A Latin lesson for the sick Wolf

Janus was absolutely right to point out that I had made the most elementary mistake by neglecting to render ‘law’ in the correct accusative case (making it the ‘object’, in English grammar) , and I immediately corrected it to ‘legem’.   However, it then struck me that it would be better classical Latin to express the statement in the passive voice – “The Law of the Iceni is honoured here” – so I changed it to the current version.

O Zangado objected, makings the following assertion –

Observatur isn’t even in the dictionary, and Janus is right about the accusative (lex, legis, f, 4th declension).

and then later compounds his folly by saying –

I just KNEW there was no -ur ending in Latin

Poor chap.   The wolf flu must be confusing his grey matter. Pin your ears back, OZ and pay attention whilst I clarify your muddled thinking.   First of all –

  • Lex, legis is third declension, not fourth.   Fourth is reserved mainly for nouns in -u, and for supines.

Now let us examine the verb.  In Latin, personal endings are used in all tenses. In the present tense, for verbs of all conjugations, the endings are –

Active voice Passive voice
Singular Plural Singular Plural
First person –ō, –m –mus –or, –r –mur
Second person –s –tis –ris –minī
Third person –t –nt –tur –ntur

For example, using the verb amare, which was probably the first verb you learnt to conjugate when you were a cub, the present tense is conjugated in the passive as –

amor – I am loved
amaris – you (sing.) are loved
amatur – he/she/it is loved
amamur – we are loved
amamini – you (pl.) are loved
amantur – they are loved

I have added the meanings as it seems that you have become uncertain in your old age about what the passive voice actually is, and how it is used.   I have also highlighted the words with -ur endings.

Finally, to turn to your proposed use of the gerundive.   That changes the meaning, merely asserting that the laws are “fit to be observed”, rather than declaring that they actually are (observed).

I hope you feel better soon. 🙂

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Author: Bearsy

A Queensland Bear with attitude

33 thoughts on “A Latin lesson for the sick Wolf”

  2. Have mercy! I have Wolf-Flu and therefore care not a jot about anything right now apart from breathing, which is difficult enough. (You are probably right on the passive voice though, and I’ll check when I’m feeling better) 🙂

    OZ

  4. Bearsy, not bad for a old systems type. HOWEVER your dismissal of the gerundive is premature owing to your narrow translation: ‘fit to be….’. It can also be used prescriptively. Look no further than the overworked ‘quod erat demonstrandum’: ‘as had to be proved’. QED.

  6. Janus , vos es non rectus postquam “amor opes diligo”
    quod “amoris opes vos diligo aliquid”

    Vos postulo a novus libri 😦

  8. Janus – the shade of meaning is still slightly different, I submit. Or do you feel that the adverb hic can modify the verbal adjective as readily as it modifies the indicative verb? 😕

  9. Bearsy, definitely, since it is first in the sentence and modifies what follows. Your favourite ‘Carthago delenda est’ is prescriptive too, not just an observation about a suitable target! 😮

  10. Janus

    Amor means “Love”
    Amaris means “to Love somebody” or “You love somebody”

    amaris is rarely used

    Diligo is much better

    “Es vos en diligo” or
    “Operor vos diligo aliquid” or
    “quisnam operor vos diligo”

    🙂

  13. Bearsy, a suitable alternative might be: Hic observandæ sunt Leges Icenorum. But it’s your party! 🙂

  18. Donald, “My Latin is the ancient version as practiced by the Popes and masters of the old Lingo.”

    No wonder they’re unable to distinguish between the different kinds of love then – the papists, I mean. 😮

  19. The not-so-smartarse still feels absolutely terrible this morning in case anyone is the least bit interested. I’ve lost the will to live now – runny eyes, runny nose, sandpaper-dry throat, itchy fangs and everything else aching. Worse still, I’ve just looked outside and there are none of the eagerly anticipated queues of concerned Chariot-type wenches bearing bowls of steaming soup and other goodies such as sympathy and Latin grammar books.

    Just shoot me now and have done with it.

    Sob!

    OZ

  23. People called Romanus they do go house?

    Conjugate the verb to go!

    Right OZ, write it out 500 times before morning or I’ll shave yer fur off. 🙂

  25. Donald, I should think that the Latin the Popes used was well on its way to being medieval Latin even for the first pontiffs. Not the same as classical at all, at all.

  26. Si hoc signum legere potes, operis boni in rebus Latinus alacribus et fructuosis potiri potes!

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