Chapter 31

RULE 1: Cum clauses most often take the subjunctive.

I. Grammar

A. Cum Clauses

Distinguishing the preposition and the subordinate conjunction cum may cause students some initial distress, but with a little practice they will have no problem. Cum clauses in classical Latin most often call for a subjunctive verb but can also take the indicative when they denote a real event or refer to the present or future. Since, however, students are focusing largely on subjunctives at this point in the class, Wheelock concentrates on cum clauses with the subjunctive. This is fine as long as students are aware that cum clauses in Latin are not restricted to the subjunctive.

B. History of Cum Clauses

The conjunction cum was spelled quom up until Cicero’s day when the spelling was revised to harmonize with pronunciation. Other words were similarly changed but their new spellings did not catch on, e.g. secuntur (sequuntur) and ecus (equus). These were later restored to their older spelling on analogy with other forms in which quu- had not changed to cu- (e.g. equi, relinquimus), but cum which had no other forms kept its new spelling. The regular use of the subjunctive with cum is part of the general encroachment of the subjunctive into subordinate clauses and its widespread replacement of the indicative of fact.

C. Fero

A little linguistics can be very helpful to students here. Assuming terms like composite conjugation, reduplication and the vowel grades of bases don’t frighten them too badly, you can make fero look much more regular than it appears on the surface. For the full forms of fero, refer students to pp. 394-395 at the back of Wheelock:

1. Composite conjugation—that is, the use of more than one base in the conjugation of a verb (cf. composite comparison in the comparison of “irregular” adjectives, see Chapter 27)—accounts for the change of base in the perfect forms of this verb. The base fer- runs through only the present-tense system. In the perfect system, the base tol- takes over, cf. English go vs. went (in origin, the past form of wend).
2. Reduplication accounts for the perfect active form tuli which subsequently lost its reduplication: *tetoli > *tetuli < tuli.
3. Finally, different vowel grades—in other words, when the same base exhibits different vowels but the same or similar consonants (cf. Greek lego vs. logos)—account for tuli and latum. Originally from *tol-, tuli exhibits the o-grade of the base, whereas latum comes from *tl-atum (*tl- is the zero-grade which has no vowel in the base).

With this in mind one can see that fero is not as irregular as it might seem, or at least it’s more predictable. Only the infinitive ferre which should be *ferere will still look irregular, which it is. One would not expect this verb to exhibit athematic forms—i.e. forms lacking a thematic vowel—but it does, and not just in the infinitive but also elsewhere: fers, fert, fertis, fer, ferto. None of these forms are easy to explain.

II. Vocabulary

• annus: As a word for a unit of time, it’s commonly seen in the ablative of time.
• auxilium: This noun comes from the same base as augeo “increase,” with an s-extension (cf. Greek aux[an]ein).
• navis: An i-stem noun (genitive plural = navium). It is based on an Indo-European diphthong stem *nau-, cf. Greek naus.
• aequus: Literally “level, even,” it can also connote “calm” (in the mind) and “fair” (in judgment); cf. aequor “a flat surface, the (level) sea.”
• apud: This preposition takes the accusative case.
• cum: This conjunction expects the subjunctive but can take the indicative as well. For the development of cum, see Chapter 17.
• tamen: This adverb is often used in the main sentence as a signal that a cum clause is concessive: “Although (Cum) he was late, he nevertheless (tamen) finished the quiz on time.” In most circumstances, tamen signals an inversion of logic or expectation.
• confero: Note that the reflexive pronoun with conferre means “betake oneself, go.” Give students several examples of this idiom outside of just the formula:

• offero: Wheelock does not list an important English derivative, oblation. Ask students what oblations are (“offerings”). [ob- here has the sense “toward, to a position facing.”]
• respondeo: = re- “in return, in repetition” + spond- “pour (a libation), vow”, cf. Greek spendo. It derived its sense “answer” from the meaning “to make a solemn engagement.” For second-conjugation causatives, see terreo, Chapter 18.
• exsilium: = ex(s)- + -ul- (cf. exul) + -ium. The base -ul-/-el-, also seen in ambulare, conveyed a basic sense of motion. Before a syllable with -i-, -il- will prevail over -ul-: famulus but familia, simulare but similis, consulo but consilium. Exsilium can also be spelled exilium.
• vinum: This word is cognate with Greek oinon (< *woinon), exhibiting the expected change of initial woi- to vi- in Latin, cf. Greek oida (< *woida) vs. vidi, Greek oikos (< *woikos) vs. vicus.
• mediocris: This adjective originally meant “of middle height” (= medi- “middle” + ocr- “rugged mountain,” cf. Greek okris “jagged point or prominence”).

III. Quiz 4