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When “multa” doesn’t mean “much” or “many”

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Sometimes multa is not a form of our beloved multus, -a, -um, ”much, many.” Shockingly, it is also a word in its own right: multa, -ae, f. ”fine, penalty.”

aestumatio pecudum in multa lege C. Iuli P. Papiri consulum constituta est (Cicero DRP 2.60.3) “the value of herds in a fine was established by the law of the consuls Gaius Iulius and Publius Papirus.”

In Italian, multa also means “fine,” and fare la multa means “to pay the fine.”