ramale
Latin
editEtymology
editSubstantivized neuter of rāmālis, from rāmus (“branch”) + -ālis (“-al”).
Noun
editrāmāle n (genitive rāmālis); third declension
- (in the plural) twigs, shoots, sticks
- 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.644–645:
- Multifidāsque facēs rāmāliaque ārida tēctō
dētulit et minuit parvōque admōvit aēnō.- Cleft torches and dry sticks from the abode
she took and chopped and brought to a small bronze vessel.
- Cleft torches and dry sticks from the abode
- Multifidāsque facēs rāmāliaque ārida tēctō
- brushwood, undergrowth
Usage notes
editThis noun is almost exclusively pluralia tantum. The singular is however encountered, very rarely:
c. 62 CE, Persius, Saturae 1.97–98:
- '"Arma virum!" Nōnne hoc spūmōsum et cortice pinguī,
ut rāmāle vetus vēgrandī sūbere coctum?- '"Arms and the man!" Is this not bombastic, with a thick shell,
like an old twig cooked with a great cork-tree?
- '"Arms and the man!" Is this not bombastic, with a thick shell,
Declension
editThird-declension noun (neuter, “pure” i-stem).
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | rāmāle | rāmālia |
| Genitive | rāmālis | rāmālium |
| Dative | rāmālī | rāmālibus |
| Accusative | rāmāle | rāmālia |
| Ablative | rāmālī | rāmālibus |
| Vocative | rāmāle | rāmālia |
References
edit- “ramale”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ramale in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.