fredag, mars 20, 2009

Tobacco jar in cast iron


It weighs about 3 kg I have been told! It has an inner lid to press down the contents and thereby preserve moisture. It has a Latin sentence on it:
Inter bibendum large fumandum.

Inter -- preposition: "among, during, while"
bibendum -- verbal noun (gerund) formed from bibo bibere, to drink: "drinking"
large -- adverb: "largely, plentifully, abundantly"
fumandum (est) -- verbal adjective used in the so-called passive periphrastic, formed from fumo fumare, to smoke: "you should smoke, it is necessary to smoke"

There are no conjugations per se in this quotation. Est is left out at the end, but understood to be there, as is typical of Roman style. Whoever made this phrase knew his Latin.

Can't wait to get it in my ManCave!