Sorry, this has become so off-topic, yet I cannot resist.

>> For me, nullum (in this case nulla) has more the sense of nothing or

>> none,

Nothing in Latin is NIHIL. Nullus (-a, -um) is an adjective, compound of
ne + ullus and usually followed by a related noun, which means: not one,
noone. That is why...

>> nullum quod tetigit non ornavit.

..is rather faulty Latin. "Nullum" should be followed by a noun.
Suggestion: Nihil, quod movit, non ornavit (better avoid discussions
about sense here).

> OK, I'm no Latin scholar but isn't nulla in some senses used for no, as in 
> nullatenus, in no wise?

Yes. nulla- in nullatenus is ablative case (pronounce nullâtenus), you
have to complement "parte"

>> "no" in this sense seems more like sine than nullum.

No. "Sine" means "without".

>> As in Sine sole sileo

Which translates as Without Sun I Am Silent, no?

>> But how about sine qua non, without which, nothing?

Yes, how about that? Res sine qua non datur, a thing without which
another thing isn't given (the necessary minimum)--that should make it
clear. So much about that.

> It seems to me that, vis a vis Latin, the translation is often going to be 
> approximate rather than literal.

That applies to any translation *sighs*. Italian has it, that traduttore
e traditore, translators are traitors.

>> But perhaps the sense of the thread is
>> Nullum est iam dictum quod non dictum sit prius
>> - Nothing is said that hasn't been said before.

You might want to look up "nullus", once again. Suggestion: Nihil
dicitur, quod non dictum est prius. (I don't agree to that opinion,
though, but that's yet another topic).
-- 
Mathias



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