ex Africa semper aliquid novi
Is it my imagination or is this not terribly good Latin?
Shouldn’t aliquid novi be taken as an appositive phrase and therefore should novi not be novum?
Agreement in case, number and gender?
“Aliquid novi” is perfectly good Latin, and in fact it’s a common expression. It’s a so called genitive of totality (genetivus totius). We have it also in e.g. Nil novi sub sole ‘nothing new under the sun’ and Humani nil a me alienum puto ‘I consider nothing human strange to me’.
Just to complete Timothée’s answer:
- aliquid novum is a possibility
- this genitive is preserved in French for instance, “quelque chose de nouveau”, litt. “something of new”.
Lewis & Short, aliquis:
D Aliquid (nom. or acc.), with gen. of a subst. or of a neutr, adj. of second decl. instead of the adj. aliqui, aliqua, aliquod, agreeing with such word: aliquid pugnae, Plaut. Capt. 3, 4, 54: vestimenti aridi, id. Rud. 2, 6, 16: consilii, id. Ep. 2, 2, 71: monstri, Ter. And. 1, 5, 15: scitamentorum, Plaut. Men. 1, 3, 26: armorum, Tac. G. 18: boni, Plaut. Aul. 4, 6, 5; Ter. And. 2, 3, 24; Vulg. Joan. 1, 46: aequi, Ter. Ad. 2, 1, 33: mali, Plaut. Ep. 1, 1, 60; Ter. Eun. 5, 5, 29: novi, Q. Cic. Pet. Cons. 1, 1; Vulg. Act. 17, 21: potionis, Plaut. Men. 5, 2, 22: virium, Cic. Fam. 11, 18: falsi, id. Caecin. 1, 3: vacui, Quint. 10, 6, 1: mdefensi, Liv. 26, 5 al.—Very rarely in abl.: aliquo loci morari, Dig. 18, 7, 1.—