# nusquam esse



## thoughtless

can anyone tell me how to pronounce "nasquam esse"

it means "not to exist" in latin


----------



## Anne345

[nuskuam ese] 
that means _to be nowhere _


----------



## thoughtless

hmm wierd, i searched for nasquam esse on the net and theres various things it could be, not to exist being one of em

when i searched "nuskuam ese" it didnt find anything

can anyone write out how "*nusquam esse*" would be pronounced?


----------



## Arrius

Anne345 seems already to have done so, but using a slightly different phonetic system, how about, /*nuss*kwam *es*say/?


----------



## thoughtless

ive been saying it as "nusscome ess" would that be an acceptable pronunciation?


----------



## Anne345

_[nuskuam ese]_ is the pronunciation of *nusquam esse *in International Phonectic Alphabet. 

/*nuss*kwam *es*say/ as proposed by Arrius is correct. Yous must pronounce the last "e".


----------



## Whodunit

Welcome to the Latin forum, Thoughtless. 

First off, I should point that we would like you to stick to our forum rules, in particular to #22.



thoughtless said:


> hmm wierd, i searched for nasquam esse on the net and theres various things it could be, not to exist being one of em


 
That's wrong for a literal translation. _Nusquam_ means _nowhere_ and _esse_ means _to be_.



thoughtless said:


> ive been saying it as "nusscome ess" would that be an acceptable pronunciation?


 
That would be hardly understandable. I'm not sure how you would pronounce _nuss_, but at least _come_ lacks the semi-vowel _w_ for the Latin _u_. Additionally, in _esse_, both _e_'s must be pronounced:

['nʊs.kwam 'ɛsə]


----------



## Arrius

That's wrong for a literal translation. _Nusquam_ means _nowhere_ and _esse_ means _to be_. (Whodunit)

 Why is a_ literal_  translation better, unless as an explanation? In my "Cassell's" *nusquam esse* is also translated as "_not to exist_" and said to be found in Pliny, Cicero and Horace.


----------



## Whodunit

Arrius said:


> Why is a_ literal_ translation better, unless as an explanation? In my "Cassell's" *nusquam esse* is also translated as "_not to exist_" and said to be found in Pliny, Cicero and Horace.


 
That's not what I meant. I didn't say that a _literal translation_ was better, but that _not to exist_ is the wrong translation for _nusquam esse_ if it is meant to be a _literal_ one. In some contexts, the meaning of _not to exist_ and _to be nowhere_ is correct, though. However, consider this conversation:

A: Ubi fuisti?
B: Nusquam fui. Domi lusi.

Would you translate it as _I didn't exist? _


----------



## Arrius

No, it certainly shouldn't be translated as _didn't exist_ in the context which you have kindly provided, but it was the Canadian *thoughtless* who originally asked the question (without any context whatsoever and even with the main word misspelt in one instance so we don't know which meaning was originally intended. Ich bitte um Entschuldigung für ein etwaiges Mißverständnis. Übrigens bewundere ich Deine fehlerlose Beherrschung meiner Muttersprache, was sogar bei einer Person von nicht so zartem Alter erstaunlich wäre! 
Tschüß, A.


----------



## Whodunit

Arrius said:


> No, it certainly shouldn't be translated as _didn't exist_ in the context which you have kindly provided, but it was the Canadian *thoughtless* who originally asked the question (without any context whatsoever and even with the main word misspelt in one instance so we don't know which meaning was originally intended.


 
I agree with you that it _can_ mean _not to exist_, but what I wanted to point out was that _to be nowhere_ would be the correct literal translation.



> Ich bitte um Entschuldigung für ein etwaiges Mißverständnis.


 
Eratne dissensio? 



> Übrigens bewundere ich Deine fehlerlose Beherrschung meiner Muttersprache, was sogar bei einer Person von nicht so zartem Alter erstaunlich wäre!
> Tschüß, A.


 
Wobei ja doch deine Muttersprache leichter ist als meine. Deswegen sollte dir ein größeres Kompliment an deine Fehlerlosigkeit im Deutschen gebühren!


----------



## Arrius

*Eratne dissensio? (Whodunit)*

*Quot homines tot sententiae.*
Ave atque vale,
Arrius*.*


----------



## thoughtless

I was originally searching for "nothing" in Latin and nusquam esse came up, there was no real context it was being used in

I didn't know there was so much activty in here


----------



## onyx_45

Evening all. As we are already talking 'nusquam,' I would be grateful if you were to help an ignorama. What declension would 'nusquam' be? Can it be declined?!
Cheers =]


----------



## Anne345

Nusquam is an adverb, it is invariable and can't be declinated.


----------



## onyx_45

Hmm. Ok then. Is there a better translation of 'nothing?'  'Nihil' i always thought was more 'none' or 'neither.' I'm probably wrong. Again! Any suggestions?


----------



## Anne345

nusquam , adv. 
I. nowhere, in no place. 
II. Transf. 
A. On no occasion, nowhere, in nothing;
B. With verbs of motion, no whither, to no place
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0059:entry=#31496


----------



## Cagey

_nihil _is a pronoun, meaning "nothing".   Often you would use that.  

However, there are contexts in which we would use "nothing", but Latin uses an indefinite pronoun and puts the negative elsewhere.


----------



## onyx_45

OK, thank you. That's helped!


----------

