https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/04/a-stranger-in-town-asking-for.html
https://www.facebook.com/groups/latinforstarters/posts/396094399668501/
[i] Do we know how
Cicero – if he ever went to the market – asked how he could get there? Asking
where something is (ubi est …?), since you know there’s a market, is not the same as asking if a market exists:
Est … │ There is …
Estne … │
Is there …? Ne attached to the first word of the sentence makes that
sentence into a question.
[ii] And, in this
topic, asking if there is something nearby:
vīcīnitās: neighbourhood
in vicinitāte: in
the neighbourhood
And Cicero did
know how to say that – because he wrote it!
nōn modo in Umbriā
atque in eā vīcīnitāte sed in hīs veteribus mūnicipiīs │ not only
in Umbria and in that neighbourhood, but in these old municipal
towns …
[iii] Indicating
that you want information can be expressed by:
Dīc mihi│
Tell me [literally: say to me]
Dīc mihi, quaesō,
… │ Tell me, please, … [quaesō: I ask, but, when you are making a
request, it can translate as ‘please’]
- Dīc mihi, quaesō, quis ea est (Plautus) │ Tell me, please, who she is
- Tū, quaesō, festīnā ad nōs venīre (Cicero) │ You, please, hurry and come to me.
The alternative to
quaesō is amābō tē; it literally means ‘I shall love you’ but, in
this context, conveys ‘please’:
- Exspectā, amābō tē, … (Cicero) │ Wait, please …
- Dīc, amābō tē, ubi est Diniarchus? (Plautus) │ Tell (me), please, where is Diniarchus?
[iv]
Dīc mihi, quaesō,
estne macellum ¦ in vīcīnitāte? │ Tell me, please, is there a market ¦ in the
neighbourhood?
Remember that
Latin word order is flexible:
Dīc mihi, quaesō,
estne ¦ in vīcinitāte ¦ macellum?
Dīc mihi …
Dīc mihi, quaesō …
Dīc mihi, quaesō,
estne macellum …?
Dīc mihi, quaesō,
estne macellum in vīcīnitāte?
[v] Below are some
common words referring to places in a town:
(a) 1st
declension feminine nouns ending in -a
argentāria:
banking-house; bank
caupōna: inn;
tavern
laniēna: butcher’s
shop
piscina: swimming
pool
popīna: a place
where food and drink were sold; cook-shop; eating-house
taberna: shop
taberna lībrāria:
bookshop
tōnstrīna:
barber’s shop
(b) 2nd
declension nouns ending in -us (masculine) and, more common in this
topic -um (neuter)
fluvius:
river
amphitheātrum:
amphitheatre
dēversōrium /
hospitium: inn; lodging house
forum: public
place, marketplace
forum boārium:
cattle-market
forum olitōrium:
vegetable market
forum piscātōrium:
fish market
macellum: food
market
pistrīnum: bakery
templum: temple
theātrum: theatre
thermopōlium:
place where food and hot drinks were sold, similar to a restaurant or café
valētūdinārium: hospital