So … well then … all righty … now, how do I say any of that in Latin? I still am now aware of a satisfactory Latin word or phrase for the English interjection well or well then.
Italian has allora and Spanish has ahora while French has alors. Obviously those are all vulgarisms and classical Latin must have had something very different — but what?
Maybe you can take a look at some plays by Terence or Plautus. The dialogues contain a fair amount of interjections and elliptical sentences. You might find something useful.
No, that means “come on,” the equivalent of the Italian “dai.” (For those of you unfortunate enough to have seen the movie version of Phantom of the Opera, the Italian diva character in the beginning says “ma dai!” [“but come on!”] numerous times before walking off stage.) Thanks for the suggestion though.
Hey Episcope: I’m not a teacher, but I’m flattered someone would think I’m one. I just graduated from college here in the US, which means I’m at that awkward stage of life when I don’t really know what I am. Somliga går med trasiga skor. Vem är du?
I’m not so sure about bene eo tempore, which sounds too literal. The sort of particle that I’m imagining Lucus wants will mark the end of one thought and the beginning of another and stands outside the actual discourse: “enough about this, let’s talk about something else” or is just some vaguely agreeable noise that a speaker makes in order to focus attention on himself. The problem with eo tempore, itaque, deinde, tum, or tunc is that they all to varying degrees are within discourse and require continuations. Especially eo tempore which rather expects an answering cum clause. bene by itself works well. But I couldn’t find an instance of bene eo tempore in the PHI corpus.
All the instances I gave work alike. You find a lot of usages like this in the comic poets, e.g.
Pseudolus, line 935
Optume habet. Esto.
But it’s perhaps even more common in oratory, where it’s effective at simulating vividness:
Cicero, In Verrem 2.3.71
Si magno emerat, quoniam tu es qui diligentissime pretia exquisisti, qui, ut ais, magno vendidisti, quare putabas emptori lucrum addi oportere? Esto, putabas: quam ob rem imperabas ut adderent?
“OK, you thought it”
Cicero, Phillipics 2.37.7
Ergo ego sceleratus appellor a te quem tu suspicatum aliquid suspicaris; ille qui stillantem prae se pugionem tulit, is a te honoris causa nominatur? Esto; sit in verbis tuis hic stupor: quanto in rebus sententiisque maior?
Firstly, in spite of the fact that a relatively meagre 17 million speak it, I proclaim swedish one of the most widely spoken languages on this planet! Source: textkit.com
Secondly, and perhaps more vitally, my canine bene eo tempore joke backfired, and made me look retarded, for you did not realise it to be a mere plaisante! Give me some credit adz! Not much! Just a little bit! ooh ah a little bit more! No offence, and you know my respect for your knowledge, but you looked like a twat of equal magnitude for estimating my dog latin real bene eo tempore is pretty bad! Not however as bad as discete cum nos or benissimus’ own sugete episcopo
Of course, Episcopus, I knew that you wouldn’t imagine such a translation! But cweb…that’s another matter entirely. It was for that reason a cruel trick. But if I’ve offended, I hope that you’ll consider my real fault to be a certain überzealousness in the cause of purging the world of semibarbarous Latin.
Ah yes, and thank you very much for “esto”! That’s quite helpful. I look forward to reading those comedies myself. Let me know if you have any other recommendations.