Hello all:
Sat here without the books, so no example, but often I’m seeing the word “vero” and I just can’t see what it’s supposed to convey. It’s used with names of people, seemingly as a type of introduction.
I’ll investigate it and will probably feel very silly once it clicks.
Vero shows up in 16.123:
Navis paulo levior fit, simul vero tempestas multo turbidior et fluctus multo altiores fiunt
Notes on the page:
…vero = sed…
simul vero = sed simul
Thanks.
I’m sure I’m making too much of it, but I still don’t get it.
“Tum vero Syra, quae eo ipso tempore peristylum intrat una cum Iulia, dominae in ostio occurrit.”
“But then Syra, … , bumps into Aemilia in the doorway”.
Maybe it means that if it hadn’t been for Srya, Aemilia might have actually left.
Dunno.
That’s exactly how I understand it. She’s in the process of storming out after Julius’s declaration that it’s not his job to got woken up by new babies…but then, tum vero, chance intervenes and Syra is coming in at the door.
I have always read ‘vero’ as similar to, but more emphatic than sed.
I have trouble disassociating it from “de verdad”.
Hi Paul,
Here’s a list of meanings for vero from the Oxford Latin Dictionary:
1 In accordance with truth, honestly.
2 In fact, really, truly.
3 (emphasizing the truth of an assertion) For a certainty, unquestionably, without doubt. b (w. iron. force).
4 (in a confirmatory response) Certainly, indeed: a (to a question or implied question). b (to a command, exhortation, etc.).
5 (used to emphasize or draw particular attention) In truth, indeed, to be sure. b (w. pers. or demonstrative pron.) for my (your, etc.) part. c (w. tum, ibi, etc.). d (w. adversative conjunctions). e (in a question, conveying a sense of protest, disbelief, etc.). f (reinforcing a command).
6 (introducing a further argument, evidence, etc.) Moreover, indeed.
7 a (with mild adversative force) On the other hand, at the same time. b (w. stronger adversative force) however, yet.
As you can see, there is a range of meanings that can vero can be applied to. I don’t have any of the LLPSI material, so I usually refrain from answering questions concerning it. In this case, however, I just want to point out that especially in Latin, the meaning of a particular word is heavily dependent on context, time period and author. In the course of my reading, when I come across a word that seems to have an unfamiliar sense, I try to supply the sense from context and verify it with the dictionary.
I agree with Aetos. Vero is a tricky word with a range of meanings. In LLPSI if you think of it as having a similar meaning to sed as detailed in the margin of page 123 Cap. XVI you wont go far wrong. This is however a matter of nuance and needn’t trouble you too much at this stage.
Saying that “words mean a lot of things” is information free. The “de verdad” objection is a good one. Hopefully the real Latinistas here can chime in, but my understanding is that vero and sed do mean fairly different things in classical Latin and that LLPSI’s use of vero as a simple “but” is a more vulgar usage. The “tum vero” in more classical Latin should really signify something like “then indeed…”, which it doesn’t seem to here.
Zumpt (talking about Classical Latin) describes sed/autem as being paralleled by verum/vero. Here he is:
Sed denotes a direct opposition; autem marks a transition in a narrative or argument, and denotes at once a connexion and an opposition, whereas sed interrupts the narrative or argument. The adverb porro, farther, is likewise used to express such a progression and transition, but does not denote opposition, except in later authors, such as Quintilian. See Spalding on Quintilian, ii., 3, 5. Verum and vero stand in a similar relation to each other. Verum, with its primary meaning ‘in truth,’ denotes an opposition, which at the same time contains an explanation, and thus brings a thing nearer its decision, as our ‘but rather.’ Non ego, sed tu, is a strong, but simple opposition; but non ego, verum tu, contains an assurance and explanation. Cic., in Verr., iv., 10, says that the inhabitants of Messana had formerly acted as enemies to every kind of injustice, but that they favoured Verres; and he then continues : Verum haec civitas isti praedoni ac piratae Siciliae Phasetis (receptaculum furtorum) fuit, i.e., but I will explain the matter to you, for the fact is, that this town was the repository of his plunder, and shared in it. Vero bears to verum the same relation as autem to sed: it connects things which are different, but denotes the point in favour of which the decision should be; e. g, Cic., p. Arch., 8, Homerum Colophonii civem esse dicunt suum, Chii suum vindicant, Salaminii repetunt, Smyrnaei vero suum esse confirmant; in Verr., iii., 4, Odistis hominum novorum industriam, despicitis eorum frugalitatem, pudorem contemnitis, ingeni 260]um vero et virtutem depressam exstinctamque cupitis. It thus forms the transition to something more important and significant in the phrase, Illud vero, plane non est ferendum, i.e., that which I am now going to mention.