Genesis 34:20

Posted on February 3, 2006 by Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus

Gn 34:20 Ingressique portam urbis, locuti sunt ad populum:

And having entered the gate of the city, they spoke to the people:

# Latin Gloss Grammar Tag
1 Ingressique and having entered NOM.PL.M PERF.PART.DEP + ENCLITIC -QUE
2 portam gate ACC.SG.F
3 urbis of the city GEN.SG.F
4 locuti having spoken NOM.PL.M PERF.PART.DEP
5 sunt they have / they were 3PL.PERF.IND
6 ad to / toward PREP+ACC
7 populum people ACC.SG.M

Syntax

Temporal Clause: Ingressique portam urbis — “And having entered the gate of the city.”
• Participle: Ingressique — nominative plural masculine; deponent participle joined with enclitic -que, connecting this action with the main clause.
• Object: portam urbis — accusative + genitive construction meaning “the gate of the city.”
• Function: Expresses an action completed prior to the main verb “locuti sunt.”

Main Clause: locuti sunt ad populum — “they spoke to the people.”
• Verb: locuti sunt — perfect deponent, meaning “they spoke.”
• Prepositional Phrase: ad populum — indicates the audience addressed (the city’s citizens).
• Implied Subject: Hamor and Shechem — the ones who entered and spoke to their townsmen.

Morphology

  1. Ingressique — Lemma: ingredior; Part of Speech: deponent verb (participle with enclitic); Form: nominative plural masculine perfect participle active (deponent) + enclitic -que; Function: temporal participle linking to “locuti sunt”; Translation: “and having entered”; Notes: The enclitic -que joins this participle to the main clause, connecting the sequential actions of entering and speaking.
  2. portam — Lemma: porta; Part of Speech: noun; Form: accusative singular feminine; Function: object of “Ingressique”; Translation: “gate”; Notes: Refers to the main gate where civic and legal affairs were often conducted.
  3. urbis — Lemma: urbs; Part of Speech: noun; Form: genitive singular feminine; Function: genitive of possession modifying “portam”; Translation: “of the city”; Notes: Specifies the locality of the gate—the entrance to Shechem’s town.
  4. locuti — Lemma: loquor; Part of Speech: deponent verb (participle); Form: nominative plural masculine perfect participle; Function: main participle forming the perfect tense with “sunt”; Translation: “having spoken”; Notes: The deponent nature gives an active meaning with a passive form.
  5. sunt — Lemma: sum; Part of Speech: auxiliary verb; Form: 3rd person plural perfect indicative; Function: auxiliary forming the perfect tense of “loquor”; Translation: “they have / they were”; Notes: Common auxiliary with deponents to mark completed action.
  6. ad — Lemma: ad; Part of Speech: preposition; Form: governs accusative; Function: indicates direction or relation toward the audience; Translation: “to / toward”; Notes: Frequently used with verbs of motion or communication.
  7. populum — Lemma: populus; Part of Speech: noun; Form: accusative singular masculine; Function: object of “ad”; Translation: “people”; Notes: Denotes the townspeople of Shechem, gathered at the gate for public matters.

 

About Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus

Born around 346 A.D. in Stridon, St. Jerome was a scholar fluent in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew whose ascetic discipline and deep engagement with Scripture prepared him for a monumental task: translating the Bible into Latin. Commissioned by Pope Damasus I around 382 A.D., Jerome began by revising the flawed Old Latin Gospels, then expanded his work to the entire Bible. For the New Testament, he corrected Latin texts using Greek manuscripts; for the Old Testament, he translated most books directly from Hebrew—a controversial but principled choice. His final Psalter, however, followed the Greek Septuagint tradition for liturgical use. This composite translation, later known as the Vulgate (editio vulgata), became the authoritative biblical text of the Western Church, formally endorsed at the Council of Trent in 1546. The Vulgate’s influence extends beyond theology into textual criticism and Latin education. As one of the earliest translations grounded in original-language scholarship, it offers a vital witness to the state of biblical texts in late antiquity. Jerome’s lexical and syntactic decisions are studied to trace manuscript history and assess variant readings. Its elegant Latin, consistent in grammar and rich in vocabulary, became a model for medieval and Renaissance learning, bridging classical and ecclesiastical Latin. More than a translation, the Vulgate helped define Christian doctrine, preserved the Latin language, and laid essential groundwork for the critical study of Scripture—remaining indispensable to students of Latin, theology, and textual history.
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