[quote author=Episcopus link=board=3;threadid=402;start=0#3148 date=1060379657]<br /><br />So terrae/terrarum can mean world? I checked my exercise book and I put terrae...<br /><br />With sincere reference to 'Pacem in terris' does that actually make sense? Should he have put a subjunctive 'may there be'? to show something that isn't (by far) true? <br /><br />[/quote]<br /><br />Excuse me for not having been more explicit... I wanted only to show a phrase in which
terrae means more or less "the world". To express "World", the Latin uses commonly
orbis, orbis, 3rd declention, masculine, meaning "the circle", or, more completely,
orbis terrarum "the circle of (emerged) lands. It is seen as a circle because, when you look around you, you seem to be in the centre of a big circle. It is an archaic way of thinking.
In terris is often used by Cicero meaning "on Earth" (implying nor "under the Earth", what would be "in the Underworld", neither "in Heaven", among the Gods). In this case,
terrae means "normal world".<br /><br />
mundus, i is "the Universe", thus including stars etc., although it was something completely different for the Ancient than it is for us now.<br /><br />About
Pacem in terris, I ought to say that the title of an Encyclical is always formed by the first words, disregarding the grammatical "completeness".<br /><br />Here the whole sentence, from
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_ ... em_lt.html<br /><br />
PACEM IN TERRIS, quam homines universi cupidissime quovis tempore appetiverunt, condi confirmarique non posse constat, nisi ordine, quem Deus constituit, sancte servato.<br /><br />"It appears that Peace on Earth—which man throughout the ages has so longed for and sought after—can never be established, never guaranteed, except by the diligent observance of the divinely established order."<br /><br />The construction is :
Constat pacem ... non posse ...<br />
Pacem is singular accusative, as beeing a kind of direct object of the main verb while being simultaneously subject of the infinitive
posse "can". (It is called an infinitive clause : don't worry if you haven't learned it yet. It will come quietly.)