Nōnnulli ex...

[Glūtinātor]

I'm working my way through Ora Maritima and am trying the exercises for paragraph 19. It asks me to translate, "Some of the ancient inhabitants of our island were not barbarous." The "Some of ... " construction has come up twice before: in paragraph 7, Nōnnulli ex rusticīs ... (Some of the rustics ... ) and in paragraph 11, Nōnnulla ex nāvigiīs ... (Some of the ships ... ).

Am I right in thinking that my sentence requires a neuter nōnnulli because incola is a common noun? Or is there another reason? Or is nōnnulli right at all?

I think the translation will be, Nōnnulli ex incolīs antiquīs insulae nostrae erant nōn barbarī.

If the above reasoning is correct, why does rusticus (masc, right?) get the neuter nōnnulli in paragraph 7?

Any guidance on all this would be most welcome.

Glūtinātor

[bedwere]

Nonnulli is nominative, masculine plural, not neuter. What would be the neuter be? What the feminine?

[Timothée]

Generally better not use ex with nōnnūllī. E.g. nōnnūllī incolae is much more common.

[Barry Hofstetter]

I'm working my way through Ora Maritima and am trying the exercises for paragraph 19. It asks me to translate, "Some of the ancient inhabitants of our island were not barbarous." The "Some of ... " construction has come up twice before: in paragraph 7, Nōnnulli ex rusticīs ... (Some of the rustics ... ) and in paragraph 11, Nōnnulla ex nāvigiīs ... (Some of the ships ... ).

Am I right in thinking that my sentence requires a neuter nōnnulli because incola is a common noun? Or is there another reason? Or is nōnnulli right at all?

I think the translation will be, Nōnnulli ex incolīs antiquīs insulae nostrae erant nōn barbarī.

If the above reasoning is correct, why does rusticus (masc, right?) get the neuter nōnnulli in paragraph 7?

Any guidance on all this would be most welcome.

Glūtinātor

I see your original question has yet to be answered. You've got it backwards (or a typo): nonnulli is nom. masc. pl., nonnulla is nom. neut. pl. Since incolae tend to be people (!), the masculine as the common gender should be used. In your other example, navigium is a neuter noun, hence nonnulla.

Timothee reminds us correctly that the adjectival usage is preferable, although using it as a substantive with a partitive use of the pronoun is possible.

[Glūtinātor]

Thank you all for the information and for straightening out my twisted understanding.

For a moment, and staying with the structure presented in Ora Maritima (Nonnulli, -ae, -a + ex + abl. plural), let me try few examples to make sure I've got it right (I'm not at my usual computer and I can't be bothered to figure out how to include macrons, so they are missing):

Nonnulli ex equis...
Nonnullae ex margaritis...
Nonnulla ex sepulchris...

If those are right, I think the translation of "Some of the ancient inhabitants of our island were not barbarous", will go something like, "Nonnulli ex incolis antiquis insulae nostrae erant non barbari."

Now, if I follow Timothee's suggestion (which looks to me like nonnulli -ae -a + nom. plural), are the three examples above rendered thusly?:

Nonnulli equi...
Nonnullae margaritae...
Nonnulla sepulchra...

Oh! Such fun!

Thanks again for all your help.

Glūtinātor

[Timothée]

It is also possible to use genetiuus totius, though with an indefinite like nonnulli pronouns are more generally (than nouns) used in this construction; i.e. nonnulli nostrum, but nonnulli incolae.