Re: Some help with Latin

caeruleancentaur wrote:
>>>Benct Philip Jonsson <conlang@...>
>>>Milia gratiae!
>
>
>>Douglas Koller <laokou@...> wrote:
>>Mille gratias? Milia gratiarum?
>
>
> I should think:
> Mille gratiarum = a thousand thanks
In fact practice regarding 'mille' varied in Classical Latin. It could be:
(a) a noun followed by the genitive, i.e. mille gratiarum "a thousand of
thanks" and, if subject, taking a singular verb agreement, e.g. mille
gratiarum tibi agitur "a thousand of thanks is given to you."
(b) an indeclinable _adjective_, e.g. mille gratiae tibi aguntur "1000
thanks are given to you."

Note: _agere_ 'to do, act' - is the common verb used with 'gratias',
rather than _dare_ 'to give'

Text books, to keep things simple, usually give only (b), thus Douglas'
"mille gratias" is fine, the accusative being understood as the object
some phrase such as _tibi ago_ "I do to you."

> Milia gratiarum = thousands of thanks
Yep - as both Charlie & Douglas show, the plural _milia_ is always
treated as a neuter plural noun, but - as Charlie also shows - _milia
gratiarum_ means more than just a paltry 100o thanks    :)

--
Ray
==================================
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Entia non sunt multiplicanda
praeter necessitudinem.

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