Catullus 1.8 - 'quidquid hoc libelli qualecumque' - how to translate?

[Phoebus Apollo]

quare habe tibi quidquid hoc libelli
qualecumque; quod, 〈o〈 patrona uirgo,
plus uno maneat perenne saeclo.

my translation for the bit in bold is: 'Therefore, take as your own whatever little book this is, such as it is...'. Instead of 'whatever book this is' I've seen some translations put 'therefore take as your own this little book for what it's worth' - is this okay? I'm not sure whether it's safer to keep to the literal translation (as I'm keen to keep my translation rather literal, but obviously not so literal that it doesn't make sense)

Also, sidenote: is the partitive genitive with quidquid or hoc? On second reflection it's probably hoc, so 'whatever this is of a little book' would be better, but probably doesn't matter

 

[AoM]

Yeah, the 'for what it's worth' seems to be their rendering of quidquid.

And I do think it's with hoc.

 

[Dantius]

Yeah, the 'for what it's worth' seems to be their rendering of quidquid.

And qualecumque as well.

 

[AoM]

Oh yeah, that too. In that case, you could probably extend it even further to 'for whatever it's worth'.

 

[Phoebus Apollo]

And qualecumque as well.

Oh yeah, that too. In that case, you could probably extend it even further to 'for whatever it's worth'.

I took qualecumque to mean 'such as it is'

 

[Dantius]

"-cumque" corresponds "-ever", so "quicumque" = "whoever", and "qualiscumque" = "of whatever quality/kind".

 

[DiscipulaeLacrimae]

Okay, technically this should be in Latin Beginners, but I think my question is applicable to this thread, so:

My full translation of the first half of this sentence:

OG: ... quare have tibi quidquid hoc libelli qualecumque...

--> "...wherefore have [for] yourself this something whatsoever of a book..."

I forgot if quidquid is referring to "something" or "whatsoever" and I left my Latin book with its lovely index in my locker, so no luck getting that until fall break is over. It's been a while since I've looked at my notes for this poem and I never specified in my parsing (sad).

Based on the thread, qualecumque is more likely to be whatsoever, I think--just wanted to check before I start studying it again. (first post! )

 

[Pacifica]

Quidquid means "what(so)ever" and qualecumque means

"of whatever quality/kind".

Now these are the literal meanings, and a fluid translation might use different words (see earlier posts).

 

[DiscipulaeLacrimae]

Sorry, guess my reading comprehension needs some work. Thank you!

 

[Pacifica]

No need to be sorry.

By the way:

I left my Latin book with its lovely index in my locker, so no luck getting that until fall break is over.

You can look up things online. Here's a fairly good dictionary, for instance: Lewis and Short

 

[DiscipulaeLacrimae]

Oh man! I haven't heard of this one! I've been using latin-is-simple but it was giving me some trouble today. Awesome, thanks!

 

[cinefactus]

Okay, technically this should be in Latin Beginners, but I think my question is applicable to this thread, so:

Catullus is definitely beyond Latin Beginners

 

[cinefactus]

I just made a new subforum specifically for Catullus

 

[DiscipulaeLacrimae]

Catullus is definitely beyond Latin Beginners

Aww, haha thanks!!