# Correct Latin case



## paintandwords

Hi,

I saw this thread from years ago (in italics below) and what I'm looking for is the correct form of 'Morituri' which would mean: those who have died. I actually want this word to be how my Queen describes those who have died, as _her _dead. The ones she had killed. 

A sentence could be for example: My 'dead' have returned to haunt me. 

Or: The ghosts of my 'dead' are forming a rebellion.

_'"Morituri is actually a participle, and in the sentence you mention, it's the plural masculine nominative of the future active participle. So it means "we who are about to die" only because it agrees with the subject of "salutamus" which is "we."

To get it to mean "you who are about to die," you just need to get the participle to agree with the "you" in the sentence. For example, "Moriturum te salutamus" means "We salute you who are about to die."'_

Thank you so much


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## Scholiast

salvete omnes! et ad Forum Latinum, bene venisti paintandwords

OK, first a correction.


paintandwords said:


> "Moriturum  [_morituri_] te salutamus" means "We salute you who are about to die."



Simplest would be _mortui mei_, literally 'my dead'.

But that does not cover the causality or agency of your Queen.

_quos interfeci_ = 'Those I have killed'. Using a 'royal we', _quos interfecimus_

_qui mea voluntate obierunt_ = 'Those who have at my pleasure died'

Romans did a lot of killing, and there are numerous other possibilities.

Σ


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## Pietruzzo

Scholiast said:


> OK, first a correction.
> paintandwords said: ↑
> "Moriturum  [_morituri_] te salutamus" means "We salute you who are about to die."


I think  they meant to say "salutamus *te moriturum" *i.e. the addressee is going to die.


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## Scholiast

salvete collucubrantes!



Pietruzzo said:


> I think they meant to say "salutamus *te moriturum"*



There are two formulations of this dictum in classical literature, one in Suetonius (_Claud._ 21.6), _morituri te salutant_; and another in Cassius Dio (in the 1st person plural and in Greek of course—sorry I cannot give the reference precisely, I'm still bereft of my books), but neither of these gives or suggests that it was a (real or fictitious) greeting from the crowd to the perishable gladiator. Sorry Pietruzzo, but your suggestion is on a hiding to nothing.

Σ


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## Pietruzzo

Scholiast said:


> There are two formulations of this dictum in classical literature


Well, I wasn't talking about classical literature but about the made up sentence in the OP


paintandwords said:


> For example, "Moriturum te salutamus" means "We salute you who are about to die."'


_Pace_ Svuetonius, I'm quite convinced they meant to say "we salute you who (*you*) are about to die.


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## Scholiast

Hello once again


Pietruzzo said:


> _Pace_ Svuetonius, I'm quite convinced they meant to say "we salute you who (*you*) are about to die.


This is of course grammatically irreproachable. I will be forgiven, however, if I harbour doubts about a bloodthirsty crowd in the Colosseum or any other amphitheatre ever making such an acclamation, let alone unanimously. The very notion is preposterous and plain silly.

Σ


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## paintandwords

Scholiast said:


> salvete omnes! et ad Forum Latinum, bene venisti paintandwords
> 
> OK, first a correction.
> 
> 
> Simplest would be _mortui mei_, literally 'my dead'.
> 
> But that does not cover the causality or agency of your Queen.
> 
> _quos interfeci_ = 'Those I have killed'. Using a 'royal we', _quos interfecimus_
> 
> _qui mea voluntate obierunt_ = 'Those who have at my pleasure died'
> 
> Romans did a lot of killing, and there are numerous other possibilities.
> 
> Σ



Thanks so much! The simplest would work just fine in this instance I think. What's the word for dead, on its own, before its ending gets changed? Thanks again. Sorry I took so long to reply.


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## Scholiast

@paintandwords 

Renewed greetings.

_mortui_ is plural, and though grammatically masculine in gender, covers both male and female (as in French or Italian). The singular is _mortuus_ (masc.) or _mortua_ (fem.), but you would have to make the possessive adjective (_meus _or _mea_) agree with it.

I hope this is helpful.

Σ


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## paintandwords

Scholiast said:


> @paintandwords
> 
> Renewed greetings.
> 
> _mortui_ is plural, and though grammatically masculine in gender, covers both male and female (as in French or Italian). The singular is _mortuus_ (masc.) or _mortua_ (fem.), but you would have to make the possessive adjective (_meus _or _mea_) agree with it.
> 
> I hope this is helpful.
> 
> Σ


It really is. This forum is a GIFT, thank you so much!


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## bearded

Scholiast said:


> I will be forgiven, however, if I harbour doubts about a bloodthirsty crowd in the Colosseum or any other amphitheatre ever making such an acclamation, let alone unanimously. The very notion is preposterous and plain silly.
> Σ


Salve, Scholiast
I don't want to sound polemical, but frankly this time I don't understand why you don't just admit that you have made a mistake. The phrase in question was but a grammatical example of how cases work in Latin, without any relationship to the classical amphitheatre greeting. I find that Pietruzzo
was right, and your initial correction was plainly wrong: _moriturum te salutamus _does mean ''we salute you who are about to die''.


Scholiast said:


> first a correction: _moriturum morituri_


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