Anyone know latin?

[Algolei]

Okay, I just Googled the info to find the source again, and here's what I got: http://paleo.anglo-norman.org/account2.html

And here's the paragraph immediately preceding the information I posted above for translation:

Some examples of targets

The responsio system involved the pre-setting of targets for yields. These targets might be complex or simply based on expected returns in an average year, such as threefold yield for grain (1:3 seed-yield ratio). More complex targets would have different expectations for each type of grain as illustrated by the precepts of the anonymous author of the Hosebondrie. On the Crowland Abbey estates, the auditors went further and required a yield per acre target for grain. These calculations could only have been achieved by the auditors by reference back to the account of the previous year to determine the amount of seed used in sowing or the amount of demesne sown.

So you see, this clearly means that...uh....

 

[Faerl'Elghinn]

Domine, non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum, sed tantum dic verbo et sanabitur anima mea...

 

[Faerl'Elghinn]

Pater Noster, Qui es in caelis
Sanctificaetur nomen tuum
Adveniat regnum tuum
Fiat voluntas tua
Sicut in caelo et in terra
Panum Nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie...

 

[diaglo]

Beating a Dead Equine

Anyone know latin?

obviously no one at WotC does. Libris Mortis: The Book of the Undead

 

[Algolei]

...I can't think of any way for "se quarto" to mean "fourfold".

I came up with this while I was asleep (I do some of my best thinkin' while unconscious): Accepting "se quarto" to mean one fourth, perhaps the reeve intended to mean 1:4 rather than 1/4. Then it could indeed be translated as "fourfold."

Bit wonky, but then, "It was the olden days!"

 

[tarchon]

I came up with this while I was asleep (I do some of my best thinkin' while unconscious): Accepting "se quarto" to mean one fourth, perhaps the reeve intended to mean 1:4 rather than 1/4. Then it could indeed be translated as "fourfold."

Bit wonky, but then, "It was the olden days!"

It's a very idiosyncratic usage, whatever it is. The main problem with the n-fold interpretation is that it's hard to make it fit the other lines very well. The only way I can think of is, for example, that "more than a fourth itself" should be read as "[a little] more than four times itself" but it's grammatically doubtful.
Ablatives with a comparative can refer to degree of difference (like with "1 peck" in the first line), so you could possibly read it is "more than itself by a fourth" or "more by a fourth of itself", but it's unusual to have degree of difference without a comparand and the degree typically precedes the comparative adjective. If we assume that these are relative to a target yield, then we could possibly read it as "more than [the target yield] by a fourth of itself," but that obviously doesn't tell us what the target yield was.

I wouldn't bet the farm on any conclusions without comparing it to other examples. It's not unusual for Medieval Latin to be a bit funky like this - a good rule of thumb for Medieval Latin is that if the Latin usage is strange you should assume the author was influenced by the structure of the vernacular.

 

[tarchon]

Pater Noster, Qui es in caelis
Sanctificaetur nomen tuum
Adveniat regnum tuum
Fiat voluntas tua
Sicut in caelo et in terra
Panum Nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie...

Covington Latin alumnus, eh?

 

[Wombat]

Part of the problem here with the "crop yields" translations is that this appears to be Medieval Latin, as opposed to Golden or Silver (read: Roman) Latin. Medieval Latin had a number of peculiar local versions and specific constructions. So, yes, I think we are dealing with "fourfold" here -- fits roughly for pre-modern crop yields under good conditions.

 

[tarchon]

Part of the problem here with the "crop yields" translations is that this appears to be Medieval Latin, as opposed to Golden or Silver (read: Roman) Latin. Medieval Latin had a number of peculiar local versions and specific constructions. So, yes, I think we are dealing with "fourfold" here -- fits roughly for pre-modern crop yields under good conditions.

It's quite possible, but it makes the passage essentially useless as evidence for crop yields since this reading requires a prior assumption of a yield value.

 

[Faerl'Elghinn]

Covington Latin alumnus, eh?

Actually no, although I had some friends who were. My parents attend a Latin Mass every week, and sometimes I tag along. My father walks around singing the "Pater Noster" everywhere, along with several other Latin Hymns- he's in a choir, and he's a lunatic, albeit a blindingly intelligent lunatic. He has Latin conversations with himself, swears at himself, etc., pretending someone else is there... So I picked up a few basics, prayers and responses- I intend to study the language someday. It's surprisingly easy to learn and speak, and has a certain poetic fluidity to it that peaks my interest.