Prefix: con-
How do you translate the con- prefix as an adverb instead of as a preposition? Consider the following English derivatives.
Read through the following definitions and fill in the blanks with the appropriate translations of the Latin. Practicing analyzing derivatives in this way will help you practice translating Latin compound verbs and will also help you use your English in anaylzing and translating unknown Latin compound verbs. After you have come up with your answer, you may check by holding the cursor over the maroon words. Think about the order that you translate the parts in.
In grammar, coordinating conjunctions are words that (iungunt) _______ two words (with the same function) or phrases or clauses (con-) _______.
In geometry, concurrent lines are lines that (currunt) ______ parallel (con-)______ or that will intersect (con-)_______ at a point.
When one composes a speech or essay, one (pōnit) ______ one’s thoughts (con-) ________.
What, then, would the following Latin words mean?
conferō:
reliquāsque rēs in unum locum conferunt. (Caes. BG VI.17)
conveniō:
legiōne . . . militibusque quī ex provinciā convēnerant, . . . (Caes. BG I.8)
convocō:
legātīs tribunīsque mīlitum convocātīs, . . . (Caes. BG IV.23)
contrahō:
haec [castra] . . . angustiīs viārum . . . quam maximē potest contrahit [so the enemy will think their numbers are small] (Caes. BG V.49.7)
contineō (with vowel weakening from what verb stem? cf. English)
atque ita montibus angustīs mare continēbātur (Caes. BG IV.23)
colligō (What happens to the prefix?)
conclamō:
convertō:
tollitur in caelum clamor cunctīque Latīnī / convertēre oculōs (Verg. Aen. 11.745-746)
(The winter headquarters of Q. Cicero are suddenly attacked) Nostri celeriter ad arma concurrunt, vallum conscendunt. (Caes. BG V.39)
Going to the next level:If many people do something together, it has more strength or force. Sometimes, as with certain other prefixes, the meaning becomes essentially an intensive, "very, completely, with force, etc." Sometimes the word may have either (or both) idea(s).
conficiō: (from what verb stem?)
conclamō:
conclamat ab agmine Volcens, ". . . (What about the subject tells you which concept applies here?) (Verg. Aen. 9.375)
compleō: (What happens to the prefix?)
dēducunt sociī nāvīs et lītora complent; (Verg. Aen. 3.71)
confīdō:
atque hanc , concidit. (Caes. BG V.44)corripiō:
Aeneas . . . corripit ē somnō corpus (Verg. Aen. 4.572)
tum magnam corripit hastam (Verg. Aen. 10.335)