Latin help, please?

[Peter A. McGraw]

With the corrections to the "nullus" suggestion making it increasingly
apparent what that version might sound like to a native speaker, I'm
reminded of a hilarious scene in the Monty Python movie The Life of Brian.
Ever seen it?

PMc

--On Thursday, April 17, 2003 8:28 AM -0700 Peter Richardson
<prichard at LINFIELD.EDU> wrote:

> I've been hiding in the weeds on this one, figuring that someone at a good
> Jesuit institution would step onto the stage and give us all the real
> stuff from Boethius or St. Jerome--or that most frequently cited author,
> Ibid. And maybe that will be forthcoming. In the meantime, I agree that
> nullus won't work because it's masculine--and, besides, it's an adjective.
> Ni(hi)l is the best candidate, as suggested earlier; and the est doesn't
> have to be at the end of the sentence, although other Latin verbs like to
> hang out there. Note:
>
> Est fides credere quod nondum vides: 'Faith is believing what you don't
> see'
>         --and I have faith that a real classicist will appear who can
> give us an authentic answer on this one and reinforce my wish that Latin
> were still a solid part of the K-12 curriculum.
>
> In any case, Larry's cat is safe with the neuter _facile_, and I won't
> pursue the "neuter" and "cat" line.
>
> PR
>
>> Likewise, but I agree with Tom that "facilis" would be the
>> appropriate form to modify "nullus", and that in any case "ni(hi)l"
>> would be better than "nullus" (and would also allow neuter "facile"
>> as a modifier).  I wouldn't wager my cat on it, though.
>>
>> Larry



*****************************************************************
Peter A. McGraw       Linfield College        McMinnville, Oregon
******************* pmcgraw at linfield.edu ************************