I am working on retranslating Corderius’s Colloquia into more modern English? In the first Colloquium, there is the phrase “ut paucis tecum fabularer.” In Hoole’s translation it is “That I might talk with you a little.” He seems to be taking it adverbially, but I cannot find anywhere where it is listed as an adverb. My guess is that it is literally " that I may chat with you with a few words."
Thoughts? I would appreciate the help. I am trying to keep the translation as literal as possible to help with vocabulary acquisition.
One more translation question: “repetamus praelectionem, nam brevi praeceptor aderit.” I translated the first part “let us repeat the lesson.” Possibly I could have translated the first word return to. Praelectio can mean a reading out loud, or a lecture given in a classroom setting, but since the master was not yet there, it seemed most prudent to translate it lesson. Let me know if this is sensible.
“Paucis” is indeed a shortened form of “paucis verbis”.
So for instance, “Ut multa paucis complecter…” — “In short,…”
Concerning your example, I’m not sure what’s the specific nuance there. Prælectio as a rule means a class, so maybe they’re saying they should review the last class before the lecturer arrives?