I have come across this expression: “mirum in modum”, which literally seems to mean something like “marvel at the way” or “in a marvelous way”. What would be the best way to translate it into English? Does it simply mean “incredibly”?
Hey there,
mirum in modum. I would go with “in a marvelous way.”
You didn’t happen to read this in Plautus, did you?
Hi Tony, it is very common for a complement of a preposition to ‘wrap around’ the preposition, so mirum in modum is the same as in mirum modum (compare the word order in the well-known phrase summa cum laude for example).
And yes, it means in a marvelous way, in a surprising way, surprisingly. You can also find similar expressions: mirandum in modum, mirabilem in modum, mirificum in modum, etc.
And by writing it so, you are stressing the adjective.
Sic in scribendo vis adjectivo datur.
MIRUM in modum, SUMMÂ cum laude.
Does anyone know why it’s accusative, when sense seems to demand an ablative?
You’re right–it looks like it should be in the ablative. Here’s my best guess:
I first encountered this in a Medieval Latin* context and assumed that it was accusative simply because Classical Latin’s rules/grammar/syntax got mixed up a bit in the Medieval period.
*I think it was one of the acrostic prologues appended to one of Plautus’ plays (Menaechmi?)
By sense I guess you mean English sense, yes? If so, then think of it “to a surprising degree, to an unexpected extreme” (modus can mean lots of things in terms of English, and one meaning is not just a measure but also the limit or extent of that measure).
It’s classical. The same sort of thing can be seen with other words that indicate measure, like in altitudinem “in height/depth”.
Also, quemadmodum (quem ad modum) is sometimes used as an alternative of quomodo.
I have come across it in a number of places. Though I don’t think it is always in the accusative case.
One example I can refer to is Lingua Latina Pars 1, at the top of page 238 (second line). Here it was in the accusative form.