Breakdown of Cum sol occidit, mater lucernam accendit.
Questions & Answers about Cum sol occidit, mater lucernam accendit.
Here cum means when, not with.
Latin cum has two common uses:
- as a preposition: cum
- ablative = with
- example: cum amico = with a friend
- ablative = with
- as a conjunction: cum
- clause = when / since / although, depending on context
In Cum sol occidit, cum is followed by a whole clause, sol occidit, so it is a conjunction meaning when.
If it meant with here, you would expect a noun in the ablative, not a full clause.
Because here occidit comes from the verb occidere meaning to set or to go down, especially of the sun.
So:
- sol = sun
- occidit = sets / is setting
Together, sol occidit means the sun sets.
A learner may notice that occidit can also look like a form of another verb meaning kills. That is a real source of confusion. In this sentence, though, the subject is sol (the sun), so the meaning is clearly , not .