In Which Part: os umerosque

In Respect of: Os Umerosque

Level 6

The accusative names the body part or the quality that the description is about.

How It Works

Latin	The part	Meaning
os umerosque deo similis	os, umeros	like a god in face and shoulders
nuda genu	genu	bare as to the knee
Mercurio similis vocemque coloremque	vocem, colorem	like Mercury in voice and color

Prose would say capite nudus (bare in the head) with the ablative. Poets use the accusative as a quick way to add a detail.

The description belongs to the person: similis and nuda agree with the person, and the accusative noun is only the part.

Do not take this accusative for the object of a verb. If the sentence has no verb that acts on the noun, the noun probably names a part.

Os umerosque deo similis.
Like a god in face and shoulders.
Aeneid 1.589. Os and umeros are accusative, and similis describes Aeneas.
Nuda genu, nodoque sinus collecta fluentis.
Bare to the knee, and with her flowing folds gathered in a knot.
Aeneid 1.320. Genu is the part that is bare. Sinus fluentis is another accusative of respect after collecta.
Omnia Mercurio similis, vocemque coloremque et crinis flavos et membra decora iuventa.
Like Mercury in everything: voice, color, golden hair and the fair limbs of youth.
Aeneid 4.558. Vocem, colorem, crinis and membra are all accusatives of respect after similis.

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In Which Part: os umerosqueLevel 6In Respect of: Os Umerosque

The accusative of respect tells which part, and prose says it with an ablative, so the ablative of respect comes first.

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