Notes on the video: pedifolle ludimus
That we can watch a video of three lads playing football
with a description in Latin is a remarkable testimony to the “staying power” of
this language. Some debate goes on (elsewhere) as to whether or not Latin is a
“dead” language with the usual tedious analysis of the term “dead”. The boys
couldn’t have made that video in Hieroglyphics or Etruscan, but they could in
Latin because Latin, for centuries after the Romans, continued to grow, evolve
and be used throughout the loosely described “Late Latin” period, the Dark
Ages, the Middle Ages and into the 17th and 18th centuries as a common language
for academics to publish their works throughout Europe. It was the language of
the monasteries and the Church, Comenius wrote an entire school book in the
17th century describing every conceivable concept that the kids at that time
would need, and he had no hesitation in incorporating Latin words that existed
by his time even if they hadn’t existed or had different meanings in the
Classical period. 17th century kids could talk about their world in the same
way as the boys here talk about theirs. And in the 21st century Latin words
have been adapted to suit contemporary needs.
While the focus of the group is Classical Latin, it’s
interesting to mark time for a moment and reflect: the Romans never played in
the Premier League but the language of Plautus 200 years BCE can still be used
to describe what’s going on in a football match.
That doesn’t sound dead to me.
The New Latin expressions have come from Traupman’s Conversational
Latin for Oral Proficiency, extracts from which have been used in earlier
posts. If you are looking for New Latin, a good source is also:
https://neolatinlexicon.org/
septimāna, -ae [1/f]: (Late Latin) week
- also: hebdomada, -ae [1/f]; hebdomas, hebdomadis [3/f]
praeteritus, -a, -um: past; in the past
pluit: it’s raining
- pluēbat [imperfect tense]: it was raining
splendeō, splendēre [2]: shine
follis, -is [3/m]: ball
- pedifollis, -is [3/m]: (New Latin) football
When you play at a game, the ablative is
used:
- Pedifolle lūdō: I play football
eāmus: this is a subjunctive form of the verb eō,
īre: go. Here it means “let’s go”; don’t get involved with subjunctives if
you’re a starter in Latin.
campus, -ī [2/m]: plain; natural field (as opposed to ager, agrī,
which refers to a cultivated field)
lūsōrius, -a, -um: (Late Latin) adjective “playing”
- campus lūsōrius: playing field
- Also: campus pedilūdārius (New Latin): football field
Ecce campus in quō solēmus lūdere.
- soleō, solēre [2]: be accustomed to (doing something), but can have neater translations
This is the field on which we are accustomed to playing = …
on which / where we usually play
tantum: only
non erit: there will not be; this is the
future tense of sum, esse, which is the next topic to
be discussed
praemium, -ī [2/n]: reward
arbiter, arbitrī [3/m]: (Classical) arbitrator; judge but
can have a transferred meaning to umpire or referee
sānē: really; truly
contentiō, contentiōnis [3/f]: competition
familiāris, -is [3/m]: friend; acquaintance
- contentiō familiāris: a friendly match
calceāmentum, -ī [2/m]: shoe
Ecce calceāmenta quae nūper ēmī. Here are the shoes (boots)
that I recently bought.
- nūper: recently
- ēmī: this is the perfect tense of emō, emere [3]: buy
oppugnātor, oppugnātōris [3/m]: attacker
ālārius: in ālāriō dextrō; on the right wing
positiō, positiōnis [3/f]: position
eōdem tempore
[i] īdem [masc],
eadem [fem], idem [neuter]: the same
[ii] eōdem tempore;
ablative of time when: at the same time
dēfēnsor, dēfēnsōris [3/m]: defender
portārius, -ī [2/m]: (Classical) gatekeeper; (New)
goalkeeper
pertineō, pertinēre [2] + ad + accusative: relate to
pedifollium, -ī [2/n]: (New Latin) football
Two examples of 3rd declension nouns in one sentence:
[i] follis, -is [3/m]: ball
[ii] pēs, pedis [3/m]: foot
- Follem [accusative] pede [ablative] pulsō.
- I strike the ball ¦ by means of [= with] the foot i.e. I kick the ball
Similarly:
caput, capitis [3/n]
Follem capite pulsō: I strike the ball ¦ by means of the
head i.e. I head the ball
(h)umerus, -ī [2/m]: shoulder
porta, -ae [1/f]: gate; (here) goal
pūnctum ferō, ferre [irr.]: score a point
trānspulsō, trānspulsāre [1] ¦ follem ad + accusative: pass
the ball to (somebody)
fessus, -a, -um: tired
Tempus est: it’s time [to do something +
infinitive]
- Tempus est domum redīre: It’s time to go back home
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