quod faustum sit, regem create

ovidia nemausa

New Member

Hello,
I have a doubt, if someone can illuminate me...

The phrase:
"quod faustum sit, regem create" (Elect a king, and may it be an auspicious event)

Why "faustum", is it accusative? With "sit" (sum)?

Thanks in advance,
Ov. Nem.
 

Pacifica

grammaticissima

  • Aedilis

Location:
Belgium
Hi,

Faustum isn't accusative. It's nominative, neuter in agreement with the subject quod.
 

ovidia nemausa

New Member

Thanks Pacifica for the quick reply,
Yes, that was the other option, nominative neuter...

But what construction is this? Something like English "It"?
Any examples, other similar examples, please...

Thanks a lot.
 

Pacifica

grammaticissima

  • Aedilis

Location:
Belgium
Quod is literally "which", but that won't quite work in English here, since "which may be an auspicious event" would be taken as a statement rather than a wish like in the Latin; that's why it got translated as "and... it". Latin is rather more flexible than English in its use of relatives.

If by examples you mean similar wordings from the literature, here are a couple:

 
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