ablative absolute

English

Pronunciation
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈæb.lə.tɪv æb.soʊˈlut/

Etymology

Calque of Latin ablativus absolutus.

Noun

ablative absolute (plural ablatives absolute or ablative absolutes)

  1. (grammar) A construction in Latin and Oscan and Umbrian in which an independent phrase with a noun in the ablative case has a participle, adjective, or noun, expressed or implied, which agrees with it in gender, number and case – both words forming a clause grammatically unconnected with the rest of the sentence.
Examples
  • Tarquinio regnante, Pythagoras venit.
    (Tarquinius reigning, Pythagoras came. or
    When Tarquinius was king, Pythagoras came.)
  • The food being good, they ate well.

Translations

See also

Further reading
  • Bauer, Brigitte (2000) Archaic Syntax in Indo-European, Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter, →ISBN, pages 261–333
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