Nulli viro

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pmda
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Nulli viro

Post by pmda »

In LLPSI Cap XL Orberg scripsit:

Nisi certum mihi esset nulli viro coniugo me iungere, postquam primus amor me morte fefellit, huius unius amori forsitan succumbere potui!

Cur 'nulli' viro sed non nullo viro....?

Nisi certum mihi [dat] esset [impf. subj.] nulli [?] viro [dat] coniugo [abl.] me [acc.] iungere [inf.], postquam primus amor [nom.] me [acc.] morte [abl.] fefellit, [perf. 3rd person sg.] huius [gen.] unius [gen] amori [dat.] forsitan succumbere potui [perf. 1st person sg.]!

Besides it would seem to me I could be joined to no man in marriage, after my first love cheated me by death....

What's 'nulli' agreeing with? Isn't it just an adjective describing 'viro' and shouldn't it simply agree with it?
nullo viro '...to no man'...?

GJCaesar
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Re: Nulli viro

Post by GJCaesar »

It is exactly what you are suggesting. Nullus has two singular masculine datives: nulli and nullo This is probably the cause of a merge of the 1st and 3rd declination (as you probably know, ''felix'' or ''caelestis'' have singular masculine datives ''felici'' and ''caelesti'', whereas ''bonus'' has ''bono'')

Maybe, in an earlier stadium, there were simply two forms, ''nullis'' and ''nullus'', but you have to take a look on some website or in a handbook to be sure.
vincatur oportet aut vincat

pmda
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Re: Nulli viro

Post by pmda »

Thanks. This news to me. Orberg doesn't, so far as I can see, breath a word about it.

Regards

Paul

pmda
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Re: Nulli viro

Post by pmda »

I deleted this reply as it wasn't relevant. Thanks for your help. I assumed nullus, -a, -um was like any other regular 1st and 2nd declension adjective...but I was mistaken.

Craig_Thomas
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Re: Nulli viro

Post by Craig_Thomas »

Nūllus is one of the few adjectives which follow the pronominal declension, that is to say, it mostly follows the first and second declensions but has a genitive singular ending in -īus and a dative singular ending in . Ūllus is, as you would guess, another one. Tōtus, ūnus, sōlus, uter, neuter, alter, and alius (though its genitive is avoided) are the others.

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