11.04.24: notes on Vincent’s solar eclipse video

[1]

dēfectiō, dēfectiōnis [3/f]: eclipse

dēfectiō sōlis: an eclipse ¦ of the sun

eclīpsis, -is [3/f]: solar eclipse

[2] Future tense:

• Hodiē erit eclīpsis in Texīā. Today there will be a solar eclipse in Texas.
• Posteā vōbīs mōnstrābō. Later I’ll show you.

[3] Et nunc iter faciō ad urbem nōmine Austin.

• iter faciō, facere [3-iō]: make a journey [= travel]

nōmen, nōminis [3/n]: name

> ablative: nōmine [Austin] by the name of [= called] Austin

[4] situs, -a, -um: located

[5] passive:

ubi vidēbitur maxima obscūrātiō sōlis: where the greatest obscuring of the sun will be seen

videbit: he / she / it will see

> vidēbitur: he / she / it will be seen

> nōn bene vidēbitur: it won’t be seen well

[6] fortasse: perhaps

[7] nesciō, nescīre [4]: not know

• nesciō: I don’t know
• nescīmus: we don’t know

[8] Two adjectives used to describe the sky (caelum, -ī [2/n]):

• nūbilōsus, -a, -um: cloudy < nūbēs, nūbis [3/f]: cloud
• obscūrus, -a, -um: dark

[9] videāmus: this is a subjunctive form of vidēre; it’s used to express “let’s do something”

[10] Iam est initium eclīpsis.

• iam: now; already
• initium, -ī [2/n]: beginning

[11] parātus, -a, -um: prepared; ready

[12] lucerna, -ae [1/f]: lamp

• accendō, accendere [3]: light (a fire), but is used in New Latin to refer to a light being switched on. Again, note the passive:

Lucerna accenditur: the light is turned on

[13] nōnnūllus, -a, -um: some; a few

[14] imāgō, imāginis [3/f]: image; picture

[15] pellicula, -ae [1/f]: (New Latin) film

also taeniola, -ae [1/f]: (New Latin) film

[16] Hae sunt aliae quās mihi mīsit ūna amīca… Here are others which a friend (has) sent to me.

• alius, alia, aliud: other
• mīsit: this is the perfect tense of mittō, mittere [3]: send; the perfect tense will be the next big milestone, and it’s coming up soon

He also uses the perfect tense in:

Vīdistisne hoc mīrum spectāculum? Did you (pl.) see this wonderful spectacle?

[17] optimus, -a, -um: best; very good

[18] inveniō, invenīre [4]: find

[19] pāgina, -ae [1/f]: page

[20] Narrāte (imperative; command) mihi! Tell (to) me [about it]!

[21] Note on pronunciation:

Listen to when Vincent says: “It’s difficult”

Difficil[e] [e]st: he runs the two vowels together so that it effectively becomes one; this is known as elision. We see this in French: ce + est > c’est, and English does something similar all the time: we’re, they’ve etc. We know that the Romans did this because it’s marked in the works of Plautus and is a major feature of Latin poetry e.g. when a word ends in a vowel and is followed by a word that begins with a vowel, then the first vowel is lost. A good example of that are the first words of a Catullus poem:

Ōd[ī] et amō: I love and I hate [ō-dĕt ă- ¦ mō]

i.e. the author writes the two vowels, but one of them isn’t said