In the singular, littera means a letter of the alphabet. In the plural, it can mean 1) letters of the alphabet if modified by an adjective such as multae, 2) literature, or 3) a letter (epistle) written to someone.
Are you sure it's litteris, though? It would show up in ablative plural without a preposition to convey the meaning "be means of." How do you spell the ablative plural of that word?
My book translated the sentence "They report the victory by means of a letter" into "Litteris victoriam nuntiant." Why is it litteris, not litterae. In the English sentence, letter was never pluralized. Why is it now? Thank you so much for explaining this.
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