12.03.24: lunch, dinner ... and a shortage of beer!

Quid edis / bibis in prandiō / cēnā? What do you eat / drink at lunch / dinner?

• prandium: lunch
• cēna: dinner, the principal meal of the day

All the words in the images are 1st or 2nd declension nouns. However, the general word for ‘meat’ is carō; it is a 3rd declension noun: Carnem edō. And so, just become familiar with the word rather than analyse why it ends the way it does.

The same applies to the word for 'fish' piscis: it, too, is 3rd declension; Piscēs edimus (we eat fish; in Latin the plural of piscis is used).

Below are some notes on vocabulary not discussed in the previous post.

acētāria (neut. pl)

This refers to something which is prepared with oil and vinegar e.g. vegetables and, therefore, salad

būbula

vacca: cow; taurus: bull, but būbula (beef)

frūmentum

grain, part of the staple diet of the Romans; the lack of it would have been a source of real concern and is referred to in the literature.

garum

You might use ketchup nowadays, but the Romans used garum, a fermented fish sauce, to enhance the flavour of their dishes. High quality garum could fetch very high prices. One of the wealthiest citizens in Pompeii was a garum merchant.

placenta

This word did not have the biological associations that it does now. It refers to a type of cake consisting of several layers of dough interspersed with cheese, honey and bay leaves. It was then baked and covered in honey.

posca

Posca was a low-quality watered-down wine mixed with herbs and spices, popular among the military but shunned by the upper classes.

mulsum

Considered to be the oldest alcoholic drink in the world, mulsum is the sweet Roman mixture of wine and honey. Wild grapes were not as sweet as they are now and so honey was added. Mulsum is also known as ‘mead’.

cervisia: beer (alternative spellings cervēs(i)a; cerevisia); the word is of Celtic origin. And so, if you’re on a trip to Ibiza, and you proudly state to the waiter in Spanish “Una cerveza, por favor”, you know where the word came from!

The Vindolanda tablets

At the time they were discovered, the Vindolanda tablets were the oldest surviving handwritten documents in Britain providing a rich source of information about life on the northern frontier of Roman Britain. The documents record official military matters as well as personal messages to and from members of the garrison of Vindolanda, their families, and their slaves (adapted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vindolanda_tablets )

One, however, is of particular interest which was sent by Masclus, a Roman cavalry officer, to Flavius Cerialis, the prefect (military official) who lived at Vindolanda. The date is estimated at 97-105 CE.

cervesam commilitones non habunt quam rogo iubeas mitti

My fellow-soldiers have no beer. Please order some to be sent.

You can see the original document below; no marks, though, for handwriting or the peculiar use of habunt (2nd conjugation is habent; Masclus wasn't spot on in Latin grammar!)

Look at the post on the formation of 3rd conjugation verbs, and then look at these verbs:

• bibere (to drink)
• coquere (to cook)
• edere (to eat)
• emere (to buy)
• quaerere (to look for)
• sūmere (to take)
• vēndere (to sell)

Have a try at completing the Latin sentences below using these verbs. The English translations are given to help you. Remember to check the verb endings!

1. Quid in culīnā ____?
2. Quid in tabernā ____?
3. ____nē olīvās?
4. Ūvās nōn ____.
5. Rōmānī frūmentum ____.
6. Lupus in silvā cibum ____.
7. Sextus ientāculum in hortō____.
8. Cervisiam ____ nōn amō.

1. What are you (sg) cooking in the kitchen?
2. What are you (pl) buying in the shop?
3. Do you (sg) sell olives?
4. We don’t sell grapes.
5. The Romans eat grain.
6. The wolf is looking for food in the forest.
7. Sextus takes breakfast in the garden.
8. I don’t like to drink beer.