cli

Theme for the remainder of the week: Random words

Whew, done with inchoatives! For the remainder of the week, I will feature miscellaneous words I came across while searching for inchoatives. Also, there will be small changes in the structure of the LVD. The first is that I will no longer feature Iulia in the sentences, because quite frankly I am getting a bit sick of Iulia. Instead, if I require a person's name, I will steal the names of the characters in Ecce Romani (Marcus, Cornelia, etc.). The second change is that in addition to a sentence I write, I will also have an actual sentence from Latin literature, so that you get a better idea of how the word is used than just my interpretation. And without delay, your word for today is...

dumtaxat

Definition: up to a (numerical or quantitative) maximum of, not exceeding, at most, (w/ small numbers) just, only; not less than, at least; (limiting the scope of an action, etc.) no more than, only, just; up to a point, so far; provided that, as long as;

non ~...sed, not just...but also

Sententia: "Dumtaxat es mei..."

"As long as you're mine"

I earlier translated this song from Wicked into Latin using "donec" as meaning "as long as," but "dumtaxat" works even better! The rest of the song can be found at http://cawallin.googlepages.com/vicesimusprimus.

And from Plautus' Truculentus, 2, 4, l. 91: iubebo ad istam quinque deferri minas, praeterea obsonari dumtaxat mina.

I will order that 5 minae be carried to that one [a woman who has just helped the speaker], besides, that it is being interrupted by at least a mina.

NB: The literal translation of this is extremely awkward, but I'm not sure what a better way to put it would be. If anyone could suggest a different way to put it, I would be grateful!

"Dumtaxat" first caught my eye because of the reference to numbers in its definition, revealing my true inner nerd, though once I read further I found it was also a useful word. It is primarily a prosaic word, though, and not used at all in Vergil. It can be found either in the form shown, as two words, or in tmesis, because the beauty of most Latin adverbs is that they are formed by smashing smaller words together. It is formed from "dum," meaning "while, until"+ "taxat," probably the subjunctive of "taxo," "to assess," which comes from "tango" in the same way that "viso" comes from "video."