Re: IE finite verb forms as non-finite ones

From: Rick McCallister
Message: 67289
Date: 2011-03-28




From: Torsten <tgpedersen@...>
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Mon, March 28, 2011 1:16:45 PM
Subject: [tied] Re: IE finite verb forms as non-finite ones

 



--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCallister <gabaroo6958@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> Agreed. Latin does often seem odd form the perspective of modern
> Western European languages with its lack of clause markers and other
> things but (thinking via Spanish) I'm reading ascribam as a
> subjunctive or something similar
>

Yes. But the Spanish equivalent has a 'que', clearly marking the object of the verb as a dependent phrase.

Torsten


***R And you're letting the lack of a clause marker throw a wrench into your interpretation. Latin seems to drop markers right and left --go look at a collection of Latin mottoes, until you figure out that clause markers are missing many of them don't make sense. It's part and parcel of the literary style. Where is the "must" in Carthago delenda est? Latin is not Spanish nor Vulgar Latin and it seems as if you're trying to read it as such. So much for my year of Latin in one semester of summer school 25 years ago. BTW: you'll notice that the motto style even carries over into English and Scots if you look at family mottoes --one of the my favorites "Touch not the Cat but a glove" from one of the Clan Chattan branches.