Ancilla far cribrat, ne lapilli in massa maneant.

Because ancilla is in the nominative singular, which is the normal case for the subject of a Latin sentence. It means maid or female servant.

So in Ancilla far cribrat, ancilla is the one doing the action.

Because far is a neuter third-declension noun, and its nominative and accusative singular have the same form.

Here, far is the direct object of cribrat, so it is accusative singular, but the accusative happens to look exactly like the nominative.

This is very common with neuter nouns in Latin:

• nominative singular = accusative singular
• nominative plural = accusative plural

Far originally refers to a kind of grain, especially spelt. Depending on context, it can also mean meal or flour made from grain.

In this sentence, because it is being sifted and there are small stones that should not remain in the mixture, far is best understood as something like meal or flour.

Cribrat is present indicative active, third person singular, from cribrare, meaning to sift.

Latin often uses the present tense in simple example sentences to state what is happening or what someone does. So cribrat means she sifts or is sifting, depending on context.

Because ne is used to introduce a negative purpose clause.

So:

• ut = so that
• ne = so that ... not / lest

Here, ne lapilli in massa maneant means so that little stones do not remain in the dough.

By contrast, non simply negates a word or clause directly. It would not be the normal way to introduce a purpose clause.

Because it is in a purpose clause introduced by ne.

Latin regularly uses:

• ut + subjunctive for positive purpose
• ne + subjunctive for negative purpose

So ne lapilli in massa maneant is literally so that the little stones may not remain.

Maneant is:

• present subjunctive
• active
• third person plural

It is plural because its subject, lapilli, is plural.

Lapilli is the nominative plural of lapillus, which means little stone or small pebble.

It is a diminutive form related to lapis (stone). The diminutive gives the sense of something small.

It is plural because the sentence is talking about small stones in general, not just one stone.

Massa is ablative singular after the preposition in.

Here in means in in the sense of inside or within, expressing location, and when in expresses location, it takes the ablative.

So:

• in massa = in the dough / in the lump mixture

Compare:

• in + ablative = in/on, indicating place where
• in + accusative = into/onto, indicating motion toward

Latin word order is much freer than English word order. Very often, the verb comes at or near the end of its clause, especially in more formal or literary Latin.

So ne lapilli in massa maneant is a very natural Latin arrangement:

• ne introduces the clause
• lapilli gives the subject
• in massa gives the location
• maneant comes at the end

This word order helps highlight the structure of the clause, but other orders could also be grammatical.

Normally, no. In classical Latin, a negative purpose clause is usually expressed with ne, not ut non.

So:

• ut maneant = so that they may remain
• ne maneant = so that they may not remain

Using ut non for this would usually sound wrong or at least non-standard in a basic classical sentence.

The comma separates the main clause from the subordinate purpose clause:

• Ancilla far cribrat
• ne lapilli in massa maneant

In modern printed Latin, punctuation is added for readability, much as it is in English. Ancient Romans did not use punctuation in exactly the same way we do now, but in textbooks and editions, this comma helps the reader see the sentence structure clearly.

The basic meaning of maneo is remain, stay, or be left. In this sentence, remain is probably the most natural choice because the idea is that after the sifting, the little stones should not still be present in the dough.

So ne lapilli in massa maneant means something like:

• so that little stones do not remain in the dough
• lest little stones stay in the dough

Both are possible, but remain fits especially well.

Yes, they are related but not identical.

• far refers to the grain or meal/flour being sifted.
• massa refers to the resulting mass, dough, or mixture.

The sentence suggests a process:

1. the maid sifts the far
2. this is done so that small stones will not remain in the massa

So the two words point to slightly different stages or aspects of the food preparation.