Mathias wrote: Nevertheless, your first choice meets the case. The copula is omitted. Abl abs would require perf participle.
My response: I double checked one of a number of Latin grammars on my shelf (one in German, just for you!), and Gaar Schuster in "Lateinische Grammatik" writes: "Ausser Partizipien stehen auch Substantiva und Adjektiva als Praedikativa beim ablativus absolutus." As an example he gives "luna plena" = bei Vollmond, or "Quieta Gallia" = Da Gallien ruhig war. These two examples seem to me to be no different from "forma apta." Once again, not that it really matters, especially on a lute list. Stephen Arndt To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
