1212. The dative is used with forms of #sum# to denote the possessor:
as,
#est hominī cum deō similitūdō#, _Leg._ 1, 25, _man has a resemblance to
god_. #an nescīs longās rēgibus esse manūs?# O. _E._ 16, 166, _dost
possibly not know kings have long arms?_ #suos quoique mōs#, T. _Ph._
454, _to every man his own pet way_. So also with the compounds #absum#,
#dēsum#, #supersum#: as, #hoc ūnum Caesarī dēfuit#, 4, 26, 5, _this was
all Caesar lacked_.
1213. (1.) With #mihī̆ est nōmen#, the name is put either in the dative
or in the nominative: as,
#mihī̆ nomen est Iūliō#, or #mihī̆ nōmen est Iūlius#, Gell. 15, 29, 1,
_my name is Julius_. In old Latin and in Sallust, the dative: as, #nōmen
Mercuriōst mihī#, Pl. _Am. prol._ 19, _my name is Mercury_; later the
nominative: as, #canibus pigrīs nōmen erit Pardus, Tigris, Leo#, J. 8,
34, _the craven cur shall sport the name of ‘Lion, Tiger, Pard.’_ Cicero
uses the nominative or rarely the dative, Livy oftener the dative than
the nominative. Tacitus puts adjectives in the dative, substantives in
the nominative, rarely in the genitive. Caesar does not use the
construction.
1214. (2.) With the actives #nōmen dō#, #indō#, #pōnō#, #tribuō#, &c.,
the name may be in the dative or in the accusative; with the passive of
these expressions, the name may be in the dative or in the nominative:
as,
#quī tibi nōmen īnsānō posuēre#, H. _S._ 2, 3, 47, _who’ve put on thee
the nickname Crank_. #quī fīliīs Philippum atque Alexandrum nōmina
inposuerat#, L. 35, 47, 5, _who had given his sons the names Philip and
Alexander_. A genitive dependent on #nōmen# is used once by Tacitus and
in very late Latin.
1215. With a gerundive, the dative of the possessor denotes the person
who has the action to do: see 2243. For the ablative with #ab#, or for
#habeō#, see 2243, 2245.
1216. This dative is sometimes used with the perfect participle, and the
tenses formed with it: as, #mihī̆ est ēlabōrātum#, _Caecil._ 40, _I have
it all worked out_. #carmina nūlla mihī sunt scrīpta#, O. _Tr._ 5, 12,
35, _no poetry have I ready made_. Rarely with passives of the present
system: as, #nūlla placēre diū nec vīvere carmina possunt, quae
scrībuntur aquae pōtōribus#, H. _E._ 1, 19, 2, _no verse can take or be
longlived that by teetotallers is writ_.