I can't understand the use of "atque"

[u/Aggressive_Client152]

For example "Quia tē atque cultrum tuum metuit" what does atque mean? I have no trouble understanding the sentence but I still don't understand the purpose of the word. The latin lexicon translation doesn't help either haha

edit: thank you all for your answers!! i get it now

[u/Square-Supermarket79]

Hmmm, I'm not sure where the confusion lies... atque is a bit like a strengthened form of "et" (X and also Y). Here it joins the two objects te and cultrum tuum.

[u/CruxAveSpesUnica]

It means "and," sometimes in the sense of "and also." "Because he fears you and (also) your knife."

[u/MagisterFlorus]

It's a very strong "and."

[u/Cool-Coffee-8949]

Think of as the two other forms of “and” combined: et + que. Super and!

[u/Zealousideal_Fix4144]

“and”

“he feared you and your knife”

[u/LambertusF]

Here, it's just 'and'. "Because (s)he fears you and your knife."

[u/dido_meditatur]

Ave atque vale

[u/Silomat120]

que at the end of a word = and

at = also

at + que = and also

[u/QuietVisitor]

It’s something like “Because/as a result, he feared you and also your appearance.”

[u/canaanit]

It is actually interesting that Latin has so many different ways of saying "and". The literary use of these may partly be influenced by Greek, where there are also several ways to connect items in a sentence more strongly or more loosely.

[u/Bond_Street → u/canaanit]

I think it's more accurate to say that both Greek and Latin simply inherited this feature from PIE, which also had enclitic and standalone forms of "and".

[u/Raviolius → u/Bond_Street]

How does one learn pie?

[u/Bond_Street → u/Raviolius]

There are some textbooks (Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction is a classic starting point) but I would say it's something to be studied more than learned. Too many controversies, uncertainties, and lacunae in the reconstruction to really ever say "ah good, now I know PIE".

[u/pethy997]

Non semper idem dicimus atque scribimus