Megalandrum

[Subcontrary]

Here is the culprit sentence, written by a Lutheran theologian:

"Singularia vero exempla videre sunt apud Megalandrum nostrum LUTHERUM in Colloqu. Commens."

Which I think basically means "But unusual examples to see are in a work of our *great guy* Luther, Table Talk." Has anybody any information on this word? I'm quite confident as to its general sense, but its provenance is most baffling!

 

[Dantius]

Seems like Greek μέγας (big) + ἀνήρ (man)

 

[Pacifica]

Yep. See: http://ducange.enc.sorbonne.fr/MEGALANDER

"Great man" is probably a better translation (in a more suitable register) than "great guy".

Singularia vero exempla videre sunt strikes me as an unusual construction. It sounds to me as if videre sunt = "are to be seen", but that isn't normal Latin. It sounds like French, actually, sont à voir (literally "are to see" but meaning "are to be seen").

 

[Dantius]

I would expect "videre est" in the sense of "it is possible to see".

 

[Pacifica]

Yes, that would be more normal.

 

[Pacifica]

I've found other instances of videre sunt, in the same context of bibliograpical references, where it's impossible to take the videre as a prolative infinitive to a preceding adjective like singularia since there's none, so I'm pretty sure my interpretation is right. It seems to have been some sort of neo-Latin idiom in the context of references. It may be a calque from French or another vernacular where the same construction exists.

Here are a few examples:

https://books.google.be/books?id=5Y85Z_Ip0cAC&pg=PA287&lpg=PA287&dq="videre sunt"&source=bl&ots=gxFNblx0su&sig=zkXDtgIv-syK0NiG0HYIg9eiL7s&hl=fr&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjQ8aSvmdffAhWGb1AKHYuGCEQQ6AEwA3oECAYQAQ#v=onepage&q="videre sunt"&f=false

https://books.google.be/books?id=d9kAAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA34&lpg=RA2-PA34&dq="videre sunt apud"&source=bl&ots=-J8Koda04m&sig=UjfAA8ogGJ7AfLh3hCDePRXhA8c&hl=fr&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjGxY2JmtffAhWPKVAKHeuHCkQQ6AEwAHoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q="videre sunt apud"&f=false

https://books.google.be/books?id=cnA04oFalAQC&pg=PA117&lpg=PA117&dq="videre sunt apud"&source=bl&ots=BYAaMkltjP&sig=CRFVKDwl7wqrkoOo3L7f-rArCEo&hl=fr&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjGxY2JmtffAhWPKVAKHeuHCkQQ6AEwAXoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q="videre sunt apud"&f=false