# Lorem ipsum



## Whodunit

Some of you might know the "Lorem ipsum." The original text was:

_Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum, quia dolor sit, amet, consectetur, adipisci velit […]_

I'm trying to find out what some of the Ancient Latin words mean, especially "consectetur" and "adipisci." My literal translation would be:

_(And) there is no one who loves pain itself, because it is pain, (who) tracks it, because he wants (it) [...]_

My questions have been:
- what does "quia" mean here? In Modern Latin, it can mean "because," I think.
- why did Cicero choose the subjunctive mood (sit, amet, velit)?
- which is the infinitive of "consectetur?"
- does "adipisci" really mean "because" or is "I'm reaching" more appropriate?

Thanks for your ideas.


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## Outsider

Wild guess about the subjunctive:

For "amet" and "consectetur", it's because the verbs belong to a relative clause which describes a type of person. Any person whatsoever who liked and sought pain for pain's sake would be enough (except there is none).

For "sit": "And there is no one who loves pain merely for being pain..." Trickier. I'll have think it through.


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## Whodunit

Thanks for your answer, Outsider. 



Outsider said:


> Wild guess about the subjunctive:
> 
> For "amet" and "consectetur", it's because the verbs belong to a relative clause which describes a type of person. Any person whatsoever who liked and sought pain for pain's sake would be enough (except there is none).


 
And, what does "consectetur" mean? It doesn't look like any tense to me. "-tur" is the passive suffix, but what does "consect(e)..." mean?



> For "sit": "And there is no one who loves pain merely for being pain..." Trickier. I'll have think it through.


 
Yes, that seems logical.


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## Outsider

_Consectetur_ looks like a cognate of consecution...


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## Whodunit

Outsider said:


> _Consectetur_ looks like a cognate of consecution...


 
Yes, consequor (consequi) means "to follow," but "consectetur" doesn't seem to have a relation to it. I couldn't think of any other verb that ends in "-cte".

I tried to translate it, as if it had a relation to consequor, but I'm still not positive that is correct.


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## modus.irrealis

I looked everything up, and this is what I found:



> - what does "quia" mean here? In Modern Latin, it can mean "because," I think.


I think "because" is the only meaning.



> - why did Cicero choose the subjunctive mood (sit, amet, velit)?


I agree with Outsider. I believe this was called "subjunctive of characteristic relative clauses" (or something like it, since that doesn't quite roll of the tongue) when I learned it, and is used when making general statements.



> - which is the infinitive of "consectetur?"


It's from _consector_ "seek" (among other meanings, but this one is the first one and fits here).



> - does "adipisci" really mean "because" or is "I'm reaching" more appropriate?


It's the (passive) infinitive of _adipiscor_ "gain", and goes with _velit_ here.


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## Whodunit

modus.irrealis said:


> I looked everything up, and this is what I found:


 
Thanks for your answer. 



> It's from _consector_ "seek" (among other meanings, but this one is the first one and fits here).


 
Yes, that might be correct (I translated it as "track"), but which tense and person is "consectetur?"



> It's the (passive) infinitive of _adipiscor_ "gain", and goes with _velit_ here.


 
So? What does "adipisci velit" mean? "he wants to gain?"


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## modus.irrealis

Whodunit said:


> Yes, that might be correct (I translated it as "track"), but which tense and person is "consectetur?"


 
Consector belongs to the first conjugation (I didn't actually answer your original question, did I? Its infinitive is consectari), so consectetur is passive present subjunctive 3rd person singular (although it's a deponent verb so passive is a bit of a misnomer here). And sorry, I didn't mean to imply that "track" was wrong -- I was just looking at the dictionary entry that has meanings for "consector" like "imitate" and "persecute" (although "track" isn't the word I'd chose for English in this case, just as a matter of my taste).



> So? What does "adipisci velit" mean? "he wants to gain?"


Yes. I would translate the excerpt as

And furthermore, there is no one [or Furthermore, neither does there exist anyone] who loves pain itself, because it is pain, seeks it, wants to gain it...

I'm not sure I got porro right (translated it as furthermore) and you don't seem to have translated it, but I guess its meaning depends on the context. And I forgot to mention that your colour coding was a really good idea, and now that you've done it I'm surprised I haven't seen it more often in websites geared towards beginners 

And also to add, I'm not sure about the nuance of "quia dolor sit" and can't comment on Outsider's reading, although for why the subjunctive, it's also possible that dependent clauses (if that's the right term) take subjunctive when their main clause is in the subjunctive. I'll try to look that up.


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