Meanings of two words

Latin Learning Latin
1

Hello all!

  1. I would like to know the meaning to the dark (black) color. My dictionary (WORDS), says the following about it:

=>atrum
ater, atra -um, atrior -or -us, aterrimus -a -um ADJ
black, dark; dark-colored (hair/skin); gloomy/murky; unlucky; sordid/squalid;
deadly, terrible, grisly (esp. connected with underworld); poisonous: spiteful

A friend of mine said the correct word should be “artror” or “artroris”, but that’s what my dictionary says about both of them:

artro, artrare, artravi, artratus V INTRANS Pliny
plow in young grain to improve the yield;
artro, artrare, artravi, artratus V Pliny
plow (in young grain to improve the yield), plow (after sowing);

What is the correct one?

  1. When I’m referring to “dragon”, can I use both “Draco” and “Draconis”?

  2. Concluding all, could the translation to “Dark Dragon” be “Atrum Draconis” (or maybe “Artror Draconis”, if my point of view is wrong in #1)?

Thank you all.

2

What about draco atrox (or atrocissimus)?
Another way would be draco niger. Draco ater will also do, I think.

3

Hello Rafael,

  1. You can use these words:

ater, atra, atrum (dark black),
niger, nigra, nigrum (glossy black)

I think your friend might be referring to a comparative of ater when talking about atror. You found a verb with quite another meaning :slight_smile:

  1. draco and draconis are two different forms of the same word: nominative and genitive. If you want to say, the dragon is black, you’d say: draco niger est (the dragon is the subject of the sentence and must therefore be in the nominative). If you want to say, the dragon’s colour is black, you’d say: color draconis niger est (the genitive expresses the relation between dragon and colour). See the difference?

  2. draco is a masculinum - therefore you must first choose the masculine form of the adjective: either ater or niger (in the above list I mention first the masculine, then the feminine, then the neuter). Thus, you have either draco ater or draco niger. Then you decide the syntactical function of the dragon in the sentence. If you are not making up a real Latin sentence, you can use the nominative (the forms just mentioned).

If you are not quite sure what I mean, don’t hesitate to ask further questions :slight_smile:

4

draco niger and draco ater are the most literal translations, as amans has said. You could also reverse the order of noun and adjective if you like. However, you should be aware that draco can also simply refer to any sort of serpent, often a harmless snake.

5

Thank you all for your answers. Benissimus, thanks too, I was already aware of that:

Amans, I think I’ve got your point. Just tell me something to see if I understood right: what sentence(s) below is(are) correct?

  • Atrum Draco
  • Atrum Draconis
  • Ater Draco
  • Ater Draconis

I know that the best way would be to use the nominative. But as this “sentence” has no verb (and therefore no subject), I believe that there is no problem. Am I right?

Thank you all again and waiting for this more answer.

6

ater draco is the correct option of your list of four. It means “the black dragon”. If, however, you want to say “the black dragon’s”, you’d need to say atri draconis. Your dictionary only states draconis to inform you how the word is declined. You needn’t worry about that if you simply want to say “black dragon” in Latin without further ado.