Somno vi

[Anonymous]

I've been challenged to find the meaning of a friend's online name. They use 'Somnovi' - they've told me it is Latin though my attempts to break it down haven't proved fruitful. Somn, sleep? And Ovi, egg? They confirmed it could be associated with sleep but provided me with little more than that. I admit that my translation skill is novice at best and could use a little assistance here. Oh, one more thing that they said was that it could translate into a sentence or two. I'm pretty confused.

 

[QMF]

Might it be "somnavi"? Because somnavi means "I slept."

 

[Anonymous]

No, the word is somnovi - and that it can be associated with sleep. They also hinted as I said that it could translate into a sentence or maybe even two?

 

[Cato]

The only way--as it is written--that this could be Latin is if it is somno vi, and even then it's cryptic and depends on what case (dative or ablative) each word might be in.

I'll vote for somno as an ablative of separation ("from sleep") and vi as an ablative of cause or manner ("by violence, violently"):

somno vi - "from sleep violently" -> "suddenly awoken"

For students, normally the abl. of manner must have cum or be accompanied with an adjective. However the preposition is regularly omitted with certain common expressions like fraude - "with deceit, fraudulently", furto - "with theft, furtively", jure -"by right, rightly", silentio - "with silence, silently", and voluntate - "with will, voluntarily". Note that these nouns are often better translated into English by using adverbs, which is true in general of the abl. of manner.

 

[Anonymous]

Wow, that may be it - makes sense to me at least! Thanks a bunch.

 

[Andy]

The only way--as it is written--that this could be Latin is if it is somno vi, and even then it's cryptic and depends on what case (dative or ablative) each word might be in.

I'll vote for somno as an ablative of separation ("from sleep") and vi as an ablative of cause or manner ("by violence, violently"):

somno vi - "from sleep violently" -> "suddenly awoken"

For students, normally the abl. of manner must have cum or be accompanied with an adjective. However the preposition is regularly omitted with certain common expressions like fraude - "with deceit, fraudulently", furto - "with theft, furtively", jure -"by right, rightly", silentio - "with silence, silently", and voluntate - "with will, voluntarily". Note that these nouns are often better translated into English by using adverbs, which is true in general of the abl. of manner.

Tibi plaudo


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Is it 'te plaudo' or 'tibi plaudo' or something else?

 

[Vilhelmus]

Tibi plaudo.

Plaudere c. dat. - checked twice!

 

[Andy]

Tibi plaudo.

Plaudere c. dat. - checked twice!

Thanks!

 

[deudeditus]

Gratias, O Cato sapientissime. that was very enlightening. I got as far to recognise 'somno vi' but you put the rest of the puzzle together. I was thinking somno to be in the dat. thanks again for the insight.