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- Topic: Latin >
- "Senex comitem habet."
22 Comments
Thirded. Need some flexibility with definitions! Companion is far more common than comrade.
Nobody:
Me: On a side note, this word comitem (comes, comitis) is the word from which the English word count (as a title of nobility, equivalent to the more autochtonous earl) derives ultimately, through the French comte, as well as its cognates in other languages (conde ES & PT, conte IT, comte CAT, etc.).
Comitem (nominative comes) "companion, attendant," the Roman term for a provincial governor.
391
no less an authority on the Latin language than Julius Caesar used "comes" to mean "ally." Why can't I?
What do you mean? Comes = ally. The reason why it is comitem is because it is in accusative case.
I'm not sure what this sentence is supposed to say. I doubt it uses the term "comrade" in the sense of the communist/socialist address, so I'd assume it uses the term comrade in the meaning of "brother in arms", i.e. someone he used to serve with (seeing as he is an old man and is therefore most likely not an active soldier anymore), however in that case the sentence wouldn't make much sense, because the only way I could think of using it would be "He has only one comrade left" (as in: the rest that served alongside him died already), but even that's a stretch. So is it supposed to be like a political ally, as for example Crassus and Pompeius used to be to Ceasar?
I tried ‘The old man has a buddy’. Shouldn’t that be acceptable? I flagged it as such. If not appropriate, please do enlighten me.
The word comrade existed long before communism... and stands alone with its own meaning.
