The Latin ablative case covers relations that English usually expresses with the prepositions from, with or by, and in or at. It absorbed three older cases: the ablative proper (from), the instrumental (with or by), and the locative (in or at).
The “from” uses include separation, source, cause, the agent of a passive verb (with a or ab), and comparison (“than”). The “with or by” uses include means, manner, accompaniment (with cum), degree of difference, quality, price, specification, the object of deponent verbs such as utor, and the ablative absolute. The “in or at” uses cover place where and time when, for example occisus gladio (“killed by the sword”) and hoc ipso tempore (“at this very time”).
Source: Allen and Greenough’s New Latin Grammar, §§398–399 (Dickinson College Commentaries)
Image: Pediment and inscription of the Pantheon, Rome, Amphipolis, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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