42 Dative of Reference, Dative of Possession
“That’s fine. Let’s now talk about the translation of datives and ablatives. Dative plurals are translated like dative singulars, often by adding ‘to’ or ‘for’ or by placing the dative between the verb and the direct object:”
Tū, pater, es rērum inventor, tū patria nōbīs suppeditās praecepta.
Tū (nom. s.), pater (nom./voc. s.), es (2nd s. pres.) rērum (gen. pl.) inventor (nom. s.), tū (nom. s.) patria nōbīs (dat. pl.) suppeditās (2nd s. pres.) praecepta.
You, father, are the discoverer of facts, you supply us fatherly precepts.
“Sometimes the dative word is not an indirect object, but it clarifies to or for whom the sentence refers. This can be called the Dative of Reference. Notice, however, that this use of the dative can be translated in much the same way that we translated the dative when it was the indirect object in a sentence, using ‘to/for’:”
Bonus vōbīs est quisquis dē glōriā cōgitat.
Bonus (nom. s.) vōbīs (dat. pl.) est (3rd s., pres.) is (nom. s.) dē glōriā (prep.) cōgitat (3rd s. pres.).
Good for you all is he who thinks about glory. (He who thinks about glory is good for you all.)
Hominibus amor, nōn īra, est fīnis magnus vītae; sed nōbīs īra est sine modō. (2)
Give the horsemen a limit, Caesar. (3)
“Now how do you say ‘my name is’ in Latin?”
You say, mihi nōmen est.
“Right. Literally that means ‘to me the name is’. WHEN A DATIVE APPEARS WITH EST OR SOME OTHER FORM OF SUM, IT CAN MEAN THAT THE SUBJECT ‘BELONGS TO’
THE PERSON IN THE DATIVE. Another translation is ‘the name belongs to me’ or, making the dative the subject in English, ‘I have the name’. This is called the Dative of Possession.”
Dative of Possession, Examples (D)
Dative + form of sum + Nominative. > [The Dative] has [the Nominative]. Mihi est spēs.To me is hope > I have hope.
Glōria mīlitibus erat.Glory to the soldiers was. > The soldiers had glory.
Erit fāma fēminīs.Will be fame to the women. > The women will have fame.
Sosicles in Plautus’ Menaechmi has the line: Eadem urbs et patria est mihi. This is translated, ‘The same city and country is to me’, but it’s better translated as ‘I have the same city and country.’”
Vōx erit Senātuī. (4)
The girls have care and anger. (5)
“Put ‘girls’ in the dative; care and anger, in the nominative.”
I will have good fortune, but my enemies will have bad (fortune). (6)