to in Jewish War 3.4

In the Jewish War chapter 3.4, it says: μόνον [οὖν] εὑρίσκει Οὐεσπασιανὸν ταῖς χρείαις ἀναλογοῦντα καὶ τηλικούτου πολέμου μέγεθος ἀναδέξασθαι δυνάμενον "He found only Vespasian a match for the ...
1 vote
1 answer
139 views

Do these Latin phrases make sense?

So I am working on a phrase I want to put on a piece of apparel I am making. The phrase in English has two lines. In English, the lines are as follows: "The Church must always be reformed" ...
2 votes
1 answer
373 views

What case is virtutis in "prope virum summae virtutis sto"?

Consider the sentence, "prope virum summae virtutis sto." What case is virtutis and why? I'm pretty sure that it is genitive due to description, but I'm not sure. In case it helps, I translated it as,...
7 votes
1 answer
476 views

"Ut optimus quisque unum pro multis donatum est caput"

In this passage taken from the apocryphal correspondence between Seneca and Saint Paul (Letter XII): Grassator iste, quisquis est, cui voluptas carnificina est et mendacium velamentum, tempori suo ...
5 votes
1 answer
185 views

"Qui meus tuus apud te locus, qui tuus velim ut meus"

In Letter XI of the apocryphal correspondence between Seneca and Saint Paul, the following passage is found Haut itaque te indignum prima facie epistolarum nominandum censeas, ne temptare me quam ...

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