Two Grammatical/Stylistic Questions for Latin Lyric Composition

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Gregorius
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Two Grammatical/Stylistic Questions for Latin Lyric Composition

Post by Gregorius »

I'm in the process of putting the final touches on my Latin lyrics for "Part of That World" from Disney's Little Mermaid. I'll shortly be hiring a singer to record it, and I have a few points of grammar/style that I want to verify. The relevant verses are as follows.

Nam volō plūs
Vītae siccoris,
Nam volō plūs
Quam spectāre distāns
Illōs quī ambulant suīs…
"Pēdibus" forsit? Nē id!

Haud longē prōficiam pinnīs hīs.
Crūra habenda sunt ad saltandum
Et ambulandum tum in…
"Viāne" dīcitur? Id!

My first question is about the last line of each verse, where Ariel has to pause to remember certain items of land-dwelling vocabulary. I've read that a common way to say "yes" in Latin is to repeat or refer back to the part of the question on which the answer hinges. In each case above, it's a particular word, hence the neuter singular pronoun "id," to agree with an implied "verbum" ("nē" is being used here in the sense of "verily" or "indeed"). Does this work, or should the affirmative pronoun agree with the thing itself (e.g. feminine singular for "via")?

My second question is about the last part of the reprise.

Nec quandō nec
Quōmodō sciō,
Sed quoddam nunc incipere sciō.
Hoc certum'st iam.
Quōdam diē fiam
Pars mundī tuī!

I'm a bit unsure if the interrogatives "quandō" and "quōmodō" can be used elliptically like this, with the rest of the respective indirect questions left implicit.

I welcome any advice you may have. Thanks in advance!

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bedwere
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Re: Two Grammatical/Stylistic Questions for Latin Lyric Composition

Post by bedwere »

I couldn't find any example of id used to mean yes. Maybe sīc instead? The final o of quōmodo is short, but the elliptical usage should be OK, from the example in the definition of nesciō

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