Breakdown of Legendo et meditando discipula argumentum libri paulatim intellegit.
legere
to read
et
and
liber
the book
discipula
the female student
Questions & Answers about Legendo et meditando discipula argumentum libri paulatim intellegit.
Are legendo and meditando participles, or something else?
They are gerunds, not participles.
A gerund is a verbal noun: it names an action, but it still feels verbal in meaning.
- legendo comes from legere = to read
- meditando comes from meditari = to reflect, think over
So here they mean something like:
- by reading
- by reflecting
A participle would act more like an adjective and agree with a noun. These forms do not do that here.
Why are legendo and meditando in the ablative case?
They are in the ablative because Latin often uses the ablative to express means or method.
So:
- legendo et meditando = by reading and reflecting
- or through reading and reflection
That is, the student comes to understand the book's content by means of these activities.
Could legendo et meditando also be understood as while reading and reflecting?
Yes, in English that can sometimes sound natural, but by reading and reflecting is the most direct grammatical match.
The Latin ablative here mainly suggests : the understanding happens reading and reflection.