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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Some Latin Auto-Antonyms

Hugh E.P. Platt, Byways in the Classics (Oxford: B.H. Blackwell, 1905), p. 139:
It is odd that some words can bear opposite meanings, as victorum, infrenati, immutatus. So too solutus somno can mean either asleep, or awakened from sleep; fugam facere either to rout, or to run away; and molliter ferre either to bear like a coward, or to bear with patience.
Victorum can be the genitive plural of either 1) the noun victor (conqueror), or 2) the participle victus (having been conquered).

Infrenati can mean either 1) without a bridle or harness, unchecked, or 2) with a bridle or harness having been put on.

Immutatus can mean either 1) unchanged, unaltered, or 2) having been changed.

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