4 ms·

Most famously, Latin has no word for "yes". Different circumlocutions to say "yes" evolved into the words for "yes" in romance languages. "sic" -> si/sim (ital

by qsort 4y ago

Most famously, Latin has no word for "yes". Different circumlocutions to say "yes" evolved into the words for "yes" in romance languages. "sic" -> si/sim (italian, spanish, portuguese) "hoc" -> oc (occitan) "hoc ille" -> oui (french)

Tao3300 4y ago
I was going to say that I was fairly sure Latin didn't have "yes", but I was a C student scraping by on the peripheral historical content rather than the language.
schoen 4y ago
Other circumlocutions that I don't think made it into any Romance languages: "ita" ('it is so', 'indeed') "ita vero" ('it is so, truly') "maxime" ('entirely') "valde" ('very much (so)') "vere" ('truly') There are great circumlocutions for "no". I remember Nancy Llewellyn had a whole list, including "haud quaquam" ('hardly/scarcely to any degree'), "nullo modo" and "nullo pacto" ('in no way'), and "nullactenus" ('to no extent'). Latin students are most often taught "minime" ('minimally', 'scarcely'). Without the circumlocutions I think you would simply do what so many other languages described here do, which is repeat the main verb of a question, either negated or not negated.
- pyuser583 4y ago
  Nec/necque are a good way to negate in Latin.
pyuser583 4y ago
In the 11th Century, Peter Abelard wrote a famous book called “Sic et Non” - which is always translated as “Yes and No.” Even in Classical Latin “ita” was pretty close to yes. I think an ancient Roman would understand and possibly use sic and ita much as we use “yes”. But it’s been a while. My Latin is rusty.
messe 4y ago
French has "si" from "sic" as well! Used in an affirmative response to a negative question. Pulling an example from wiktionary: Tu ne m’aimes pas, n’est-ce pas ? — Si ! You don’t like me, do you? — Yes, I do!
- samatman 4y ago
  I'm curious if you or someone else can answer this: is this use similar or identical to the German "doch"? I've always like "doch", which was explained to me as meaning "I agree with you", and spares the speaker the effort of matching the negatives or not in the question. "Are you going to the club then?" "yes" "doch" "Are you not going to the club then?" "no" "doch"
  - qsort 4y ago
    It's more about resolving the ambiguity of a negative question. Taking GP's example: You don’t like me, do you? If you just answer "yes", it's unclear if you mean "logical yes" = "It's true, I don't like you" or "semantical yes" = "Why would you say that, I do like you". French resolves that ambiguity with "si" to mean the latter. In languages like English that don't have the same concept, you would repeat a bit of the question to clarify.
    - Wildgoose 4y ago
      English used to have this distinction using the words "yeah" and "yes" but the distinction in usage has disappeared.
    - naniwaduni 4y ago
      I would generally expect to interpret a "yes" as the former? The "why would you say that, I do like you" seems more like a "no", though troublingly an unqualified "no" probably also implies "No, I don't [like you]." Maybe if spoken with a tone of offense an indignation...
  - simiones 4y ago
    No, "si" is only used as a positive response to a negative question. A: Tu ne vas pas au club, n'est-ce pas? //You're not going to the club, right? B: Si! //Yes! ; this means B is going to the club B: Oui! //Yes! ; this means B is agreeing with A, indeed B is not going to the club; in practice this is probably somewhat ambiguous B: Non! //No! ; probably this also means that B is not going to the club, though it could also mean that B is contradicting A: B is going to the club. In contrast, if A had asked "Tu vas au club?" (Are you going to the club?), B wouldn't normally answer "Si", since "Si" only makes sense as a response for a negative question.

by qsort 4y ago

Tao3300 4y ago

I was going to say that I was fairly sure Latin didn't have "yes", but I was a C student scraping by on the peripheral historical content rather than the language.

schoen 4y ago

Other circumlocutions that I don't think made it into any Romance languages: "ita" ('it is so', 'indeed') "ita vero" ('it is so, truly') "maxime" ('entirely') "valde" ('very much (so)') "vere" ('truly') There are great circumlocutions for "no". I remember Nancy Llewellyn had a whole list, including "haud quaquam" ('hardly/scarcely to any degree'), "nullo modo" and "nullo pacto" ('in no way'), and "nullactenus" ('to no extent'). Latin students are most often taught "minime" ('minimally', 'scarcely'). Without the circumlocutions I think you would simply do what so many other languages described here do, which is repeat the main verb of a question, either negated or not negated.

pyuser583 4y ago
Nec/necque are a good way to negate in Latin.

pyuser583 4y ago

In the 11th Century, Peter Abelard wrote a famous book called “Sic et Non” - which is always translated as “Yes and No.” Even in Classical Latin “ita” was pretty close to yes. I think an ancient Roman would understand and possibly use sic and ita much as we use “yes”. But it’s been a while. My Latin is rusty.

messe 4y ago

French has "si" from "sic" as well! Used in an affirmative response to a negative question. Pulling an example from wiktionary: Tu ne m’aimes pas, n’est-ce pas ? — Si ! You don’t like me, do you? — Yes, I do!

samatman 4y ago
I'm curious if you or someone else can answer this: is this use similar or identical to the German "doch"? I've always like "doch", which was explained to me as meaning "I agree with you", and spares the speaker the effort of matching the negatives or not in the question. "Are you going to the club then?" "yes" "doch" "Are you not going to the club then?" "no" "doch"
- qsort 4y ago
  It's more about resolving the ambiguity of a negative question. Taking GP's example: You don’t like me, do you? If you just answer "yes", it's unclear if you mean "logical yes" = "It's true, I don't like you" or "semantical yes" = "Why would you say that, I do like you". French resolves that ambiguity with "si" to mean the latter. In languages like English that don't have the same concept, you would repeat a bit of the question to clarify.
  - Wildgoose 4y ago
    English used to have this distinction using the words "yeah" and "yes" but the distinction in usage has disappeared.
  - naniwaduni 4y ago
    I would generally expect to interpret a "yes" as the former? The "why would you say that, I do like you" seems more like a "no", though troublingly an unqualified "no" probably also implies "No, I don't [like you]." Maybe if spoken with a tone of offense an indignation...
- simiones 4y ago
  No, "si" is only used as a positive response to a negative question. A: Tu ne vas pas au club, n'est-ce pas? //You're not going to the club, right? B: Si! //Yes! ; this means B is going to the club B: Oui! //Yes! ; this means B is agreeing with A, indeed B is not going to the club; in practice this is probably somewhat ambiguous B: Non! //No! ; probably this also means that B is not going to the club, though it could also mean that B is contradicting A: B is going to the club. In contrast, if A had asked "Tu vas au club?" (Are you going to the club?), B wouldn't normally answer "Si", since "Si" only makes sense as a response for a negative question.