early medieval poem

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rDeckard
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early medieval poem

Post by rDeckard »

i am not sure if this is the right board for this, but i am translating an early medieval poem. two stanzas start out in the following way:

opto meus veniat cuculus, carissimus ales.

if it wasn't for that "opto" on the beginning i would translate it as "let my cuckoo come, most precious bird."

my first reaction to the "opto" is to think indirect speech, but it has been a while since first year latin and i am not sure why "venio" wouldn't be imperfect. is there some construction of indirect speech that calls for "venio" to be in the present active subjunctive?

thanks for the help!
Last edited by rDeckard on Wed Jun 03, 2009 11:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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rDeckard
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Re: early medieval poem

Post by rDeckard »

yes, i know how to spell medieval, brain fart.
You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.

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bedwere
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Re: early medieval poem

Post by bedwere »

I desire that the cuckoo come, dearest bird.

The L&S dictionary has an example of use of opto with the subjunctive without ut in Ovid.

modus.irrealis
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Re: early medieval poem

Post by modus.irrealis »

And about the present subjunctive, it's just a matter of the sequence of tenses. Opto is present so it'll be followed (normally) by either the present or perfect subjunctive.

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