Oh, and I'm also curious to know what the difference is between maneo and versor, and whether you could have used both interchangeably, or whether they have a different shade of meaning.

Should you not use the nominative case? I would have believed so, but I am not sure. -- my translation

@ktm5124 It must be a potentialis, indicating a possibility.

> I might believe it to be so, but...

I think your forms would also be possible.

@Cerberus Exactly. I don't think there are many cases where you could use the perfect conjunctive in a main clause with present meaning, but the coniunctivus potentialis can do that.

To express hesitation, I actually prefer perfect to present, but I'm not sure if that's really correct.

@ktm5124 If I say hic versor, I mean that I'm currently here, and I am not merely driving through. If I say hic maneo, I'm staying here and not planning to leave at all.

Trump or no Trump, I am planning to leave the US.

@JoonasIlmavirta Ah, I see. Thanks! It's good to know about the potentialis, as well as the distinction between versor and maneo.

@Cerberus Would you say that the potentialis is analogous to the Greek potential optative?

@ktm5124 Yes, quite so.

@ktm5124 I always try to think of these things elliptically. If you mean "(illa est) bona quaestio", then I expect the nominative. And I try to assume the simplest extension that makes sense.

@JoonasIlmavirta That's a good point, and good to know for the future, since "Good question" is a phrase I might want to use often.

So I will try to remember: Bona quaestio.

@ktm5124 Although, as we have discussed somewhere on the site, quaestio is not the best word for "question".

It might be closer to "search" or "endeavor" than "question".

Yikes! I may have asked that question myself.

Perhaps rogatum?

And you wouldn't have to distinguish between the nominative and the accusative!

Hehe.

Bonum rogatum!

Bene!

Hunc rogatum rogavis. latin.stackexchange.com/questions/1320/how-to-answer-a-question

By the way, what are you doing in Chicago? Vivis, manes, versaris?

@ktm5124 That's the one!

@JoonasIlmavirta Vivo in urbe Chicago.

@ktm5124 Iam diu?

Circa decem annos hic vixi.

@ktm5124 What are the active perfect personal endings?

Corrected!

Is "circa" correct? I see there are several options for "almost".

@ktm5124 Quid te istuc tulit?

@ktm5124 I'd use fere. Maybe better after the number: decem fere annos.

Gratias.

Universitas hic me tulit.

(Not sure if that's correct, esp. "university".)

@ktm5124 Oh, I was referring to rogavis you wrote earlier. But correct correction on vivere!

Oh, rogavisti, right?

Yeah.

right, -i -istis -it -imus -istis -ierunt

@ktm5124 Universitas sounds good, but hic doesn't. I'd use huc.

Hm, why's that? Is it because "huc" is directional?

By the way, I have to leave for a bit, but I'll be back.

Hic is "(in) here", huc is "hither" or "to here", hinc is "hence" or "from here".

Aka "hence".

@Cerberus Ah, I knew I was missing a word!

Now I am wondering to what extent the ends of hinc and hence are related.

@Cerberus I never thought of that, but the two words do indeed look similar and mean the same thing.

Yeah.

The c in hinc is deictic.

But I've never heard of a deictic c in Germanic.

And I think it unlikely that hence should be Latinate.

And I suspect the n's are different n's, but I don't know.

I was just wondering that too! At the least, it's a good mnemonic.

That would make a decent question at our site.

I need a button that posts that message in this chat. I would press it quite a lot...

I might post it after doing some research.

The problem is, I can look most things up myself...

@Cerberus Research is required, famously. ;)

Exactly!

If you find a good answer, you can post both the question and answer.

Then I'd close my question afterwards?

At least I'd have got in the answer...

If the question is interesting and shows some basic research, it's good. I think asking for a verification of a reasonable etymological conjecture is fine.

chuckles

It might very well be closed on ELU.

Oh?

It sounds like a decent question to me.

You're now supposed to look it up in an etymological dictionary yourself, according to some users (and only 5 are needed to close you).

It may be closed as "not enough research" for that reason.

Is it enough to google for the etymology and report the findings in the question?

Oh, and it might also be closed as "off topic" because it is probably not limited to the history of English words while they were part of English.

Do you think we should close such questions?

@JoonasIlmavirta You'll find some kind of etymology, so that would probably render the question "unclear what you're asking", since you have already found an answer.

No.

I am allergic to SE's closing madness.

@Cerberus Agreed.

@Cerberus Based on what I hear here, so am I.

@Cerberus You could ask for a verification of your findings. Do reputable etymologists dispute or support the theory? Is there evidence to support the claim? It's not easy to judge which online sources to trust.

Any question [that a [slightly educated layman - who roughly knows what the stated subject of the site means] might think would fit the subject] should remain open, I would say, unless it is of very low quality.

@JoonasIlmavirta You could.

@Cerberus It took me a moment to parse that sentence, but I agree.

Yeah, I realised it was rather impenetrable, but it was so "legal"-like that I couldn't split it up very well.

But it is circa fere bedtime.

Same here, although I'm six(ish) hours behind you.

Should I worry?

You will no doubt catch up eventually, don't worry.

Whatever you do, the time will pass anyway.

Joonas! We are going to sleep at almost the same time (an hour off). How exciting. Now you know how it feels to be an American in a European chat room.

@ktm5124 I try to live with people that have a normal sleep rhythm, and I run into the same phenomenon all the time. I would not wake up before noon if I had no obligations.

Hmm... Do you think this chat room is mainly European?

Do you mean the phenomenon of burning the midnight oil?

I mean the feeling that others are several hours ahead of me and the daily rhythms are not fully compatible.

Well, I think that you, Cerberus and I are the main participants. But I've seen appearances by QPaysTaxes and C.M. Weiner, as well as JoelDerfner. And it's nice that Nathaniel is often present.

I suppose the best measure would be calculating the ratio of chat messages coming from Europe.

Perhaps the fact that you and Cerberus live in Europe makes me feel like a lonely American.

True, we three are the most active, but many other chatters are American.

That's true.

I'm trying to see if there's a list of all users of this room with the numbers of posts.

Couldn't find.

I have a really strong Europe envy. I like how Europeans have so many places to travel to.

How is that different? You can go to places from the US.

Or within the US.

But I don't get to speak a different language when I travel to most places in the US.

And the states aren't as interesting to me as European countries. I do like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, and I hear good things about New Orleans, but the list is small.

Depending on where you go, you might want to speak Spanish or Chinese...

Some call UCI the University of Chinese Immigrants.

Never heard that!

It's better known as the University of California at Irvine.

Haha

I am really fond of Chicago, though.

I've heard good things about Chicago.

I've only ever been to the airport.

The culture and architecture are really great.

The winters, though cold, probably keep the prices down.

Are there several universities in Chicago?

Yeah. University of Chicago, Northwestern, and UIC to name a few.

Which one is yours?

University of Chicago. I had a really good time there.

I'm glad to hear that!

Do you still study there?

No. That would be nice though. I graduated a while ago.

Bachelor's?

Yeah, bachelor's degree.

Are you interested in a master's or doctor's degree?

I'm not sure. I think about it sometimes. The difficulty with a master's degree, in the US, is that you have to pay for it. But with a PhD, they pay you.

@ktm5124 Oh, I see. I keep forgetting how different things are.

In Finland I wouldn't consider someone without a master's degree to have graduated at all.

But I don't apply that reasoning in other countries.

Haha, interesting.

In the US, they gouge you for a master's.

I have no idea of the difference in job markets between bachelors and masters in the US. It's different from Finland, that's for sure.

What was your major?

I studied English literature, but in hindsight, I wish I had studied classics.

(By the way, I asked about that perfect conjunctive thingy.)

Could you do a master's in classics if you wanted to?

I'm not sure if it would be a good investment to pay for it, but that's a different story.

That would be fun! Indeed, I have thought of it. I would like to study it on my own, first, and see if my passion continues, before I think about investing in a degree.

I'm very happy that we have our site.

So am I.

Am I right in assuming that most of your Latin textbooks were in Finnish?

As opposed to English.

Yes, all of them.

I don't currently have a good Latin textbook, and it would be nice if we had a Meta thread about recommendations.

I had only used English material sporadically when searching for stuff online. All course material was always in Finnish.

@ktm5124 Is this a good fit?

We still have the resource question wish list post at meta. Feel free to post there if you want something.

That is really good! Thanks!

And it includes suggestions for good material in Finnish, too.

I'm glad you asked that question by the way. I was actually thinking of asking it myself. But I wouldn't have phrased the question so well.

All you have to do is to become fluent in Finnish.

Haha, yeah, real practical.

I'm glad Joel asked that question.

Some would argue that Finnish is more practical than Latin.

I see the value of going through a textbook, now that I'm going through a Greek one.

Yeah. But not all textbooks are compatible with self-study.

True. I would probably look to find one that is.

There's a nuance tag! Haven't seen that before.

I find it strange that it's the second most popular tag in that list.

Well, there is a lot of nuance in Latin.

And I did create a new tag for that question.

Hehe, that's true.

Well, I'm off to bed. Good night!

Same here. Good night!

Opinions wanted: Go and have a look at the new meta discussion about insufficient research.