How does the grammar of this work

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pmda
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How does the grammar of this work

Post by pmda »

I'm just at the end of Orberg Book I in my vocab revision exercise. In Cap XXXV - taken from Donatus' grammar he (Donatus?) has:

M. Quae nomina comparantur?

D. Appellativa dumtaxat qualitatem aut quantitatem significantia.

I think I know what this means but I'm not sure what the subject and object are of the answer.

'appellative' is an adjective. 'significantia' seems to be a participle....

I understand that Donatus viwed adjectives and nouns as being of the same grammatical class 'nomina' (?)

So we have:

M. Quae nomina comparantur?

What nouns/adjectives are compared?

D. Appellativa dumtaxat qualitatem aut quantitatem significantia.

Collective such (to the extent that) they signify quality and quantity.

Why are 'qualitatem' and 'quantitatem' in accusative case? What's the subject and object of the answer?

Shenoute
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Re: How does the grammar of this work

Post by Shenoute »

I would say that qualitatem and quantitatem are in the accusative because they function as object of significantia.

pmda
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Re: How does the grammar of this work

Post by pmda »

Oh...yes. for some reason I was thinking perf. passiv. participle but it's present active...and that makes sense.

Many thanks.

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