Exercise 111, Part 1 # 9

Textbooks Latin For Beginners by D'Ooge
1

This one I found pretty tough.

Latin: Cena nullius alterius ancillae est bona.

The answer key translation: “The dinner of neither of the maids is good”.

So I guess that nullius alterius translates into “neither”?

nullius = none, no - gen singular
alterius = the one, the other - gen singular

Putting them together = not the one or the other = neither?

If true, my translation would be: “The dinner of neither maidservant is good”.

Can someone explain this to me?

2

Cena nullius alterius ancillae est bona.

Since “nullus, a, um” - no (as an adjective) or used substantively, i.e as a noun “not one = none” and “alter, a, um” are irregular with the genitive here in -ius across all genders (and dative -i across all genders too), we can see that “nullius” and “alterius” are in apposition with “ancillae” for it’s also a genitive. So The dinner OF NO OTHER MAID is good.