Alan Gomes wrote:
Brian Whatcott wrote:
Scotty (SV) asked:
what's Latin for ''POS that doesn't belong on the ocean''?
Alan Gomes responded with finesse:
"Pars excrementi, quae non oportet esse in mari."
Horvath interjected in a scholarly way:
Close!
"Mare."
Alan Gomes, somewhat miffed, contradicted in this way:
Nope. The ablative for "sea" is "mari," not "mare."
--AG
So I looked it up.....
...from About.com: Latin nouns of the third declension (such as mare)
here are the consonantal endings.
The endings of the Third declension masculine or feminine/neuter are
singular nominative -/- genitive -is/-is dative -i/-i accusative -em/-
ablative -e/-e
plural nominative -es/-a genitive -um/-um dative -ibus/-ibus
accusative -es/-a ablative -ibus/-ibus
Using rex, regis, m. (king), here is the paradigm:
singular Nominative - rex Genitive - regis Dative - regi Accusative -
regem Ablative - rege Locative regi or rege Vocative rex
The facts speak in favor of Horvath, it appears for the ablative.
Perhaps Gomes had in mind the locative?
Brian Whatcott Altus OK
Brian,
I replied to the rest of this elsewhere. But I did not intend the
locative. But if I had, it would still be "mari," since I think the
locative follows the same endings as the dative, and the dative for mari
is the same form as is the ablative for mari.
Cheers,
Alan
Dang! I'm full of mistakes. (Engage brain before fingers are in gear....)
Correct the above to read, "... and the dative for mare is the same as
the ablative for mare, i.e., mari."
Sorry!
AG