The first word in Book II of Virgil's Aenead is "Conticuere". The entry in "Words" is as follows:
conticu.ere V 3 1 PERF ACTIVE IND 3 P
conticesco, conticescere, conticui, - V INTRANS
conticisco, conticiscere, conticui, - V INTRANS
cease to talk, fall silent, lapse into silence; cease to function, become idle
I have not seen this ending used for the 3rd person plural perfect tense before, wouldn't it normally be "conticuerunt"? I almost took it to be the infinitive at first but it is definitely the perfect stem being used (contic..). Is this a common ending, as I can't see it in my textbooks?
Unusual perfect tense ending
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And remember, there is another alternative form. "Vocaverunt" may therefore be written as "Vocavere" ánd "Vocarunt". I. e.: the "-ve"-part being removed. This omission may be extended to whatever possible form -> vocavero = vocaro, etc.
So, theoretically, "vocaverunt" may be spelled as "vocare" (minus "-ve", "-runt" transformed in "-re", although, clearly, that would cause unnecessary ambiguity.
So, theoretically, "vocaverunt" may be spelled as "vocare" (minus "-ve", "-runt" transformed in "-re", although, clearly, that would cause unnecessary ambiguity.
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