Questions & Answers about Rigor in crure mane maior erat quam nunc.
What is the basic grammar of the sentence?
The sentence breaks down like this:
- rigor = stiffness; the subject
- in crure = in the leg; a prepositional phrase
- mane = in the morning; a time adverb
- maior = greater; a comparative adjective describing rigor
- erat = was; the verb
- quam nunc = than now
So the structure is essentially:
Stiffness in the leg was greater in the morning than now.
Latin does not need to follow English word order, so the words can appear in an order that feels unusual to an English speaker.
Why is rigor nominative?
Because rigor is the subject of erat.
- rigor = stiffness
- It is nominative singular, from rigor, rigoris (masculine)
Since the sentence is saying what the stiffness was like, rigor is the thing being talked about, so nominative is exactly what we expect.
Why is it in crure and not in crus?
Because in meaning in/on with a location takes the .