Not homework. I graduated.
My grammar is poor. Help with pronouns? I’ve gotten lost in this sentence (sorry, this is 15th-c law school Latin-- author’s not what we call. . . classical):
" Est equidem capella illa per predecessores suos fundata et constructa et per eum aucta et per me et nostros, Altissimo concedente, manu tenenda."
“This same chapel is that founded and constructed by their ancestors and expanded by [him and by me?] and by us, God willing, to be certain [‘of course’ better?].”?
And while we’re at it, is this ok?
“In medio anterioris ecclesia parva domuncula est in qua, propter porte secunde demissionem prima enim satis alta est versus orientem, copore incruvato intrare oportet.”
I’ve translated it as “In the center of the back of the church is a small building, in which a second doorway is even lower than the first to the east which is only so high that one [a body?] must bend over to enter.” It’s so. . . circuitous. Just trying to get the meaning right, in terms of the last part.
Thanks!
As Mr Balme used to say to me, “Analyse, dear boy, analyse!”
illa is ‘that’, not ‘this’.
capella also means ‘goat’
nostros must go with suos. Eum is also accusative, but me is accusative or ablative.
et… et… is a construction for ‘both… and…’
manu has a secondary meaning of ‘band’ or ‘group’ (q.v. maniple)
This looks horrible Latin.
manu tenenda looks like an ablative absolute, and I’m reminded of fide tenenda, the genders match. There’s also Carthago delenda est - tenenda might refer right back to capella.
‘That very same chapel, founded and constructed by their and our predecessors, expanded by he and I, God willing, must be preserved by hand.’
Or ‘That is the very same chapel, founded and constructed by their and our predecessors, expanded by he and I, God willing, it must be preserved by hand.’
“Indeed, that is the chapel, founded and built by his ancestors, enlarged by him, and by me and my family (God permitting) will be kept” (manu tenenda = “to be possessed by the hand”; I believe this is a Medieval legal term for ownership).
I wonder if the fourth word shouldn’t be ecclesiae, a genitive paired with anterioris. I’m also pretty sure the -e endings on porte secunde should be -ae (this was a common typo in the Middle Ages, since by then the sound of -e and -ae were identical). Finally, copore is a typo for corpore, and incruvato a typo for incurvato.
If all this is so:
“In the middle of the forepart of the church there is a small little house in which, because of the sinking of the second gate (in fact the first gate facing east is sufficiently high), one has to enter with body bent over.”
Ack; anterioris ecclesia(e) would probably be better translated as “the more-forward-standing church”, implying that the church is in front of the little house, not the other way around. Revising:
In the back of the church there is a small little house in which, because of the sinking of the second gate (in fact the first gate facing east is sufficiently high), one has to enter with body bent over."
Yes, his spelling and grammar are nothing to write home about, which doesn’t help. This is helpful, guys-- thanks a bunch. Particularly interesting is this manu tenenda as a legal phrase (my dictionary has it as a fixed phrase-- manu tenere, “to know for sure”. Related?
I’ll have a sitdown and think about the church and house-- I know what he’s referring to (it’s a large building with a little tomb in the middle of it, with two successively smaller chambers) so I might have to swing the translation to what I think he’s TRYING to say. Ugh!
Most definitely related. Manu tenere literally means “to hold in the hand”, and is the root etymology of the English word “maintenance”. The sense is the same; the claim of ownership is proven by your efforts to maintain a property. manu tenenda is a gerundive in Latin grammar, indicating a necessity or obligation: “it (the property) is to be maintained/held, it must be maintained (by me and my family)”.