# I talk about China and India



## Pivra

Hello everybody

How do I say this in Latin?


Parlo India Sinaque? 

How do I make this in the form of Virgil's Aenaeid?

India Sinaque Cano?


----------



## XiaoRoel

*De sinacis ac indianis regionibus dico.*
*De Sina ac India dico.*


----------



## Cagey

Aeneid's line is poetic and an unusual structure in Latin.  It is not likely to be used in your context.  

The versions that XiaoRoel gives are what would usually be said.

If your sentence is said in a structure parallel to that in the Aeneid, it will be understood as a parody, and humorous.  Is that what you have in mind?


----------



## Ben Jamin

Cagey said:


> Aeneid's line is poetic and an unusual structure in Latin. It is not likely to be used in your context.
> 
> The versions that XiaoRoel gives are what would usually be said.
> 
> If your sentence is said in a structure parallel to that in the Aeneid, it will be understood as a parody, and humorous. Is that what you have in mind?


 
Virgilius wrote "Arma virumque cano", and this is accidentally the normal word order in an affirmative sentence (with the verb at the end). The object is in accusative (arma is acc- plur., virum acc. sing). You have to choose a correct verb. Parlare does not exist in Latin. Loquor or narro is maybe the correct words. Loquor (I speak, tell) will imply the use of construction of de + substantive in dative case. 
De Sina et India loquor.


----------



## XiaoRoel

En el campo semántico de decir, hablar, narrar, hay diversos verbos. *Cano* es 'cantar', 'hacer/declamar poesía'. Es un uso propio de la poesía, una palabra metapoética.
El campo semántico del decir o hablar. Es muy amplio en latín pero suele haber matices de significación diferentes entre los muchos verbos y expresiones. Dico es el más general, pero loquor o eloquor también valen perfectamente.


----------



## Ben Jamin

Cagey said:


> Aeneid's line is poetic and an unusual structure in Latin. It is not likely to be used in your context.
> 
> The versions that XiaoRoel gives are what would usually be said.
> 
> If your sentence is said in a structure parallel to that in the Aeneid, it will be understood as a parody, and humorous. Is that what you have in mind?


No, the word order is (accidentally) the same as of a quite normal Latin prose sentence.


----------



## furrykef

I'm unclear on how it could be "accidental". It makes it sounds like Virgil didn't intend to use an ordinary sentence.


----------



## Ben Jamin

furrykef said:


> I'm unclear on how it could be "accidental". It makes it sounds like Virgil didn't intend to use an ordinary sentence.


 
"Accidental" was a little joke. The word order in poetry was very often quite far from the ordinary prose order. It was more adjusted to the demands of versification (rhythm). It can be seen in the continuation of Virgil's text:
Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris
Italiam, fato profugus, Laviniaque venit
litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto
vi superum saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram

I am not quite sure, but a prose sentence would continue:
qui primus ab oris Troiae, fato profugus, Italiam Laviniaque litora venit.
The beginning of the verse "Arma virumque cano" has a grammatically normal sequence of words, but nonetheless unusual, as he says "I sing about the arms and the man", where the *arms* precede the *man*.


----------



## Cagey

Note: When I referred to the structure as "unusual", I meant specifically the use of a direct object with _cano_,  not the word order in general.


----------



## relativamente

XiaoRoel said:


> En el campo semántico de decir, hablar, narrar, hay diversos verbos. *Cano* es 'cantar', 'hacer/declamar poesía'. Es un uso propio de la poesía, una palabra metapoética.
> El campo semántico del decir o hablar. Es muy amplio en latín pero suele haber matices de significación diferentes entre los muchos verbos y expresiones. Dico es el más general, pero loquor o eloquor también valen perfectamente.



En efecto, creo que aquí lo más acertado es usar loquor.

De Sina Indiaque loquor


----------

