# cum Applausu exercirt und praestirt habe



## Quentin Dollinger

This comes from an 1822 letter I am editing. It was written in German and Latin by a Hungarian baron. The German has been translated, but there are two Latin phrases I need help with:

I am beginning to feel that I am nothing but a Hungarian ox from the moorland, or a learned donkey from a school-stable. But since I have lived as donkey and ox at an etiquette-addicted court, and exercised for 17 years the important office of Major-domo cum Applausu exercirt und praestirt habe [[Latin]], as you, my dear colleague, know, methinks (if there is some court-dust left and have not shaken it off my head and horns, there is still ist plus quam satis [[Latin]] left of the school-dust).


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## Fred_C

Hi,
Is the letter written in Fraktur script?
I suspect the last two letters are not "RT"


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## Quentin Dollinger

I'm not sure about the script. I will ask the person in Switzerland who has a copy of the original letter, and ask him to send me a scan of the passage. I will also ask him if it is Fraktur. I'll post a reply as soon as I have it. Thanks.


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## Quentin Dollinger

I have attached a scan of the Latin words in question. I hope this resolves the question about whether or not they end in "rt".
regards, Q


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## XaLeX

I think it could be some scribal abbreviation, but, as the _und_ suggests, it might also be a late example of Latin, more similar to German.


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## dipax

The phrase you attached is really difficult to read and to understand. 
But i can help you with the second phrase in Latin: _plus quam satis_ = "more than enough. "


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## Quentin Dollinger

Thanks for the translation of the second phrase Dipax. I am dealing with 87 letters, and the writer employs 8 languages, so you can imagine the difficulties in reading it all! I'm just going to post a handful of Latin I can't figure out myself. Hopefully someone can still figure out the first phrase.


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## Stoicorum_simia

I suspect that the German and Latin are really mixed up, and that he is taking the Latin verbs _exerceo_ and _praesto_ and putting them into German verb forms, so that we have _habe_ + past participle as a German tense, not the Latin imperative. '..with acclaim I have exercised and exhibited...'


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## Quentin Dollinger

That's a great explanation, thanks very much!


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## loco44

... Major-domo cum Applausu exercirt und praestirt habe ...
...I have exercised and persevered the (job/office of) Butler with Praise...
Major-domo cum Applausu I suspect it could be a kind of an Office (cum laude)


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## Fred_C

Stoicorum_simia said:


> I suspect that the German and Latin are really mixed up, and that he is taking the Latin verbs _exerceo_ and _praesto_ and putting them into German verb forms, so that we have _habe_ + past participle as a German tense, not the Latin imperative. '..with acclaim I have exercised and exhibited...'


I suspect that too.
Perhaps the original German text could help us...


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## Fred_C

Stoicorum_simia said:


> I suspect that the German and Latin are really mixed up, and that he is taking the Latin verbs _exerceo_ and _praesto_ and putting them into German verb forms, so that we have _habe_ + past participle as a German tense, not the Latin imperative. '..with acclaim I have exercised and exhibited...'


Exerzieren and Prästieren (modern spelling) are perfectly genuine German words.
They are legal terms, I could hardly understand the definition, I do not know how to translate them in English.
Ask the German forum.


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## Quentin Dollinger

Da ich aber 36 Jahre lang, an einem Etiquetten-süchtigen Hof als Esel und Ochs gelebt habe, und 17 Jahre lang das schwere und wichtige Amt eines Oberhofmeisters wie Sie, mein theurster Herr Collega wohl wissen, cum Applausu exercirt und praestirt habe, so däucht mir dann doch (wenn mir anders vom Hof-Staub noch etwas übrig geblieben ist, und es nicht von Hörnern und Ohren abgeschüttlet habe.


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## Fred_C

No doubt, they are german words.
They were already translated into English : 

"Da ich[...] 17 Jahre lang das schwere und wichtige Amt [...] *exercirt und praestirt* habe," means "Since I have [...] *exercised* for 17 years the important office [...]"

Once again, your translator forgot to remove them.

they seem to be legal terms used humorously here.


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