Latin translation (from MI transcript)

[arthurk]

I'm interested in a memorial in Frampton on Severn, Gloucs, which is in Latin. I've been looking at Bigland's transcript, but I have a couple of queries about it. This is Bigland's transcript:

Hic situs NICHOLAUS PAUL, A.M.
hujus ecclesiae vicarius, vir integer
vitae, regis subditus fidelis, ecclesiae
Sancta Catholicae filius verus,
qui cum septem de octaginta annos
Domino exegit die Passionis
Domini decessit MDCLXXX.
Juxta hic etiam deponitur SAMUEL PAUL,
filius ejus natu minimus,
viginti annos natus, naturâ
exit Januar. 17, 1670

Lines 5-6: I can't work out the phrase 'cum septem de octaginta annos Domino exegit'. Nicholas's entry in Alumni Oxonienses suggests he would have been about 70-72 when he died, so is this a fancy way of saying that (ie 7 less than 80)? 'exegit' also eludes me.

Line 10: 'viginti annos natus' is presumably another way of saying '20 years old' - except that this Samuel seems to have been aged about 24-25.

Can anyone help, please?

[Watson]

Exegit is a form of exigo (I complete: cf. the dying words of Dido: vixi cursumque peregi).  So I suppose he completed, as Arthur said, 7 years short of 80 (= 73).  However, I'm not happy with either the mood or tense of exegit.  It is perfect indicative, whereas normal classical Latin in such a cum clause would be exegisset, the pluperfact subjunctive.

I also agree that viginti annos natus is another way of saying 20 years old.

[Watson]

There is another way to interpret "qui cum septem de octaginta annos Domino exegit"

When he completed seven of his eighty years in the service of the Lord.

The operative word is Domino (dative case).

I think I prefer this interpretation.

[arthurk]

There is another way to interpret "qui cum septem de octaginta annos Domino exegit"

When he completed seven of his eighty years in the service of the Lord.

The operative word is Domino (dative case).

Thank you, and for your earlier post - but what might that actually mean? He'd been vicar there for about 12 years, and a clergyman for about 40.

Is it possible that cum is a preposition ('with') rather than a conjunction ('when')? If so - with a slightly unusual word order - could it be "he completed 73 years with the Lord"?

But that seems a bit convoluted, so perhaps your suggestion is better, though I'd still suggest Domino is ablative and means 'with the Lord'. And could cum refer not so much to something that was finished when he died ('when he had completed...'), but something more concurrent, so it might be rendered 'as he completed 73 years with the Lord he [died]'?

[Watson]

Arthur asks, "but what might that actually mean?"

I think it must mean that he died at 80 and had been vicar there for 7 years, or, at least, that the person writing this thought so.

I don't think cum is a preposition, as it is too far separated from Domino, which I don't think is ablative, for the same reason.

[Bookbox]

Cum + indicative is used for ‘when’ or ‘while’ etc.

Cum + subjunctive is used for ‘since’ or ‘whereas’ etc.

Exigo has a very large number of meanings. Please see the relevant page of Logeion ...
https://logeion.uchicago.edu/exigo

Using the Lewis&Short tab, you will see (para. II B 1) that exigo can mean to ‘exact’, ‘demand’, ‘reclaim’, amongst other things.

Taking all the above into account, here’s another suggestion. Perhaps the transcription is in error (they sometimes are, even in Bigland!), and Domino should perhaps be Dominus (nominative)?

In that event, we would have ...

cum septem de octaginta annos Dominus exegit
‘when the Lord reclaimed seven of his eighty years’

Meaning (as you said) that he was 72 or 73 when he died and effectively handed the rest of his 80 years back to God.

As I said, just a suggestion. You may find a better meaning for exegit on that page, which would fit with Domino as a dative or ablative.

Any chance of seeing an image of the original monument, if it survives (I haven't looked)? Maybe the stone was worn when it was transcribed?

I wouldn’t be too concerned about word-order in MIs. They are not always written in perfect classical Latin – they often reflect the usages of medieval Latin, which is far less prescriptive on such matters.

[Watson]

"cum septem de octaginta annos Domino exegit"

I have just a small refinement to my earlier translation of the above.  Exigo, when used with time, e.g. annos, frequently has the meaning of to pass or spend.  Therefore, I suggest as a translation:

"When he spent seven of his eighty years in the service of the Lord."

[arthurk]

Exigo has a very large number of meanings. Please see the relevant page of Logeion ...
https://logeion.uchicago.edu/exigo

Using the Lewis&Short tab, you will see (para. II B 1) that exigo can mean to ‘exact’, ‘demand’, ‘reclaim’, amongst other things.

Taking all the above into account, here’s another suggestion. Perhaps the transcription is in error (they sometimes are, even in Bigland!), and Domino should perhaps be Dominus (nominative)?

In that event, we would have ...

cum septem de octaginta annos Dominus exegit
‘when the Lord reclaimed seven of his eighty years’

Meaning (as you said) that he was 72 or 73 when he died and effectively handed the rest of his 80 years back to God.

Many thanks for that. Just to get it out of the way first, I'd forgotten that the numbers 18, 19, 28, 29 etc were subtractive (undeviginti etc). This septem de octaginta seems to follow the same pattern, so I'm inclined to put it down to being a bit pretentious.

Having looked at the Logeion site, it seems that when applied to time or a life, the usual meaning of exigo is something on the lines of 'complete', and  I couldn't see anything more likely.

I acknowledge that Bigland did make some errors, but I'm afraid I'm going to take issue with the suggested amendment of Domino to Dominus. As it stands, the clause has the subject qui, so substituting Dominus would give a second subject (impossible) or require qui to be changed to quem.

As it stands, Domino could presumably be either 'for the Lord' (dative) or 'with (or in) the Lord' (ablative).

Any chance of seeing an image of the original monument, if it survives (I haven't looked)? Maybe the stone was worn when it was transcribed?

If I've understood Bigland's subheadings correctly, it was/is inside the church, on a flat stone in the north aisle. I've no idea if it's still there, or how much it might have been worn down now.

"cum septem de octaginta annos Domino exegit"

I have just a small refinement to my earlier translation of the above.  Exigo, when used with time, e.g. annos, frequently has the meaning of to pass or spend.  Therefore, I suggest as a translation:

"When he spent seven of his eighty years in the service of the Lord."

I'm afraid I can't agree with this - and see also my comment on subtractive numerals above. He'd been vicar of Frampton for 12 years, and a clergyman in total for nearly 50 (rather than the 40 I wrote before), so I find it hard to accept that anyone erecting a memorial would cut that down to just 7 years. Moreover, as I said before, other evidence suggests his age was much closer to 73 than to 80.

Taking everything into consideration, then, my translation would be:
'...who, when he completed 73 years in the Lord, died on Good Friday 1680'

[Watson]

The Latin for 73 is tres et septuaginta.

Incidentally, I believe Arthur's reason for rejecting Bookbox's suggestion is invalid.  The conjunction qui is the subject of the clause "qui ... die Passionis Domini decessit MDCLXXX" and would not be affected by changing Domino to Dominus.