Monday, December 17, 2007

Study Guide: Group 11

Here is the latest Study Guide! I have not provided English translations, since those are easy enough to find by consulting versions of the Bible in English. Instead, I have tried to call attention to the various grammatical features of the verses, along with interesting vocabulary items, the importance of a specific Biblical context, etc.

You will find more Study Guides at the Vulgate Verses wiki.

These verses contain first, second and third declension nouns:

118. The genitive is often used in Latin to describe something where we might use an adjective in English, as you can see with the genitive form perfectionis here. Compare the English phrase "a heart of gold," as opposed to saying "a golden heart."

119. Note that here the word dominus means "master, lord," in sense of the one who is dominant over something: Filius hominis, "the son of man" est dominus, "is the master" etiam sabbati, "even of the Sabbath."

120. This use of the genitive suggests belonging and identification: non sumus noctis, "we are not of the night, we do not belong to the night." The Latin word neque is often easier to understand if you replace it with the equivalent phrase et non: Non sumus noctis et non (sumus) tenebrarum.

121. See the note to Verse #120 above about how the genitive, lucis, can be used to express belonging and identification.

122. The Latin word lucerna is related to the word lux (lucis), meaning "light." In some editions, this verse reads: Lucerna corporis tui est oculus tuus.

123. This verse is from the apocryphal book of I Esdras. The verb is implied: Benedictus (est) Deus veritatis.

124. This verse is from the apocryphal book of Wisdom. Notice how the predicate noun phrase, cordis scrutator verus wraps around the verb est. This "wrap-around" pattern is commonly found in Latin, but it is often quite difficult for English speakers to get used to it.
(Wisdom 1:7) Deus cordis scrutator est verus.

125. This verse consists of two parallel portions, but the word Deus appears in only the first portion: Non est dissensionis Deus, sed (est) pacis (Deus).

126. This is from the famous passage in the book of Ecclesiastes, "There is a time for... and a time for...," etc. Here is the complete passage in Ecclesiastes 3.

127. The Latin word nonne is used to introduce a question to which the expected answer is "yes," just as when we start a question in English with "isn't...?" or "doesn't...?"

128. The Latin word num is used to introduce a question to which the expected answer is "no." This is something like adding the word "really" to an English question, implying that the answer is "no."

129. See the note about nonne above for Verse #127. Note that panis can be either nominative singular or genitive singular, depending on context. Here the context lets you know that panis is the nominative subject of the sentence, and participatio corporis Domini is the predicate.

130. See the note about nonne above for Verse #127.

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