Aug. Conf. 1.8

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vir litterarum
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Aug. Conf. 1.8

Post by vir litterarum »

et memini hoc, et unde loqui didiceram, post adverti.

The text I have provided is that of M. Skutella from the most recent Teubner. In the app. crit "didicerim" is given as a reading that existed in another group of MSS. What I don't understand is why "didiceram" is a better reading than "didicerim." I take the "unde" clause as an indirect question governed by "adverti," so the subjunctive seems necessary to me. Were there certain cases in late Latin where the indicative was used in indirect questions rather than the subjunctive? I know in pre-classical Latin the indicative was occasionally used to indicate, as Woodcock puts it, "indirect questions of fact," but I don't know whether anything analogous existed in late Latin.

modus.irrealis
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Re: Aug. Conf. 1.8

Post by modus.irrealis »

About the indicative vs. subjunctive, Nunn in his "Introduction to Ecclesiastical Latin" says "In Ecc. L. the verb in a Dependent Question is often in the Ind." with a footnote saying this is also found in early and late Latin.

Also I'd expect the subjunctive here to be "didicissem", which may be the reason they went with "didiceram".

vir litterarum
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Re: Aug. Conf. 1.8

Post by vir litterarum »

Thanks for the reference. Do you know of any grammar that outlines the major syntactical differences between classical and late Latin?

adrianus
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Re: Aug. Conf. 1.8

Post by adrianus »

Salve vir litterarum

You have these works on late (vulgar) latin which do:
De sermone vulgari, habes hos libros qui sic incohant:

József Herman, Roger Wright, Vulgar Latin
W.E. Plater and H.J. White, Grammar of the Vulgate
I'm writing in Latin hoping for correction, and not because I'm confident in how I express myself. Latinè scribo ut ab omnibus corrigar, non quod confidenter me exprimam.

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