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Question about Latin Genitive

  Tags: Latin | Grammar
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages Post Reply
couragepiece93
Groupie
United States
Joined 5767 days ago

77 posts - 78 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Norwegian, Latin

 
 Message 1 of 4
15 June 2009 at 9:15pm | IP Logged 
I have a question regarding Latin. I’m a bit confused about using the genitive case – I’m trying to write “the good slave’s horses are big”, but when I write it, it seems it can have a different meaning.

equī bonī servī magnī sunt.

But, couldn’t this also mean “the slave’s good horses are big”? I feel like I’m making a mistake somewhere, but I’m not sure. Could someone help?

Thanks =)
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MäcØSŸ
Diglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
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259 posts - 392 votes 
Speaks: Italian*, EnglishC2
Studies: German

 
 Message 2 of 4
15 June 2009 at 10:20pm | IP Logged 
Your sentence should be correct. If you want to make it clear you can write "equī servī
bonī magnī sunt", which should still be right.
By the way, a SLAVE who owns horses???

Edited by MäcØSŸ on 15 June 2009 at 10:20pm

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couragepiece93
Groupie
United States
Joined 5767 days ago

77 posts - 78 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Norwegian, Latin

 
 Message 3 of 4
15 June 2009 at 10:59pm | IP Logged 
haha, I don't know much vocabulary, I'm just using random stuff to build sentences. I only know about 12 nouns ;P

Thanks for the help by the way =). I guess I'll use the second form to avoid confusion.
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RBenham
Triglot
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IndonesiaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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Speaks: English*, German, French
Studies: Indonesian

 
 Message 4 of 4
19 June 2009 at 11:57pm | IP Logged 
Some Roman slaves even had their own slaves.... The status of "slave" was not as ignominious in Roman antiquity as it has been more recently in Europe and the US, and was not inconsistent with owning things.

All languages have ambiguities of that sort. There are always ways to paraphrase around the problem.


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