How one can express his agreement and disagreement? In particular how are the words “Yes” and “No” in Latin?
Thank You!
“sic” et “non”
I think that’s more of a modern way to deal with a concept that the Romans didn’t really have. Generally, a Roman would answer a yes-no question by repeating the verb (+/- non):
Q. Pugnatne nauta? (Is the sailor fighting?)
A. Pugnat. (He is fighting)
or
A. Non pugnat (He is not fighting).
I don’t know how absolute that rule is, but it certainly is the party line that is always taught.
See the Alan & Greenberg New Latin Grammar, page 219 of the pdf where it is given a detailed account of this. There are as you have said that repeating verb answer, but there are also several ways by adverbs to answer a direct question.
I have got Sic et non from a medieval tratise named so by abelard.
Its interesting…I was just reading a book about French that several Romance dialects were classified as Langues d’oc, langues d’oil, and langues de si, depending on the word used for ‘yes’ in the dialect. Oc and oil derived from hoc, and so i guess i would be correct in assuming that si in spanish and italian derives from sic?
You’re thinking of Allen and Greenough, but yes that is a good place to look. The Section number is 336, by the way.
Sic et non are perfectly legitimate ways to express “yes” and “no”.
Sic would translate out to “So [it is]” omitting an est or the verb in the original question.
Contrarily, non would be “[it is] not”.
Other examples include:
-Ita Vero = “So [it is] in truth”
-Minime = “Certainly not”
-Ita hercule! = “So [it is] by Hercules!”
-non hercule! = “By Hercules, no!”
-Vero = “Truely”
And so on, just like Robertus dixit.
Cheers!
You’re thinking of Allen and Greenough
per prophetae barbas!
ts interesting…I was just reading a book about French that several Romance dialects were classified as Langues d’oc, langues d’oil, and langues de si, depending on the word used for ‘yes’ in the dialect. Oc and oil derived from hoc, and so i guess i would be correct in assuming that si in spanish and italian derives from sic?
that is it.
Yes, but just be careful because while {vero, ita vero, etiam, sane quidem, ita, sane, certe, factum} do give an affirmative response, they don’t generally translate as a simple “yes.”
I don’t know medieval Latin, so I can’t comment on it, but as far as classical Latin goes, nowhere does either A&G or Bennett’s New Latin list ‘sic’ among possible affirmative answers. I did find it mentioned in Lewis & Short at the end of a very long entry for sic, but they indicate that such use is “rare” and “ante classical.”
If you have access to it, take a look at The Oxford Latin Dictionary, and the 5th entry under “Sic” which basically says it can be used predicated with “esse” or by itself with the verb ellipsed. It gives some examples as well.
The problem is that we are looking for a colloquial way to say “Yes” and often we do not recieve a simple yes or no answer in a direct quotation. From what I have seen, it is usually an adverb of some sort.
Cheers.