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- "In villa proxima femina suav…
"In villa proxima femina suaviter cantat."
Translation:In the nearest house, the woman sings sweetly.
9 Comments
Yes, the English sentence is emphatic here, but not less natural. Only more emphatic.
What about "In the nearby house..." Does "proxima" specifically mean "nearest"?
No, proxima means "next" or "nearest".
"Nearby" means: not far away; close.
= Propinquus.
Nearest or Next are better, to translate it, because "close" is "prŏpinquus" (prŏpinqua), and proximus is the superlative for propinquus.
propinquuus < proximus
That's true that "propinquus" is both "close" and "next", but using the superlative is even closer. So, if "propinquus" is close, proximus is the closest, the nearest.
They wanted to show us the superlative with multus/plurimus, but don't show it here.
In the Latin texts, the use of the superlative are often blurred with non superlative words, they seems to be often used, not as superlatives, but as normal word intensified, emphasized. But here, as it's a course, we have to make the difference between the normal word (propinquus, same root that appropinquare) and the surperlative.
I translated it with "In the villa, the nearest woman sings sweetly".
I know it makes a lot less sense that their translation, but I think this one is also possible. If they talk about a woman that is close from a particular spot or person. And "next" is also possible, if, for instance, we visit several houses.
I did too.
I'm not sure how to distinguish gramatically this translation from the accepted one. For instance, is the position of the adjective relative to the noun it modifies a clue? If so, then in some instances, word order DOES matter.
Can somebody explain please?
439
Why the hell is it not accepted "next" if it fits perfectly as translatiom for "proxima" ????
Why "a woman" is not accepted? There is no context around, maybe this is the woman which voice I have been listening for years or maybe I hear her singing for the first time
