Orders, i.e. and e.g., and Latin verbs in English

Orders: imperatives and one subjunctive

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1. 1Cave canem!

Cave canem, beware of the dog: the imperative cave plus canem, the accusative of canis. Pompeian doorways carry it as a mosaic.

Caveat emptor only looks like an imperative. Caveat is the present subjunctive, and on its own in a main clause it gives an order to someone not being spoken to: let the buyer beware. That is the jussive subjunctive, the same form as fiat lux, let there be light. Emptor is nominative, the subject.

Carpe diem is not quite seize the day. Carpo means pluck, as you pluck fruit; Horace's line (Odes 1.11) is about enjoying a day while it is ripe.

i.e., e.g. and the other abbreviations

I.e. restates and closes the list; e.g. gives a sample and leaves it open:

• the largest UK city, i.e. London - there is only one.
• large UK cities, e.g. Leeds - there are others.

Exempli gratia looks back to front because gratia, for the sake of, takes a genitive that stands before it: of an example, for the sake. Honoris causa, for the sake of honour, on an honorary degree, works the same way.

Et cetera is et plus cetera, the rest, a neuter plural. Write etc., never ect., and never and etc., which says and and the rest.

Whole Latin verbs in English

Some English nouns are complete Latin verbs, with the person in the ending:

Most arrived as the memorable word of a Latin sentence: a stage direction (exit), a grand jury's endorsement on a bill (ignoramus), a line of the Office of the Dead (placebo Domino, I shall please the Lord). English kept the word and threw away the sentence. Video (I see) and audio (I hear) are the exception: twentieth-century coinages from the Latin verbs.

Calling one person an ignoramus is, grammatically, calling him "we do not know".