Original values of the ablative

The ablative properly speaking indicates the point of departure, origin and separation. Italics note the ablative including any governing preposition. The ablative expresses:

origin, often employing a preposition like ex and sometimes not:

E patria fugit (He fled from his homeland)

Terra accepit (He received from land)

—this latter example can still be read in the example:

E singulis tribubus cooptati sunt (They were chosen from among each tribe)

 

cause:

multis de causa (for many reasons)

 

agency, expressed after a verb in the passive voice, in which case, the object in the ablative is governed by the preposition a (ab):

Perspicio Romulum a populo deum factum esse (I see that Romulus was made a god by the people)

 

separation, in that the object of verbs implying separation, deprivation and need is in the ablative

deorum auxilio egere (to have need of aid from the gods)

 

(Irrelevant note: the notion of separation is created with the genitive in Greek which has no ablative.)