Re: IE finite verb forms as non-finite ones

Tac. Germ. 46
'Peucinorum Venethorumque et Fennorum nationes Germanis an Sarmatis ascribam
dubito'.
"I am in doubt whether to ascribe the nations of Peucini, Veneti and Fenni
to the Germani or to the Sarmatae".

Rick said:
I'm reading ascribam as a subjunctive or something similar.

Yes, it's subjunctive, for two reasons. Firstly it's indirect, and secondly
even the direct form would be subjunctive, called "deliberative" ("Am I
to...."). The clue that a Latin reader picks up is the word "an" which
indicates we have two alternatives. The direct question would be:
.... nationes utrum Germanis an Sarmatis ascribam (Am I to ascribe the
nations to G or S?)
where the two options are more clearly marked. In indirect speech, as after
'dubito' in the quote at the top of the page, the "utrum" can either remain,
or be replaced by -ne, or be omitted, as here.

Peter