"Paedagogus librum optimum portat."

Translation: The tutor carries the best book.

[TheNoblerC]

Interesting that you choose 'best' for optimus - I went for 'excellent' to connote the superlative sense and this was rejected. Thoughts?

[no.name.42]

Doesn't "best" signify the superlative better? Excellence can exist in a vacuum. "Best" can only be relative.

[PERCE_NEIGE]

It's both, an absolute comparative (= a superlative), and a non-comparative, normal adjective (= excellent).

I don't know why, but it's the definition given in dictionaries, excellent, and the best, even if intuitively it should be only "the best".

I'll make some searches about it, but if someone knows why, I'll be happy to have an explanation.

[JonathanPo477257]

Can "optimus" also be translated as "very good"? I think the Cambridge Latin Course suggests this.

[mizinamo]

Can "optimus" also be translated as "very good"?

"The tutor carries the very good book." was accepted for me.

[OlivierCom]

I feel like there shouldn't be a difference between "slave tutor" and "tutor slave", when written in english.

[PERCE_NEIGE]

The "official" word is "tutor-slave", (with the "-")
it's a word, a compound word, the other one is not a word (but can be understood, as as circumlocution).

(Other official word is paedagogus, used in English)

https://biblehub.com/topical/t/tutor-slave.htm

[mizinamo]

I feel like there shouldn't be a difference between "slave tutor" and "tutor slave",

A slave tutor is someone who teaches slaves.

A tutor-slave is a slave who teaches.

Two different things.

(Kind of like how a cup of tea is not the same thing as a teacup.)

[MotivationKing]

Maybe it's just me but this voice doesn't seem to be able to pronounce the letter 'U'