ne musca quidem olla reperta

Latin Learning Latin
1

In a story, some chap has lost his jar, and suspects his neighbour. Tandem itum est ad illum; explōrātum an apud illum esset ōlla; nē musca quidem ōlla reperta.

Eventually, a journey was made to his house to see whether the jar was there; not even a mouse the jar was found. Eh? clearly I don’t understand that phrase. Is it an idiom, or am I close to being one? The notes at the back say ‘no sign was found…’ which makes sense, but I can’t get that from the actual words used.

2

musca is a fly, not a mouse…
could it be ‘not even a fly was found, let alone a jar.’?
Another possibility is that olla the second time around could be ulla, as it is occasionally rendered with an o instead of a u, but this makes no sense.

3

Yes, this is it. “Ne . . . quidem” means “not . . . even.”

4

thanks for that. Yes fly, not mouse. I don’t know how I got that wrong.

Cheers
Phil