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Am I sitting here?

Latin translation: hicine sedeo? (sedeone hic?)

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:Am I sitting here?
Latin translation:hicine sedeo? (sedeone hic?)
Entered by: David Wigtil

23:04 Mar 26, 2003
English to Latin translations [Non-PRO]
English term or phrase: Am I sitting here?
A simple question.
Tom
hicine sedeo? (sedeone hic?)
Explanation:
Two word-orders are possible with these two words, either "SEDEONE HIC?" or else "HICINE SEDEO?"

Such a very short YES/NO-style question almost requires the interrogative particle "-ne", which is suffixed to the first word of such questions. It's not absolutely mandatory, but it assures that the expression is understood by the reader/listener only as a question. Without "-ne" this animal would most likely be understood as a declarative statement, "I'm sitting here!" Were I conversing with Julius Caesar, I would certainly use "-ne"!

The "-ne" suffix takes on a special form after "hic" and "huc", creating "hicine" and "hucine". The archaic forms of HIC and HUC were in fact HI-CE and HU-CE, where "-ce" was itself an adverbial suffix, which by classical times had become an inseparable part of each word, having lost the final vowel. So the oft-used question-versions of these words retained the whole "-ce" syllable with a minor vowel change (rather than losing the final vowel entirely): HICINE and HUCINE.

The same thing happens with the demonstrative pronoun/adjective HIC, HAEC, HOC: for any of its forms that end in "-c", the suffixation of "-ne" to the "-c" ending produces the terminal sequence "-cine". So there are several odd-looking words that one encounters: HICINE, HUNCINE, HAECINE, HOCINE, etc.

--Loquamur, Ph. D. in ancient Greek
college professor of Latin, Greek, German, French, and Spanish.

Selected response from:

David Wigtil
United States
Local time: 19:13
Grading comment
Graded automatically based on peer agreement. KudoZ.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +2hicine sedeo? (sedeone hic?)
David Wigtil
5 +1Huc sedeo ?
chaplin
5hic sedeo
Joseph Brazauskas


  

Answers


9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Huc sedeo ?


Explanation:
that is it!
Bye

chaplin
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:13
Native speaker of: French

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Giusi Pasi
42 mins
agree  Scott Horne (X)
4 hrs
disagree  Joseph Brazauskas: 'Huc' means 'hither' rather than 'here'.
4 hrs
agree  DAIGA VEIKMANE
10 hrs
disagree  David Wigtil: J. Brazauskas is RIGHT ON: "huc" shows motion, not mere location. This is also missing the question particle "-ne".
14 hrs
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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
hic sedeo


Explanation:
'Hic' (not to be confused with the nom. masc. sing. of the demonstrative pronoun) was the common word for 'here' (stationary, as opposed to moving towards a point).

Another common expression is classical Latin is 'in eo loco' (= 'in this place').

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-03-27 21:55:48 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Or better yet \'hicine sedeo?\' (\'hicine\' being the interrogative form of \'hic\').

Joseph Brazauskas
United States
Local time: 19:13
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in pair: 393

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  David Wigtil: This translation is missing the question particle "-ne", pretty much necessary in such a short sentence!
9 hrs
  -> It's true that '-ne' isn't always necessary--even Cicero frequently omits it--but as you say the sentence is short.
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15 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +2
hicine sedeo? (sedeone hic?)


Explanation:
Two word-orders are possible with these two words, either "SEDEONE HIC?" or else "HICINE SEDEO?"

Such a very short YES/NO-style question almost requires the interrogative particle "-ne", which is suffixed to the first word of such questions. It's not absolutely mandatory, but it assures that the expression is understood by the reader/listener only as a question. Without "-ne" this animal would most likely be understood as a declarative statement, "I'm sitting here!" Were I conversing with Julius Caesar, I would certainly use "-ne"!

The "-ne" suffix takes on a special form after "hic" and "huc", creating "hicine" and "hucine". The archaic forms of HIC and HUC were in fact HI-CE and HU-CE, where "-ce" was itself an adverbial suffix, which by classical times had become an inseparable part of each word, having lost the final vowel. So the oft-used question-versions of these words retained the whole "-ce" syllable with a minor vowel change (rather than losing the final vowel entirely): HICINE and HUCINE.

The same thing happens with the demonstrative pronoun/adjective HIC, HAEC, HOC: for any of its forms that end in "-c", the suffixation of "-ne" to the "-c" ending produces the terminal sequence "-cine". So there are several odd-looking words that one encounters: HICINE, HUNCINE, HAECINE, HOCINE, etc.

--Loquamur, Ph. D. in ancient Greek
college professor of Latin, Greek, German, French, and Spanish.



David Wigtil
United States
Local time: 19:13
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in pair: 60
Grading comment
Graded automatically based on peer agreement. KudoZ.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Joseph Brazauskas
7 hrs
agree  Kirill Semenov
1 day 6 hrs
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