Autem, ergo, illus, quia, and quod

[Lonsdale]

Hi,

I finished the three parts of the Oxford Latin Course, and felt that I was ready to read the Vulgate (with a Latin/English dictionary close at hand), but when I did so, I ran into a problem that I had not counted on:

Autem, ergo, illus/-a/-um, quia, and quod all had multiplication of meanings, which I found very confusing.

I even saw the Vulgate's "Ut autem" translated in the DR as "And when", which defeated me utterly.

I understand that words can have different meanings, as in cum and dum, and we have homonyms in English, but these seem to take it to a whole new level, as they say.

I checked the Oxford and Collins dictionaries, and came up with these:

autem - Oxford: but; however; indeed; on the contrary [Collins: but, on the other hand, (in transition, parenthesis) moreover, now, and, (in dialogue) indeed]

ergo - Oxford: therefore; then, now [Collins: adv therefore, consequently; (questions, commands) then, so (resuming with) well then, (with gen) for the sake of, because of]


ille, a, illiud, ius - He, she, it; that; the well-known; the former [Collins: that, that one: he, she, it; ; the famous; the former, the other; ex illo since then]

quia - because; that

quod - that, in that; because, as to the fact that; although; since [Collins: as for, in that, that; because, why, quod si but if]


Sadly, that didn’t help me a whole lot. Neither did going back to the OLC.

Is there a good explanation of such things to be found anywhere?

 

[Pacifica]

illus/-a/-um

You mean ille/-a/-ud?

I even saw the Vulgate's "Ut autem" translated in the DR as "And when", which defeated me utterly.

Ut + indicative can mean "when". Autem basically denotes either a contrast between two things or simply a transition to a new subject or to a parenthetical remark. It has no exact English equivalent, but can translate variously depending on context (as you have seen) or even not translate at all.

I don't think I can explain all the possible meanings of those words in one post, and I believe that, ultimately, the best solution is simply for you to become familiar with them through reading. That way, you will eventually acquire a feeling for how they are used.

I'll just remark on three things:

ergo - Oxford: therefore; then, now [Collins: adv therefore, consequently; (questions, commands) then, so (resuming with) well then,

You may notice that all of the English translations suggested are synonyms or near-synonyms, so there isn't actually much that should surprise you here, unless you were thinking that it could mean "now" in the literal, temporal sense — it can't.

ille, a, illiud, ius - He, she, it; that; the well-known; the former [Collins: that, that one: he, she, it; ; the famous; the former, the other; ex illo since then]

You might want to have a look at this thread on demonstrative pronouns.

quod - that, in that; because, as to the fact that; although; since [Collins: as for, in that, that; because, why, quod si but if]

The phrase quod si is a regular cause of confusion for students, I think. It might help if you realize what it literally means: it's basically an accusative of respect, meaning "as for which/in respect to which (which = the fact that I've just been talking about), if..."; so, the idea is basically "in connection to what I've just said, if..." The idea can often be rendered in "normal" English as "and if" or "but if".

Again, I think the best and possibly only way to effectively dispel all of your confusion as to the various uses of words is to familiarize yourself with them by reading, reading, and reading again; however, if you've got any particular sentence that you're unsure of, you can always ask us for help.

 

[Lonsdale]

Thanks, Pacifica, that's very helpful.

 

[Pacifica]

Ah! I'm glad if so. You're welcome.