Idioms

[Pacifica]

Litteram longam ex se facere: to make a long letter (= an "i") of oneself = to hang oneself.

Plautus, Aulularia, 77-78.

 

[Pacifica]

Lapides loqui: to speak stones = to speak hard words.

Line 152.

 

[Pacifica]

Trium litterarum homo: man of three letters = a thief (three letters = fur = thief).

325.

 

[Pacifica]

Gymnasium flagri: gymnasium of the whip = someone (I guess usually a slave) who is often flogged.

Hence: aliquem habere gymnasium: to have someone as a gymnasium = to belabor someone. (Line 410)

 

[Pacifica]

Eximere (alicui) ex manu manubrium: to take the handle out of (someone's) hand = to deprive someone of the occasion of doing something.

Line 471.

 

[Pacifica]

Sublinere os alicui: to anoint somebody's face = to befool them (allusion to the fact of smearing someone's face while they're sleeping).

Line 668 (as well as elsewhere).

 

[Pacifica]

Caput limare cum aliquo: to rub the head with someone = to kiss someone.

Plautus, Bacchides, 15.

 

[Pacifica]

Aquam aspergere (alicui): to sprinkle water (to someone) = to relieve someone (of a worry for ex.).

Line 247.

 

[Pacifica]

Cum ramento: with the shred = to the last bit. For ex.: omne (aurum) cum ramento reddidi = I've given back all the gold, every coin of it to the last one.

Line 680.

 

[Matthaeus]

You know, come to think of it, and sorry to be a pain, but usually author, title, and verse are given, like this: Plaut. Bacch. 680
Just look at examples in LSD or OLD, LOL

 

[Pacifica]

Ok, I'll do it like that from now on, sir, if it pleases you!

 

[Matthaeus]

By all means
And I suggest you edit the earlier ones, too.
Lol

 

[Pacifica]

You're not demanding, are you?

Edit: Done. Some of them appear in several places, I didn't look for every place and indicated just one, saying "and elsewhere". Anyway some of those probably appear in other authors too.

 

[Matthaeus]

You're not demanding, are you?

What if I am?
No, I'm only kidding around, of course.
Very well done! Now I'll know exactly where to go if I want to check.

 

[Pacifica]

Aliquem emungere: to wipe someone = to defraud someone.

Line 701.

Emungere is in its first meaning to wipe mucus from the nose or sim. I just found the metaphor funny.

 

[Pacifica]

Cedere ad factum: (of a project, plan) to proceed to fact = to come to execution.

Plautus, Captivi, 352.

 

[Pacifica]

(Aliquid) quoi neque pes umquam neque caput comparet: something to which neither foot nor head ever appears = something without head or tail, nonsense.

Line 613.

Inter sacrum saxumque: between the altar and the (sharp, used as a knife) stone = in a desperate situation.

Line 617.

 

[Pacifica]

Communis locus: common place (not to be confused with the English adjective in one word!) = first sense = a public place; metaphorical sense = the abode of the dead.

Plautus, Casina, line 19.

Ea tempestate flos poetarum fuit (Plautus),
Qui nunc abierunt hinc in communem locum.

At that time he was the flower of the poets,
Who now have left from here to the place that is common to all.

This is in the prologue, which, needless to say, wasn't written by Plautus himself.

 

[Pacifica]

Aliquid ponere ad compendium: to put something to saving = to spare something (in words), not to say it.

Line 519.

 

[Pacifica]

Qui sibi semitam non sapiunt, alteri monstrant viam.
Those who don't know their path, they show the road to the other.

Ennius quoted by Cicero in De Divinatione, 1, 58, 132.

Just chanced upon it in the dic.