My book says the setence "litteris victoriam nuntiant" means they report the victory by means of a letter. Why is letter pluralized in this sentence? Thank you.
It would be they reported the victory by letters
I posted about this once before.
In the singular, "littera" means a letter of the alphabet, such as a, b, c, etc.
In the plural, "litterae" (or whatever case you'd be using) can mean letters of the alphabet or it can mean a letter (one epistle).
So the interpretation is fuzzy.
In Latin, the word "litterae" can mean both "a letter" in the sense of a written message, and "letters" in the sense of the alphabetic characters. In the sentence "litteris victoriam nuntiant," the word "litteris" is in the ablative plural case, which is used to express the means or instrument by which an action is performed. Here, "litteris" is indicating that the victory is being reported by means of letters, or written messages.
To understand why "litteris" is pluralized in this sentence, you can break down the sentence and analyze the grammar:
- "Litteris" is in the ablative plural case, indicating the means or instrument by which the action is performed. It corresponds to the English phrase "by means of" or "through."
- "Victoriam" is the accusative singular form of the noun "victoria," which means "victory." It is the direct object of the sentence, receiving the action of the verb.
- "Nuntiant" is the verb in the third person plural form from the Latin verb "nuntiare," meaning "to announce" or "to report." It is conjugated to agree with the subject of the sentence, which is implied but can be understood as "they" or "somebody."
By putting these elements together, we can understand the sentence as "They report the victory by means of letters." The plural form of "litteris" is used because it refers to multiple written messages (letters) being used to communicate the news of the victory.