- Forum >
- Topic: Latin >
- "De ara iuvenis descendere vu…
"De ara iuvenis descendere vult."
Translation:The young man wants to descend from the altar.
50 Comments
Couldn't "The young man wants to climb down from the altar." be a valid answer too?
2116
Yes, or get down. Give them a chance; the course is new and there a potentially hundreds of correct translations for some sentences.
"Climb down from" needs to be accepted, as well as "descend;" as does "youth" for "young man."
It's also a problem (in my opinion, at least) that "descendere de + abl" has to be rendered (currently) as "to descend FROM," since "to descend the altar" is equiv. in English to "get down from the altar." At this stage, Duolingo clearly needs a word-for-word rendering, that includes the preposition de.
Yes: just as Duolingo has "rise" as well as "climb up" for ascendere (I don't know if they accept "ascend"), it would be great to have "climb down" and "get down" as well as "descend," for descendere.
Does he not known that it's going to the altar of God that makes happy his youth?
Obviously whoever voted down my comment didn't get my reference to psalm verse in Latin.
Going to God's altar is not the same as putting oneself ON God's altar, my friend. There is a difference between Isaac and being Jeremiah.
- 240
"Introibo ad altare Dei, ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam"? Is there anywhere you can hear that these days? The last Catholic Mass I came across was during a visit to Paris, years ago. It was just beginning as we entered Notre Dame. After recent events I doubt if there is much chance of a Tridentine Mass there anytime soon.
- 381
The Tridentine Mass is still celebrated in the US. To find one near you: https://www.latinmassdir.org/country/us/
That's the funniest sentence I read in this course so far.
I can understand why he wants to descend from the altar!
The high priest approaches, dripping knife in hand, and the young man desires to be elsewhere.
Nah, the Romans didn't practice human sacrifice except that one time when they buried a Vestal Virgin, which was probably a short revival. The gladiator games admittedly was originally human sacrifice, a funerary rite that became a public spectacle, but in the latter form it was very rarely fought to the death. Gladiatores were expensive, so you save them as much as possible, and likely even give them medical care.
There are actually examples of Roman writers being shocked by human sacrifice. Despite his own brutality, Julius Caesar wrote of the Druidic Wicker Man with apparent revulsion. Carthaginian practices too were condemned.
- 582
However, doesn't the strangle of the captive during the Roman Triumph kinda like human sacrifice? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-VjCLR5L-c&feature=youtu.be&t=878
That's an important point. If it was so. As it was generally illegal in Rome to execute virgins while they remained virgins.
- 318
Pronunciation is off. The D sounds like a T and the I in iuvenis is longer (as in "ee") and not short (like in the word bit)
The structure on which (in antiquity, it was outside of a temple) an offering to a god is made.
In brief: ab = "away from" ; dē = "down from"; ex = "out of." All 3 require ablative-case objects.
Note also that a very common use of dē is the meaning "concerning, about," especially as used in book-titles: Dē Rērum Nātūrā , "On the Nature of Things" (by Lucretius), Dē Rē Pūblicā , "About the Republic" (by Cicero), Dē Bellō Gallicō , "Concerning the War in Gaul" (by Caesar), etc.
When Latin lost its genitive case (the possessive "of" function), dē seems to have taken this over; at least, that seems to describe how the descendants of dē are used in Romance languages.
- 2116
There's almost certainly a small error you are overlooking. Check your spelling meticulously against the model answer, particularly the word "altar".
Doulingo wont accept my answer on this question and i've been trying to get it fixed for weeks. Anyone else have this problem. Is there anyway to contact Duolingo????
I FINALLY figured it out! I was spelling "altar" as "alter". My bad. Thanks for the reply!
