25.07.25: Level 3; pronominal adjectives [6](2); utrum … an …; double questions
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/04/250725-level-3-pronominal-adjectives-62.html
[1] The
construction utrum … an … is used in direct questions to create an
alternative or double question:
Utrum ēsūrīs an sītīs? │
Are you hungry or thirsty?
Utrum [i] nescīs, … an [ii]
prō nihilō id putās (Cicero) │ Is it that [i] you don’t know or [ii]
do you think nothing of it?
[2] an may be repeated if more than two points
are being questioned:
Utrum [i] hostem an [ii]
vōs an [iii] fortūnam utrīusque populī īgnōrātis (Livy) │ Is
it the [i] enemy, [ii] or yourselves, [iii] or the
fortune of the two peoples, that you do not know?
[3] a combination
of -ne attached to the first word being questioned together with an:
Ēsūrīsne an sītīs?
│ Are you hungry or thirsty?
[4] an
without utrum may occur:
Dīcam huic, an nōn
dīcam? │ Shall I tell him, or not tell him?
[5] These same
constructions can be used in indirect questions and, again, the verb of the
indirect question is in the subjunctive.
Quaerō, ¦ … [i]
utrum is clēmēns ac misericors [ii] an inhūmānissimus
et crūdēlissimus esse videātur (Cicero) │ I ask, ¦ [i] whether he
might appear to be clement and merciful [ii] or most
inhuman and cruel?
[6] Look out
for: necne and an nōn (annōn), both of which
mean ‘or not’ and can be used to form the second part of the double question:
Nesciō, ¦ utrum domī
sit, annōn. │ I don’t know ¦ whether he’s [
= he might be] at home or not.
[7] Examples
The first two
examples below show both an indirect question introduced by an interrogative
word and a double question:
(1) Are you as
confused as Plautus?
Nunc mī incertumst
¦ abeam an maneam, an adeam an fugiam,
¦ quid agam edepol nesciō (Plautus)
Now I’m uncertain ¦
whether I should go away or I should stay, whether I should
approach or whether I should flee—by Pollux, I don’t know ¦ what I
should do.
In the first part
of the quotation, there is no interrogative word, but simply alternative
courses of action being debated:
Nunc mī incertumst
¦ [i] abeam an [ii] maneam …│ I’m uncertain ¦ whether
[i] I should go away [ii] or stay …
In the second part
of the quotation, an interrogative is used:
quid agam ¦ edepol nesciō │ by
Pollux, I don’t know ¦ what I should do.
(2) Similarly, two
quotations from Cicero:
Nesciō [1] quid
intersit, ¦ [2] utrum nunc veniam, an ad
decem annōs (Cicero)
I don’t know [1] what
difference it might make, ¦ [2] whether I should come
now, or after ten years.
Mihi mehercule
nihil vidēbātur esse, ¦ [1] in quō tantulum interesset ¦ [2] utrum
per prōcūrātōrēs agerēs ¦ an per tē ipsum (Cicero)
For the life of me
I cannot see any reason ¦ why it should make the least little
bit of difference ¦ [2] whether you act by proxy ¦ or in
person.
(1)
Here
we have two groups of alternative questions:
Mīrāminī satis
habuisse eōs quī hoc iūdicium dedērunt id quaerī, ¦ [1] utrum haec
tam acerba, tam indigna, tam atrocia facta essent necne, nōn [2] utrum iūre
facta an iniūriā? (Cicero)
And do you wonder
that those who assigned this trial thought it sufficient that it should be
inquired ¦ [1] whether these cruel, and scandalous, and
atrocious actions had been done or not; not [2] whether they
had been done rightly or wrongfully?
(2)
In
this final example, necne appears alone:
Quaesīvī ā
Catilīnā in conventū apud M. Laecam fuisset necne (Cicero)│ I
asked Catiline whether he had been at the meeting at Marcus Laeca's or
not.
In other words, alternative
indirect questions can be expressed in different ways, but look for the signal
words: utrum / an / annōn / necne.
[8] Note: English
can use ‘if’ in indirect questions such as this:
Do you know if
he speaks English?
I don’t know if
he’s English or not.
It would be
possible to translate constructions with utrum etc. using ‘if’:
Nesciō, ¦ utrum domī
sit, annōn. │ I don’t know if he’s at home or not.
However, the
English conjunction if is also used to construct a completely different
clause, namely a conditional clause e.g. “If it rains, we won’t
go out.” That is not an indirect question, and Latin does not use
utrum, an, or necne (annōn) to form clauses of that
type.