Any other Latin geeks out there?

[icewolf]

Okay, here's the sentence that's making me nuts:

Elegerat autem sibi in eodem oratorio locum oracioni familiarem ubi tanto intencius quanto secrecius oracioni uacaret.

I've got the first part, but the second part is making me a little nutty.

He had chosen for himself (lit. to himself), moreover, the same familiar place in the prayer chapel where...

And that's where I lose it.

I've got tanto, which could be dative or ablative singular, intencius (medieval spelling of intentius) which is a comparative adjective in the nominative or accusative case, quanto, another dative-slash-ablative adjective, secrecius, a comparative adjective in the nominative or accusative case, oracioni, which is dative and means 'prayer,' and finally, the verb, which is active, subjunctive, 3rd person singular.

I mean, it isn't that I don't see the tanto...quanto parallel structure. I just can't make any frelling sense of it.

(Not to mention that Perseus keeps crapping out in a 502 error and is making me a little nuts. Not that I use Perseus. Nope. Never. Perish the thought.)

And if you have no idea what any of this was about, just move along, nothing to see. Just nod and pat the nice crazy lady on the head and keep going...

I have also come to the conclusion that I need a Latin icon...

Comments

[thirdbase.livejournal.com]

I have my German-English, French-English, Spanish-English, Russian-English, Water Law, Black's Law, American Heritage and French dictionaries, but I can't seem to find my Latin-English dictionary.

I don't suppose Tanto is "dumb Indian"?

[icewolf010.livejournal.com]

I don't suppose Tanto is "dumb Indian"?

*snrk*

All I can think of is Bill Cosby's riff on Tonto, and how every time he was sent to town by the Lone Ranger he had the snot beaten out of him by bandits.

"Tonto, I want you to go to town."
"You go to Hell, Kemosabe."

I actually know what all the words mean, they just don't make any sense when strung together.

ubi = where
tanto = such great
intencius = more intense
quanto = how great/much/large
secrecius =more secret/hidden
oracioni = prayer
uacaret = was empty

I think tanto and quanto may both be modifying oracioni, but I don't know what to do with the adjectives. They don't seem to have any nouns to describe. Unless they're describing the Emperor (the "he" in the part of the sentence I got)...

[thirdbase.livejournal.com]

"The bandits are gonna beat the snot out of you again!"

Ah yes. All those years of vinyl did not go to waste.

All things consdiered, the adjectives are emperor sort of adjectives, expecially if you are poet who wants their patronage well to run deep. But yeah, I'm not sure what to do with those...

[tompurdue.livejournal.com]

Semper ubi sub ubi?

I have no idea....BUT that never stopped me before!!

[slaversbane.livejournal.com]

Considering the position of the words and my nonexistent knowledge of Latin, it seems like a crescendo. Like the declension from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf: Good, Better, Best, Bested...

I am wrong. but it sounds good, eh?

[dejla.livejournal.com]

Aside from the little bit of 'law Latin' (as Robert McCall referred to it) that I know, there's only one other piece, which, if you could put it on an icon, might be perfect...

"Libri, scriptorum corruptorum, ac depravatorum incorruptus & non castratus editiones exhibentes." [Unedited (uncensored) editions of corrupt (obscene) and depraved authors...]

[the-mithril-man.livejournal.com]

got me my limited latin tells me it has something to do with a a bunch of things belonging to his household. But that's me.

[noncalorsedumor.livejournal.com]

Perseus is a slow, whiny bitch. I prefer Words by William Whittaker: http://lysy2.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/words.exe

(You can use it online, or download the program as you wish.)