dummodo, dum, or modo?

Latin Learning Latin
1

Okay,

I have recently learnt clauses of proviso, like:

Discam, dummodo me adiuves. (I composed this sentence…we are learning to translate mostly english into latin…)

I have a question though…according to my teacher, dummodo, dum or modo could introduce this type of clause. Is there a preference in Latin? Does one of these usually appear rather than the other?

Also a side question as I look at adiuvo…what is the difference between adiuvo and iuvo, in meaning and frequency of use?

Thanks for any help.

2

I haven’t heard of any significant difference between iuuo and adiuuo. Often, a compound verb and a plain verb are used in roughly the same way: cognosco and nosco, for instance, or maneo and remaneo.

The same goes for the usage of dum, modo, and dummodo. It does seem likely, however, that you should use dummodo when using dum or modo would be ambiguous. After all, dum can mean “while” (taking the indicative), and modo can mean “only” or “just now.”

Bradley’s Arnold, one of the most comprehensive books on Latin prose composition that I’ve ever looked at, didn’t distinguish between the latin conjunctions of proviso (dum, modo, dummodo). The difference, if any, needn’t trouble you.

David

3

I saw that at Borders the other day and thought about getting it, but refrained because it was kind of pricey. I’ll have to look into it now. I have North and Hillard from Textkit, but it’d be nice to have an actual book to work from.

4

I saw that at Borders the other day and thought about getting it, but refrained because it was kind of pricey. I’ll have to look into it now. I have North and Hillard from Textkit, but it’d be nice to have an actual book to work from.

I picked it up in England, on amazon, I think, for about 10 pounds. I didn’t think that price was too bad. Of course, the edition I got was from Bristol Press, which releases a lot of classics and classical editions at low prices. I’m not sure if you were looking at the same edition.

I think you’d find the book useful, but I wouldn’t worry about doing ALL the exercises. It could easily take six months to work through at a steady pace. However, it’s great as a source of translation tips as well as usage information. My Latin teacher at Oxford (while I was studying abroad) gave me prose comps from that book.

-David