Level 3; summary of of the uses of the ablative case [12]: [i] the ablative of the object of comparison [ii] the ablative of the degree of difference

Discussed here:

[i] ablative of the object of comparison

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/09/121124-level-2-degrees-of-comparison-6.html

Latin tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTyQM41nfUk&t=80s

[ii] ablative of the degree of difference

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/09/201124-level-2-degrees-of-comparison-9.html

Latin tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a2lb9pTnEo

Both discussed at:

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/02/120525-level-3-beasts-in-egypt-and.html

https://adckl2.blogspot.com/2025/02/level-3-beasts-in-egypt-and-libya-6.html

[i] object of comparison

The second nose is longer ¦ than the first nose.

‘than’ introduces the object of comparison i.e. the person / thing which is being compared.

Latin can form the object of comparison in two ways:

[1] comparative + quam (than) + the person / thing being compared; similar to English:

Nāsus secundus est longior quam nāsus prīmus.

[2] The object of comparison is in the ablative case without quam

Nāsus secundus est longior nāsō prīmō.

[1] and [2] have the same meaning

[ii] degree of difference

The adverb multō ‘by much’, originally an ablative of multus, is used when emphasising the amount of difference; in grammar this is known as the ablative of degree of difference i.e. by how much /the extent to which something / someone is taller, wider, richer etc.

Rēx multō fortior quam frāter est. │ The king is much / far braver than his brother.

Examples of other adverbs which function in the same way are:

[i] paulō: by a little

haec quaestiō paulō difficilior est │ this problem is a little more difficult

[ii] tantō: by so much; tantō melior / melius │ all (so much) the better

'tantō melior' inquit 'Massa, dōnō tibi cālīgās'. (Petronius) │ “Better than ever, Massa,” he said, “I will give you a pair of boots.”

[iii] dīmidiō:  by half; dimidio brevius │ shorter by half; half as short

Hibernia īnsula, dīmidiō minor ut exīstimātur quam Britannia (Caesar) │ Ireland, smaller, as is reckoned, than Britain, by one half

[iv] aliquantō: by a little (somewhat); considerably

Johannes Jonstonus’s 300 page work on birds published in 1657 gives a good example of the use of aliquantō:

Masculus aliquantō longior est, corpore, collō ac cristā ampliōrī. Rōstrum fēminae brevius est … [Johannes Jonstonus: Historiae naturalis de avibus (1657)] │ The male is somewhat longer, with a larger body, neck, and crest. The female's beak is shorter …