Brian Whatcott wrote:
On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 18:20:31 -0700, Alan Gomes wrote:


Was the "wiggling" to which you referred my typo (subsequently corrected
immediately after I hit "send"--you saw that correction, right?), in
which I (wrongly) typed, "It is in mare" rather than my intended "It is
in mari"?


I had not seen your correction until now.

Anyhow...here's the bottom line:
(1) The ablative for the word "sea" in Latin (mare) is
"mari."

Yes...


(2) The way you would say "on the sea" in Latin is "in mari."

Yes...

So my original translation, which started this discussion, is correct.

Regards,
Alan Gomes

It seems to me that either form would be usable.

I was exceptionally disappointed to not find an instance of either
usage from the classical authors at Perseus/Tufts however.
The wine-dark sea, and all that....

Ah well.

Brian W

Thanks, Brian.

This has been fun (for us, at least), but apologies to the rest of the
group for morphing this thread into a discussion on the joys of i-stem
nouns!!!

But at least Scotty, who asked the original question that REALLY got all
this going, got his money's worth!

--AG

On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 19:20:34 -0700, Alan Gomes wrote
this crap:


But at least Scotty, who asked the original question that REALLY got all
this going, got his money's worth!


I was going to let this drop, but this has proven to be an interesting
discussion.

We should agree on three things:

Number One: The Romans had no word for "Oceans," so "Mare," or
"Maris," should suffice.

Number Two: Does the preposition "in," cause the noun to be ablative
or accusative? I say accusative.

Number Three: All Gaul is divided into three parts.





I'm Horvath and I approve of this post.

"Horvath" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 19:20:34 -0700, Alan Gomes
wrote
this crap:


But at least Scotty, who asked the original question that
REALLY got all
this going, got his money's worth!


I want a refund!

Scotty

On Jul 23, 4:27 pm, Horvath wrote:
On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 19:20:34 -0700, Alan Gomes wrote
this crap:
But at least Scotty, who asked the original question that REALLY got all
this going, got his money's worth!

I was going to let this drop, but this has proven to be an interesting
discussion.
We should agree on three things:
Number One: The Romans had no word for "Oceans," so "Mare," or
"Maris," should suffice.
Number Two: Does the preposition "in," cause the noun to be ablative
or accusative
Number Three: All Gaul is divided into three parts.
..

I've abstained til now but here's my $.02.

1. The Romans used the personification of the god Oceanus to refer to
the sea/ocean. (And that's where we got the current English word,
obviously.) So, there's one accurate substitute for mare; and as a
bonus, it has an indisputable ablative singluar ending. grin There's
also the commonly used pontus. Sailors might prefer aequor which
implies being on the surface of it. And poets like profundus, implying
the unknowable depths. All perfectly fine substitutes for mare.

2. and 3. "In" can certainly take an accusative, like your example
from Caesar (in partes tres). However just as often it takes an
ablative of place, which is what I'd consider appropriate in this
case. IMO, this one is definitely ablative of place. Example, the
classic Latin tongue-twister: in mari meri miri mori muri placet.

I freely admit that if I'd gone to the effort to create a Latin
version of this phrase, I'd have used "mare" forgetting about the
irregular "-i" ablative singluar. But it's definitely ablative not
accusative. I'd be more inclined to argue about the overall
construction as a literalist translation of the English words instead
of a rethinking of it in Latin. But the basic idea was fun and funny
and I'm in no mood to quibble.

Frank

On Mon, 23 Jul 2007 19:51:08 -0700, Frank wrote
this crap:

I was going to let this drop, but this has proven to be an interesting
discussion.
We should agree on three things:
Number One: The Romans had no word for "Oceans," so "Mare," or
"Maris," should suffice.
Number Two: Does the preposition "in," cause the noun to be ablative
or accusative
Number Three: All Gaul is divided into three parts.
.

I've abstained til now but here's my $.02.

1. The Romans used the personification of the god Oceanus to refer to
the sea/ocean. (And that's where we got the current English word,
obviously.) So, there's one accurate substitute for mare; and as a
bonus, it has an indisputable ablative singluar ending. grin There's
also the commonly used pontus. Sailors might prefer aequor which
implies being on the surface of it. And poets like profundus, implying
the unknowable depths. All perfectly fine substitutes for mare.

I agree 100%

2. and 3. "In" can certainly take an accusative, like your example
from Caesar (in partes tres). However just as often it takes an
ablative of place, which is what I'd consider appropriate in this
case. IMO, this one is definitely ablative of place. Example, the
classic Latin tongue-twister: in mari meri miri mori muri placet.

I shall disagree.

I freely admit that if I'd gone to the effort to create a Latin
version of this phrase, I'd have used "mare" forgetting about the
irregular "-i" ablative singluar. But it's definitely ablative not
accusative.

I disagree.

I'd be more inclined to argue about the overall
construction as a literalist translation of the English words instead
of a rethinking of it in Latin. But the basic idea was fun and funny
and I'm in no mood to quibble.

Frank


I shall agree that both are appropriate.




I'm Horvath and I approve of this post.

On Mon, 23 Jul 2007 19:27:16 -0400, Horvath
wrote:



Number Three: All Gaul is divided into three parts.





I'm Horvath and I approve of this post.

No it isn't!!!

What about the village of the indominitable Gauls??