Ch 11 · Lesson 6Latin · Chapter 11 · Lesson 6 · Grammar primer
The Ave Maria: gratia plena
Ave , , : a greeting, a vocative, the ablative after and a sentence with no verb. The second half is the next lesson.
The short version
is an ablative
- filled with grace
Why?Hide
Full OF grace, says the English - but the Latin is , an ablative of that with which something is filled. takes the ablative (or genitive) rather than a preposition, so the phrase is a two-word lesson in how Latin does with endings what English does with of.
.
Why?Hide
With the personal pronouns Latin puts after the pronoun and writes them as one word: , , , . also has no verb: Latin leaves out and English has to put it back.
The Ave is the Hail Mary in Latin: seven short lines, and a lesson in the ablative. is full with grace, not a genitive. Along the way the prayer drops its verbs, makes two participles agree across genders, and ends on a genitive that only the endings can untangle.
| Line | Latin | Literally |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ave , | hail Mary, full with grace |
| 2 | . | the Lord is with you |
| 3 | Benedicta , | blessed are you among women |
| 4 | benedictus ventris , Iesus. | and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus |
| 5 | , , | holy Mary, Mother of God |
| 6 | peccatoribus, | pray for us sinners |
| 7 | . | now and at the hour of our death |
The text
Ave
,,
.Benedicta
in,
benedictusventris, Iesus.
,,
peccatoribus,
in.Amen.
The prayer is two texts joined:
| Part | Source |
|---|---|
| Ave ... | the angel's greeting, Luke 1:28 |
| benedictus ... | Elizabeth's greeting, Luke 1:42 |
| ... Amen | a later petition, fixed in 1568 |
The second half circulated in several wordings in the Middle Ages before the Roman Breviary of 1568 settled the one above. Two names are not in Luke: in the first line and Iesus after . Both were added in the Middle Ages.
Ave Maria
Ave is an imperative, from aveo, be well. It is what one Roman said to another in the street, the same ave as in Ave, Caesar. Latin greets people by giving them an order.
is vocative: she is being addressed. First-declension nouns have the same form in the vocative and nominative, so only the sense shows it:
Ave, .- Hail, Mary.
Gratia plena: full with grace
is feminine nominative, agreeing with . is the word to watch: it is ablative, the thing she is filled with.
| Latin | Case after plenus | English |
|---|---|---|
| ablative | full with grace |
| genitive | full of grace |
Both are good Latin, and classical writers use both; the Vulgate itself has the genitive in John 1:14, , full of grace and truth. This prayer has the ablative, and English full of grace hides it behind an of. The has the same construction:
.- Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
The ablative article has the case's other jobs.
Dominus tecum: no verb needed
has no verb: the Lord is with you. Latin leaves out freely, and English has to put it back.
is plus , with the preposition fixed to the end. Latin does this with every personal pronoun:
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| with me |
| with you |
| with us |
| with you all |
You hear the last one at every mass: , the Lord be with you.
Going further: Blessed: two participles and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.
Practice
Practise this lesson
10-question session
One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end.
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