case and gender of 'Rubra'

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pmda
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case and gender of 'Rubra'

Post by pmda »

In LLPSI Ch XI, line 12, page 77 there is the sentence:

Lingua et labra rubra sunt ut rosae.

What case and gender is 'rubra' here? It is describing Lingua (nominativus feminina singularis) and Labra (nominativus neutrum pluralis). So which is it? What if one were writing 'Os et lingua huis viri rubra (?) sunt ut rosae' ? What form of ruber, rubra, rubrum would you use?

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Hampie
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Re: case and gender of 'Rubra'

Post by Hampie »

pmda wrote:In LLPSI Ch XI, line 12, page 77 there is the sentence:

Lingua et labra rubra sunt ut rosae.

What case and gender is 'rubra' here? It is describing Lingua (nominativus feminina singularis) and Labra (nominativus neutrum pluralis). So which is it? What if one were writing 'Os et lingua huis viri rubra (?) sunt ut rosae' ? What form of ruber, rubra, rubrum would you use?
I don’t recall it it’s the last or the first word in a list ow words an adjective agrees with, but it’s definitively nominative.
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furrykef
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Re: case and gender of 'Rubra'

Post by furrykef »

In Latin, the adjective agrees with the noun that is the closest. Hence, "rubra" is plural and neuter, since it came after "labra". You could also write "rubra lingua et labra" and now suddenly it's feminine and singular, since it precedes "lingua".

This can seem pretty odd at times. You wouldn't think the Romans would write "puerī et puellae beātae" and intend "beātae" to modify "puerī" as well -- but, apparently, they did.
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