Question about the use of 'id est'

Latin Learning Latin
1

Salvēte!

I have a question about the following sentence:
Iūlius est dominus pecūniōsus, quī magnam vīllam habet et magnam familiam, id est multōs servōs.

My translation is as follows:
Julius is a rich lord, who has a large estate and large family, that is many slaves.

My understanding so far is limited, but I believe that ‘id’ can be used as both ‘it’ and a weak ‘that’. Still, it seems my translation is lacking, or not quite there. Is “id est multōs servōs” a subclause relating to ‘magnam familiam’ as I believe? ‘Id’ is neuter, ‘familiam’ is feminine. I kinda think that for my translation to be correct, they’d have to agree with each other. Or, is ‘id est’ being idiomatically used in a way I am not catching?

Any enlightenment on this is appreciated.

-smythe

On a more puerile note, a few sentences later comes this: Cornēlius equum suum amat. …heh.

2

“He has a big family, i.e., [that* is, he has] many slaves.” NOT “He has a big family that is [or comprises] many slaves”

“Habet magnam familiam, id* est, [habet] multos servos”, NON “Habet magnam familiam quae multos servos continet/numerat.”

  • Your weak “that”/ quod “id molle” vocas.

http://archimedes.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/archim/dict/hw?lemma=fa^mi^li^a&step=entry&id=d003

3

In case you didn’t catch it from adrianus’ post: the English abbreviation “i.e.” comes from Latin “id est”, and it works the other way around as well: “id est” in Latin can often be read like “i.e.” in English.

4

Cool. Many thanks. I knew that ‘i.e.’ = ‘id est’ and how it was used in English, just not that it was used the same way in Latin. Also, the link showing that familia primarily meant the slaves in a household or a household establishment was helpful, too.