Magister auctionis rem addicit, et relator auctionum addictionem scribit.

Rem is accusative singular of res.

It is accusative because it is the direct object of addicit. In other words, the official is awarding or assigning the item being sold.

A very literal structure is:

• magister auctionis = the master of the auction
• rem = the thing / item
• addicit = awards, adjudges, knocks down

So rem answers the question what does he award?

Auctionis is genitive singular.

It depends on magister and means of the auction. So:

• magister = master, director, official in charge
• auctionis = of the auction

Together, magister auctionis means the master of the auction or the auction official.

This is a very common Latin use of the genitive: one noun qualifies another noun, often in the sense of ....

Because they are two different forms of the same noun:

• auctionis = genitive singular = of the auction
• auctionum = genitive plural = of the auctions

So:

• magister auctionis = master of the auction
• relator auctionum = recorder/reporter of auctions

The singular in the first phrase points to one specific auction event.
The plural in the second phrase can describe a person by role or function, something like an auction recorder or a recorder of auction sales.

Latin often uses the genitive this way in titles and descriptions.

Yes, it is related in form, but not in meaning here.

Addicit comes from addicere, and in legal or commercial Latin it can mean:

• to adjudge
• to award
• to assign
• in an auction context, to knock down or sell to the highest bidder

So here it means that the auction official awards the item.

It is not the modern English idea of to addict someone to something. That English meaning developed much later and is not what is happening in this sentence.

No. Here addictionem does not mean modern psychological or physical addiction.

It is from the noun addictio, which in this context means something like:

• the awarding of the item
• the act of adjudging the sale
• the official record of the sale award

So relator auctionum addictionem scribit means that the recorder writes down the official award or sale entry.

Grammatically, addictionem is accusative singular, because it is the direct object of scribit.

Because it is the direct object of scribit.

• scribit = he writes
• addictionem = the award / sale record

So the sentence is saying that the recorder writes the entry or writes down the award.

In Latin, the thing directly written, seen, heard, carried, and so on is very often put in the accusative.

You can tell from the nominative nouns and the verb endings.

First clause:

• magister auctionis is nominative and is the subject
• addicit is third person singular
• so: the master of the auction awards the item

Second clause:

• relator auctionum is nominative and is the subject
• scribit is also third person singular
• so: the recorder of auctions writes the award

The two verbs are singular because each has a singular subject:

• magister = one master
• relator = one recorder

Because Latin does not have definite or indefinite articles like English does.

Latin does not normally have separate words for:

• the
• a
• an

So a noun like rem can mean, depending on context:

• the item
• an item
• simply item

The context tells you which English article makes the most sense.

Because Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order.

English relies heavily on position:

• subject + verb + object

Latin relies much more on endings to show grammatical function, so the order can vary for emphasis, rhythm, or style.

This sentence is actually fairly straightforward, but even here you can see Latin arranging words in a natural Latin way:

• Magister auctionis rem addicit
• et relator auctionum addictionem scribit

A Latin author could move some of these words around and still keep the same basic meaning, because the cases and verb endings would still show what each word is doing.

Both are:

• present tense
• active voice
• indicative mood
• third person singular

So they mean:

• addicit = he awards
• scribit = he writes

The present tense here can simply describe the action as a factual statement.

Et means and.

It joins the two clauses:

1. Magister auctionis rem addicit
2. relator auctionum addictionem scribit

So the sentence presents two connected actions:

• first, the item is officially awarded
• then, the award is written down

This is a very basic and common coordinating conjunction in Latin.

Yes. Res is one of the broadest and most common nouns in Latin.

It can mean many things depending on context, including:

• thing
• matter
• affair
• property
• item

In an auction context, rem naturally means the item or the property being sold.

Latin often uses broad words where English might prefer something more specific. The context usually makes the meaning clear.

Yes. A very literal unpacking is often useful for learners.

You can think of it like this:

• Magister auctionis = master of the auction
• rem = the item

• addicit = awards / knocks down

• et = and

• relator auctionum = recorder of auctions
• addictionem = the award / the sale entry
• scribit = writes

That kind of word-by-word breakdown helps you see:

• which nouns are nominative subjects
• which nouns are accusative objects
• which nouns are genitives depending on other nouns
• how each verb matches its subject

Once you can see that structure, the sentence becomes much easier to read.