25.03.24: Wilkes [2]; take what you need and leave the rest

A few more notes from the Wilkes excerpts which provide us with some useful vocabulary and phrases:

[1] domine: “sir” like Fr. monsieur; Gmn. mein Herr; vocative of dominus (master); very common in Mediaeval writing e.g. Grātiās tibi agō, domine. The translation can vary depending on who precisely the person is e.g. lord; master of the house

dominula: this is an example of using (very rare) Classical Latin to convey contemporary ideas; dominulus (a little lord) does exist, and there is a feminine form dominula. Here it is being used to express “Miss” Fr. mademoiselle.

[2] longinquus, -a, -um: far

• Estne longinquum? Is it far?

[3] Quā viā ad [popīnam] veniō? How do I get to [the restaurant]? Again, note the use of the ablative case to express by what means something is done i.e. literally: By which way do I come to the restaurant? You see the same use in “ī secundā viā sinistrōrsum”: go via the second street on the left.

[4] situs, -a, um: situated

• Popīna ā dextrā parte / ā laevā parte sita est. The restaurant is situated on the right / left side.

[5] Other prepositions to show location:

• prope + accusative: near
• contrā + accusative: across from; opposite
• circum + accusative: around

Nam nusquam alibī sī sunt, circum argentāriās / scorta et lēnōnēs quī sedent cottīdiē. (Plautus)

For, if they are nowhere else, the procurers with their harlots are around the bankers' shops each day.

• Estne in propinquō argentāria? Is there a bank around here?
• Ita est. Illīc ¦ contrā popīnam. Yes, there is. Over there ¦ across from the restaurant.

Illīc: over there, often, as the image shows, with the idea of indicating something at a distance

• Estne in propinquō piscina? Is there a swimming baths around here?
• Ita est. Illīc ¦ prope mercātum. Yes, there is. Over there ¦ near the market.

I’m leaving the Wilkes excerpts now partly because the intention of her book is to fulfil contemporary needs and if we start moving into vocabulary for “railway station” and “youth hostel”, we’ll be distracted from the aim of the Classical Latin language. Wilkes, for example, uses the word minūta to express ‘minute’. That is Mediaeval Latin; no such word for “minute” existed in Classical Latin because the Romans did not include minutes when calculating times. And, as was mentioned in the previous post, pharmacopōla was not a pharmacy, but the person who sold medicines. However, you can see the great efforts authors put in to bring Latin to the 21st century.

What we can do, however, is extract from these texts what will be of benefit. From both the Wilkes and Traupman excerpts, we have everything we need.