LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
Allen & Greenough · Part Second — Syntax › Construction of Cases

§379. Dative of Reference

The Dative of Reference is used idiomatically without any verb in colloquial questions and exclamations:—

  • quō mihi fortūnam (Hor. Ep. 1.5.12), of what use to me is fortune?
  • unde mihi lapidem (Hor. S. 2.7.116), where can I get a stone?
  • quō tibi, Tillī; (id. 1.6.24), what use for you, Tillius?

a. The dative of reference is sometimes used after interjections:

  • ei (hei) mihi (Aen. 2.274), ah me!
  • vae victīs (Liv. 5.48), woe to the conquered.
  • em tibi, there, take that (there for you)! [Cf. § 380.]
  • prō patriā morī; (Hor. Od. 3.2.13), to die for one's country.
  • ego ībō prō tē (Plaut. Most. 1131), I will go instead of you.

J. H. Allen and J. B. Greenough, New Latin Grammar (Boston: Ginn, 1903). Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.