Contents
Among Latin’s many verb forms, the supine, causes students quite a lot of confusion. In this article, I will explain in detail what the supine is, its meaning and how and when it is used.
In Latin there are two types of supine, Supine I and Supine II. The first, ending in -um, is used with verbs of motion to express purpose, and with the passive infinitive of ire (iri) to form a passive future infinitive used in indirect speech. The second supine, ending in -u, is quite rare and is only formed from a handful of verbs. It is used with adjectives in the neuter that denote ease, difficulty, pleasure, displeasure, moral judgments, and the words fas and nefas.
The supine is a very interesting verb form and there is much to learn about it.
Let’s start.
What are the forms of the Supine?
In Latin grammar the supine refers to two verb forms, called the first and the second supines (Supinum I and Supinum II). The supines look like the accusative and ablative singular forms of verbal nouns of the fourth declension which end in um and u. Indeed, they are said to be forms of old verbal nouns.
- Supine 1: dictum
- Supine 2: dictu
The first supine, ending in -um, is commonly referred to as an accusative of the end of motion, and is often given as the third principal part in Latin dictionaries (e.g. amo, amavi, amatum).
The second supine, ending in -u, is often considered a dative of purpose or an ablative of respect. It isn’t always easy to say that a form in ‑u is actually a second supine and not the ablative of a verbal noun of the fourth declension.
The stem of both supines is the same as that of the perfect participle and it is sometimes said that the perfect participle is derived from the supine but this is not accurate (Kuhner-Stegmann, 706).
Why are they called supine?
The name supine (from Latin supinus) means lying on the back. It is called supine because the supine does not change its form according to the person performing the action, it is, in that sense, inactive, lying down on the ground (Kuhner–Stegmann, 655).
What is the function and use of the supine?
Supine I (-um)
The first supine is used in two ways:
- with verbs of motion to express purpose
- with the passive infinitive of ire to supply the future passive infinitive.
Supine I: with verbs of motion
The first supine is considered to be an old accusative of direction and is used with verbs indicating motion (going, sending) to indicate purpose. It is not used to express purpose with other types of verbs. Some common verbs used with the first supine are ire (“go”), redire (“return”), venire (“come”), and mittere (“send”). Cicero and Caesar use the supine mostly with only a handful of verbs: venire, ire, mittere, convenire. The purpose of the motion (e.g. coming or returning) is expressed by placing the second verb in the supine, e.g.
- Cubitum ire (“to go to sleep”)
- Inquisitum ire (“to go to investigate, search”)
Cubitum and inquisitum are the supine of the verbs cubare and inquirere. The supine also occurs with deponent verbs (verbs that have active meaning but passive forms):
- Venit furatum (“he/she comes to steal”)
Here the purpose of the coming is to steal, so the verb is placed in the supine furatum, from the verb furor, furari which is deponent.
The meaning of the first supine is always active, it cannot be passive. A classic example of this is from Ovid:
- Spectatum veniunt, spectentur ut ipsae. (“They come to watch, and to be watched themselves”)
In some older grammars and stylistic guides of Latin, it is said that the first supine cannot take an object. This is inaccurate, and we find supines with objects both in early Latin and in Classical Latin:
- Nunc venis etiam ultro irrisum dominum (“Now you’re even coming of your own accord to ridicule your master.” Pl. Am. 587)
- Haedui legatos […] mittunt rogatum auxilium. (“The Haedui send deputies to ask for aid.” Caes. B.G. I.11)
In the first instance, the person arrives (venire) in order to ridicule (irrisum), and the object of his ridicule is his master (dominum). In the second instance, The Haedui send (mittunt) deputies (legatos) to ask (rogatum) for help (auxilium). The help is here the object of the asking (rogatum).
The first supine does not only express purpose but can be used in quite a different context.
Supine I: future passive infinitive
Latin has many verb forms but does not have a passive future infinitive. It has a present passive infinitive so we can say:
- Caesar dicit libros mitti (“Caesar says that the books are being sent.”)
But what if we were to refer to a passive action in the future? How do we say Caesar says that the books will be sent?
The present passive infinitive mitti cannot be used to refer from the past or present to the future. One way Latin works around this lack of a passive future infinitive is by using the first supine with the passive present infinitive of ire (“go”) which is iri.
Thus we get:
- Caesar dicit libros missum iri.
Missum is the first supine of mitto (‘send’) and iri is the passive present infinitive of eo, ire.
Note that the passive future infinitive (Supine I + iri) is quite rare in the Latin of ancient Rome; if we exclude its occurrences in Latin grammarians, it occurs only two hundred times in the literature and is completely absent in Augustan poetry. (Pinkster 2015: 532)
That’s it for the first supine. The second supine in ‑u is used quite differently.
Let’s have a look.
Supine II (-u)
The second supine, ending in ‑u is used with a number of adjectives and can often be translated in English as “with respect to” or simply “to”. It defines in what respect something is, e.g.
- Hoc facile est intellectu. (“This is easy to understand”)
- Difficile dictu est (“It is difficult to say”)
Here we read that something is easy and difficult respectively, but in what respect? First, with respect to understanding, next with respect to saying.
While the first supine (-um) is formed from many verbs, the second supine (-u) is formed from a very small number of verbs, the most common being:
- Aspectu
- Auditu
- Cognitu
- Dictu
- Factu
- Intellectu
- Invetu
- Responsu
- Visu
With which adjectives is the supine in ‑u used?
In the literature of ancient Rome we find the second supine with
- Adjectives in ‑ilis (facilis, difficilis, incredibilis, mirabilis)
- Adjectives denoting pleasure or displeasure (iucundus)
- Adjectives denoting moral sentiments (foedus, crudelis)
- With the indeclinable words fas, nefas
The adjectives are either in the neuter singular (more rarely the plural) or as an attribute to res, they are more rarely used to describe other nouns.
Let’s look at some examples to better understand how Latin authors use the second supine:
- Quaerunt quid optimum factu sit (“They as what the best course of action is.” Cic. In Verr. 2.1.68)
- Quid est tam iucundum cognitu atque auditu quam sapientibus sententiis gravisque verbis ornata oratio? (Cic. De orat. 1.31)
- O rem non modo visu foedam sed etiam auditu! (Cic. Phil. 2.63)
- Nefas est dictu miseram fuisse Fabi Maximi senectutem (Cato 13)
Rare uses of the second supine
The great Roman historian Tacitus is known for his eclectic and, oftentimes, obscure Latin. He did not hesitate to bend the language to his will, employing for instance, the impersonal verb pudet with the supine in the expression pudet dictu (“It’s a shameful thing to say.”)
There are a few instances where the second supine in ‑u is used with verbs of motion. These are ablatives of verbal nouns but are commonly viewed as supines. (Pinskter 2015: 817) These are used to indicate the motion from something, e.g.
- Reddit eccum tandem opsonatu meus adiutor (“look, finally my helper’s returning from shopping Pl. Cas 719)
- Primus cubitu surgat, postremus cubitum eat. (“He is the first to rise from sleeping, and the last to go to bed.” Cato Agr. 5);
- Et tunc venatu rediturum in limine primo / opperiens…(“Then waiting at the threshold for the same to return from the hunt…” Stat. Ach. 1.119–20);
Now you know all about the supines in Latin. Use this knowledge carefully.
References
Kühner, Raphael & Stegmann, Carl (1955). Ausführliche Grammatik der lateinischen Sprache. [Bd 2], Satzlehre. 3. Aufl. Leverkusen: Gottschalksche Vlgsbuchh.
Pinkster, Harm (2015). The Oxford Latin syntax Volume 1 The simple clause. Oxford: Oxford University Press