Genesis 37:15

Posted on February 6, 2006 by Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus

Gn 37:15 invenitque eum vir errantem in agro, et interrogavit quid quæreret.

and a man found him wandering in the field, and he asked what he was seeking.

# Latin Gloss Grammar Tag
1 invenitque and found V.3SG.PERF.ACT.IND + ENCLITIC -QUE
2 eum him PRON.PERS.ACC.SG.M
3 vir a man NOUN.NOM.SG.M
4 errantem wandering PART.PRES.ACT.ACC.SG.M
5 in in PREP+ABL
6 agro field NOUN.ABL.SG.M
7 et and CONJ
8 interrogavit asked V.3SG.PERF.ACT.IND
9 quid what PRON.INTERROG.ACC.SG.N
10 quæreret he was seeking V.3SG.IMPF.SUBJ.ACT

Morphology

  1. invenitque — Lemma: inveniō; Part of Speech: verb; Form: 3rd person singular perfect indicative active + enclitic -que; Function: main verb joining narrative clauses; Translation: “and (he) found”; Notes: Perfect tense marks completed past action; enclitic -que connects this clause to the previous narrative event.
  2. eum — Lemma: is, ea, id; Part of Speech: personal pronoun; Form: accusative singular masculine; Function: direct object of invenit; Translation: “him”; Notes: Refers to Joseph, the understood object of discovery.
  3. vir — Lemma: vir; Part of Speech: noun; Form: nominative singular masculine; Function: subject of invenit and interrogavit; Translation: “a man”; Notes: Indefinite subject, possibly divine messenger or passerby; syntactically the agent of both verbs.
  4. errantem — Lemma: errō; Part of Speech: participle; Form: accusative singular masculine present active participle; Function: modifies eum (object of invenit); Translation: “wandering”; Notes: Describes Joseph’s aimless movement, forming a participial phrase “him wandering in the field.”
  5. in — Lemma: in; Part of Speech: preposition; Form: governs ablative; Function: expresses location; Translation: “in”; Notes: Spatial preposition indicating static position, not motion.
  6. agro — Lemma: ager; Part of Speech: noun; Form: ablative singular masculine; Function: complement of in; Translation: “(the) field”; Notes: Physical location of discovery; ablative of place where.
  7. et — Lemma: et; Part of Speech: coordinating conjunction; Form: indeclinable; Function: connects two sequential actions; Translation: “and”; Notes: Links discovery and inquiry actions in narrative continuity.
  8. interrogavit — Lemma: interrogō; Part of Speech: verb; Form: 3rd person singular perfect indicative active; Function: main verb of the second clause; Translation: “(he) asked”; Notes: Introduces indirect question with subjunctive verb; narrative perfect for completed inquiry.
  9. quid — Lemma: quis, quid; Part of Speech: interrogative pronoun; Form: accusative singular neuter; Function: object within indirect question governed by interrogavit; Translation: “what”; Notes: Heads content clause quid quæreret meaning “what he was seeking.”
  10. quæreret — Lemma: quaerō; Part of Speech: verb; Form: 3rd person singular imperfect subjunctive active; Function: verb of the indirect question introduced by interrogavit; Translation: “he was seeking”; Notes: Subjunctive in indirect discourse; imperfect denotes contemporaneous ongoing search at the time of inquiry.

 

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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