Hi Michael
You explain perfectly well, and I don't mind you asking, so no need to
apologise.
>I came across the word
> "de" without the macron over the e.
The macron is only used in beginners' texts, to help you with pronunciation.
The absence of it in this case is undoubtedly just a typo. The Romans
themselves envied the Greek ability to show long vowels, and they tried
several different systems, including (for long <i>) spelling it as ei, ii, i
with an accent, and writing it always larger than the rest of the word.
None of them caught on, which is a pain, because now when you read an
ordinary Latin text you just have to know which vowels are long and short.
Most people just ignore the difference (except for the way it affects the
accent), but they miss the rhythm of the language, both in poetry, where it
is really important, and in prose.
>litterae, -arum, pl.,"a letter (epistle), literature."
Yes, this is right. There are a (small) number of words which have slightly
different meanings in singular and plural, normally the same distinction as
in English between mass nouns and countable nouns (You can't put "the" in
front of a mass noun). There are some Latin words which exist usually or
only in the plural - the commonest example is castra = camp.
So how do you distinguish litterae = "letters of alphabet" / "a letter" /
"letters in the post"?
(a) context (This filters out the letters of the alphabet).
(b) add a word that means "some" or has some other plural connotation.
(c) most importantly, in counting with these plural words used for a single
object, they used the form of the number that means "two each", "three each"
etc. So binae litterae = two letters in the post; duae litterae = two
letters of the alphabet. They use the plural of unus in this context for
"one": unae litterae = one letter in the post.
Here's some lists in case you're interested:
Some common words used only the plural:
liberi = children
manes = ghosts
moenia = walls
tenebrae = shadows, darkness
feriae = holidays
castra = camp (the singular castrum = fort exists, but is rare)
Some common words with a different meaning in the plural:
copia = plenty; copiae = forces
auxilium = help auxilia = auxiliary troops
cera = wax cerae = wax tablet (because they had two pieces -
like trousers)
etc
Hope that helps
Peter