Finitor loquitur quasi controversiam finium iam decreverit.

Finitor is a noun meaning something like boundary-setter, surveyor, or arbiter of boundaries. It comes from the idea of fines, meaning boundaries or limits.

So in context, finitor is the person concerned with marking out or deciding boundaries.

Because loquitur is from a deponent verb: loquor, loqui, locutus sum, meaning to speak.

Deponent verbs:

• have passive forms
• but active meanings

So:

• loquitur = he/she speaks
• not he/she is spoken

This is very common in Latin, and loquor is one of the most important deponent verbs to learn early.

Loquitur is:

• 3rd person singular
• present indicative
• from the deponent verb loquor

So it means:

• he speaks
• she speaks
• it speaks

In this sentence, the subject is finitor, so loquitur means the finitor speaks.

Quasi means as if, as though, or sometimes as it were.

Here it introduces a comparison:

• Finitor loquitur quasi...
• The boundary-setter speaks as if...

It suggests that the speaker is behaving in a certain way, whether or not the thing in the quasi clause is actually true.

Because after quasi Latin often uses the subjunctive to express something like as if or as though.

So:

• quasi decreverit = as if he had decided
• not a plain factual statement
• but a comparison from the speaker’s point of view

The subjunctive here marks the action as part of an imagined, supposed, or presented situation rather than a straightforward assertion.

Decreverit is the 3rd person singular perfect subjunctive active of decernere.

Breakdown:

• verb: decernere = to decide, determine, settle
• perfect stem: decrev-
• ending: -erit here gives the perfect subjunctive

So decreverit means:

• he/she has decided
• or in this context more naturally, he/she had decided

Because of quasi, English usually translates it as:

• as if he had already settled...

Latin often uses the perfect subjunctive after quasi when referring to an action viewed as completed relative to the main verb.

Here the main verb is present:

• loquitur = he speaks

The subordinate action is presented as already completed:

• iam decreverit = as if he had already decided

A pluperfect subjunctive would also express prior action in other contexts, but the perfect subjunctive after quasi is a normal and idiomatic Latin way to say this.

So the key idea is:

• he is speaking now
• in the manner of someone who has already finished deciding the case

Formally, decreverit can look like either:

• perfect subjunctive
• or future perfect indicative

But here the context makes it clear it is perfect subjunctive, because:

1. it follows quasi
2. quasi commonly introduces a clause with the subjunctive
3. the meaning is as if he had decided, not a future-time statement

So the syntax tells you how to read it.

It is the object of decreverit.

More exactly:

• controversiam = accusative singular
• finium = genitive plural

So:

• controversiam = the dispute
• finium = of boundaries

Together:

• controversiam finium = the boundary dispute or the dispute about boundaries

Because Latin often uses the genitive where English might use of or about.

So:

• controversia finium literally = dispute of boundaries
• more naturally in English = dispute about boundaries or boundary dispute

This is a common Latin pattern:

• a noun followed by a genitive that defines what kind of thing it is concerned with

Yes, Latin can sometimes express similar ideas with a preposition, but here the genitive is compact and idiomatic.

So instead of saying something more like a dispute about boundaries, Latin simply says:

• controversia finium

A learner should get used to the fact that Latin often prefers a case ending where English prefers a preposition.

Iam means already.

It emphasizes that the action in the quasi clause is presented as completed:

• quasi controversiam finium iam decreverit
• as if he had already settled the boundary dispute

Without iam, the sentence would still make sense, but iam strengthens the idea that he is speaking as though the matter were already decided.

Yes, the natural understanding is that it is the same person.

So:

• finitor loquitur = the boundary-setter speaks
• quasi ... decreverit = as if he had already decided...

Latin does not need to repeat the subject pronoun, because the verb ending already tells you it is 3rd person singular, and the context points back to finitor.

Latin word order is much freer than English word order.

Here:

• Finitor comes first, giving prominence to the person
• loquitur follows: the boundary-setter speaks
• then quasi introduces the comparison
• controversiam finium comes before iam decreverit, keeping the object close to the verb it belongs with

A very literal order would be:

• The boundary-setter speaks as if the dispute of boundaries he had already decided

But English rearranges this to:

• The boundary-setter speaks as if he had already settled the boundary dispute

Here decernere means to decide, determine, or settle.

Although it is related to the English word decree, in Latin it often has the more general sense of:

• deciding a question
• settling a dispute
• determining an issue

So in this sentence:

• controversiam finium decreverit means
• he had settled the boundary dispute

Very often, especially when it means as if or as though in a comparison involving appearance, supposition, or unreality.

That is exactly what is happening here:

• he speaks as if he had already decided the matter

So for a learner, it is a good rule of thumb that quasi commonly introduces a subjunctive clause in this kind of sentence.

A natural understanding is:

• The boundary-setter speaks as if he had already settled the boundary dispute.

The tone suggests that he is speaking confidently, perhaps prematurely, as though the case were already decided.