Winnie Ille Pu help

Latin after CDLXXVI
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Roberto28
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Winnie Ille Pu help

Post by Roberto28 »

Salvete!

I’m struggling with this sentence from Winnie Ille Pu- “Est quod sciat unus et solus modus gradibus descendi...”

Context: Winnie is going down the stairs and bumping his head..

What is the function of “quod sciat”? What type of subjunctive is it? My thoughts are:

1. Potential subjunctive “that he might know”
2. It is subjunctive because it’s in an indirect statement???

Gratias!
Robertus

Aetos
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Re: Winnie Ille Pu help

Post by Aetos »

I think this excerpt from Lewis & Short explains the usage:

E In neutr. sing.
a Quod signifies,
1 As much as, as far as, what, = quantum: adjutabo quod potero, Ter. Heaut. 3, 1, 7: cura, quod potes, ut valeas, Cic. Fam. 14, 4, 6: quae tibi mandavi, velim ut cures, quod sine molestiā tuā facere poteris, id. Att. 1, 5, 7: tu tamen, quod poteris, nos consiliis juvabis, id. ib. 10, 2, 2; 11, 2, 2; 11, 12, 4; id. Fam. 3, 2, 2: nihil cuiquam, quod suum dici vellet, id. Verr. 2, 4, 16, § 36: (Epicurus) se unus, quod sciam, sapientem profiteri est ausus, id. Fin. 2, 3, 7: quod tuo commodo fiat, id. Fam 4, 2, 4: quod litteris exstet, id. Tusc. 1, 16, 38: quod sciam, Plaut. Ps. 4, 6, 14: quod ad me attinet, as far as depends on me, for my part, Cic. Rosc. Am. 42, 122.— With ellips. of attinet: quod ad Caesarem crebri et non belli de eo rumores, Cael. ap. Cic. Fam. 8, 1, 4; Cic. Q. Fr. 3, 1, 3, § 7; Varr. L. L. 5, § 57 Müll.—With gen.: quod operae, so much trouble, Cic. Off. 1, 6, 19: quod aeris, Liv. 8, 20. —

He's inserting parenthetically ( quod sciat - as far as he knows)into the statement. So he's including a proviso:
"as far as he knows". This calls for a relative clause of characteristic, in this case quod + the subjunctive.
Here's A&G:
(Look at 535.d)
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... ythp%3D535

Para. 534 gives an overview of clauses of characteristic:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... ythp%3D534

Roberto28
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Re: Winnie Ille Pu help

Post by Roberto28 »

Aetos,

Gratias tibi ago.

I see now how it fits in the sentence.

Vale!

DoctorBadger
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Re: Winnie Ille Pu help

Post by DoctorBadger »

Cole Bourne calls it a generic relative, ie of the type which.

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