detersoque somno

[NoahOremland]

I have a question from a line from Apuleius' tale of Cupid and Psyche. In Book VI line 21 of the Asinus aureus, Cupid "runs to Psyche and wipes away the sleep with care" from her:

accurrit suam detersoque somno curiose

I don't know Latin and would like to understand the grammar of the phrase "detersoque somno".

Is this the dative case of the perfect participle 'detersus' and if so, what is the noun? Somno? And why the dative? What would be a word-for-word translation of this phrase?
My rudimentary Latin would expect something more like "Et deterget somnum curiose"? (BTW, is that last phrase correct?)

In case it's helpful, the full line is:
Sed Cupido iam cicatrice solida revalescens nec diutinam suae Psyches absentiam tolerans per altissimam cubiculi quo cohibebatur elapsus fenestram refectisque pennis aliquanta quiete longe velocius provolans Psychen accurrit suam detersoque somno curiose et rursum in pristinam pyxidis sedem recondito Psychen innoxio punctulo sagittae suae suscitat et 'ecce,' inquit, 'rursum perieras, misella, simili curiositate.

 

[rothbard]

That looks like an ablative absolute.

 

[Pacifica]

Is this the dative case of the perfect participle 'detersus'

No, it is ablative.

what is the noun? Somno?

Somno is a noun meaning "sleep", also in the ablative.

Deterso somno is a construction called ablative absolute, which denotes some background circumstance to the main action of the sentence. The literal meaning is "sleep having been wiped away".

-que is an enclitic meaning "and". It is stuck at the end of the word which, in English, would be preceded by "and". So all in all, detersoque somno = literally "and the sleep having been wiped away". The idea is that, after the sleep was wiped away (by Cupid), Cupid did so and so.

It is common in Latin to have long-ish sentences with several participial phrases like this where in English it would be more natural to have several distinct clauses or sentences with finite verbs such as "he wiped away".

"Et deterget somnum curiose"? (BTW, is that last phrase correct?)

It's grammatically correct, yes.

 

[rothbard]

By the way, recondito also agrees with somno and is part of the same clause. He wiped off the sleep and put it back in the box.

 

[NoahOremland]

Many thanks!