Breakdown of Missus incipit; certator equos iugales incitat.
equus
the horse
incipere
to begin
missus
the heat; race
iugalis
yoked; harnessed as part of a team
Questions & Answers about Missus incipit; certator equos iugales incitat.
What part of speech is missus here, and what case is it?
Here missus is a noun, not a participle.
In this sentence it is nominative singular, the subject of incipit. So missus incipit means the race begins or the heat begins.
A learner might expect missus to mean sent because it can also be the perfect passive participle of mittere, but here the context shows it is the noun missus meaning a race, especially a heat in the games.
Why does incipit end in -t?
The ending -t shows that incipit is third person singular present active indicative:
- in- = prefix
- cipit = from capere in the compound incipere
So incipit means he/she/it begins or begins.
Since the subject is missus, which is singular, the verb is singular too:
- missus incipit = the race begins
What does certator mean here?
Certator is a noun meaning something like contestant, competitor, or .