# excusatio



## Sorcha

Hello all,

can anyone tell me what declension is _excusatio_ (or a good method of establishing this) and also how I would say _excusatio non petita, accusatio manifesta_ in the plural?

many thanks,

Sorcha


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## Anne345

Nouns are inflected in five declensions distinguished by the case-ending of the genitive singular : 1 : ae , 2 : ī, 3 : ĭs, 4 : ūs, 5 : ēī, which is given by the dictionary : _excūsātiō ōn*is*, f , an excusing, excuse..._ 
Look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_declension 

_excusationes non petitae, accusationes manifestae  _


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## jacobinomarat

The proverb you say in plural, would be like this: excusationes non petitae, acusationes manifestae. 

And this word is declinated like this:

Nom/Voc: excusatio, pl: excusationes
Acus: excusationem, pl: excusationes
Gen: excusationis,    pl: excusationum
Dat: excusationi,      pl: excusationibus
Abl:excusatione,                   "


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## Sorcha

Thank you both very much for your answers! I had forgotten that it was the genetive that categorises the declension.


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## lady_chica

In Italian you can translate it in this way (litteraly): _Scusa non richiesta, accusa manifesta (lett.)_


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## Paulfromitaly

Is this an accurate translation in English?

     He who excuses himself, accuses himself .


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## brian

That's not the literal translation, but apparently that's the meaning: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excusatio_non_petita,_accusatio_manifesta.

According to that wiki, the Latin means _Chi si scusa, si accusa_, which is of course the Italian version of your English sentence, Paul.

The literal translation of the Latin in English would be something like: _unrequested excuse, evident blame/guilt._

But we never use _excuse_ as a noun like that, so a better translation would be: _Excusing oneself without reason is evidence that one is guilty (of something)._

Of course, your version is a bit more poetic.


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## Paulfromitaly

I found "my" version here

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/He+who+excuses+himself+accuses+himself

I assume there isn't an "official" English version then?


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## brian

I guess that would be it, though I myself have never heard it.


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## Paulfromitaly

brian8733 said:


> I guess that would be it, though I myself have never heard it.


It does miss, however, what I believe is the vital bit: _non petita_.
How would you say "non petita" ?


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## XaLeX

"_Non petita_" means unrequested. _Non _is obviously not (un-), _petita_ is the past participle of _peto, petis_ and it means to ask for/to ask to obtain (as opposed to _quaero, is_, which means to ask to learn). So, "not asked for" -> "not requested" -> "unrequested". "He who excuses himself accuses himself" is an adaptation of the literal translation ("_unrequested excuse, evident accusation_") to make it more English.


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