Bartholomew the Englishman

On Pepper

Latin Grammar

Piper itaque granum est vile in spectu exterius atque nigrum, interius album, sapore acutum, odore aromaticum, in quantitate modicum, in virtute maximum, actu frigidum, potentia calidissimum, cuius virtus non sentitur quamdiu est integrum, sed cum masticatum fuerit vel contritum.

Cuius virtutes dicere ad plenum esset longum, et quamvis sit multum ponderosum apud nos preciosumque propter eius raritatem et efficaciam, apud Indos tamen propter eius copiam pulegio vilius reputatur.

The ablative case is used in this passage to describe almost  every aspect of the pepper.  We see a series of adjectives, all in the nominative neuter to agree with piper and granum (pepper and seed), followed by nouns in the ablative.  These are used with and without the preposition in, but every instance may be correctly translated using "in."

Translate the following descriptions from Section 5.

Piper granum est...
1. vile in spectu
2. acutem sapore
3. aromaticum odore
4. modicum in quantitate
5. maximum in virtute
6. frigidum actu (from actus, -us: driving, doing. Here: force)
7. calidissimum potentia

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