We Brits have a reputation for talking (all the time) about
our weather, but the Roman historian Tacitus talked about our weather too. The
extract below is given with a full translation because the aim is not
to understand all the Latin in it but to pick out a lot of
useful vocabulary to get started.
Caelum crēbrīs imbribus ac nebulīs
foedum; asperitās frīgōrum abest. Diērum spatia
ultrā nostrī orbis mēnsūram; nox clāra et extrēmā
Britanniae parte brevis, ut fīnem atque initium lūcis exiguō
discrīmine internōscās. Quod sī nūbēs nōn officiant, aspicī
per noctem sōlis fulgōrem, nec occīdere et exurgēre,
sed trānsīre adfirmant. (Tacitus: Agricola)
The weather is foul, with
dense cloud and rain; but severity of cold is
unknown. The days exceed in length those of our part of the
world, the night is bright, and in the extreme
north so short that ¦ between sunlight and dawn [literally:
between the end and the beginning of light] you can perceive but a
slight distinction. So, they say, if no clouds intervene
the sun’s brightness is visible all night, not setting and rising but
simply transiting.
A number of grammatical topics can stem from talking about
the weather, and two (asterisked*) which will be discussed in later posts
appear here.
asperitās, asperitātis [3/f]: severity; harshness
*brevis, -e: short (3rd declension adjective; coming up
soon)
caelum, -ī [2/n]: weather; sky
clārus, -a, -um: clear
*diēs, diēī [5m/f]: day (the last declension to be
covered, and it won’t take long); can also refer to ‘daylight’
exsurgō, exsurgere [3]: rise up
foedus, -a, -um: foul
frīgor, frīgōris [3/n]: cold
fulgor, fulgōris [3/m]: [i] (here) brightness; gleam [ii]
lightning
imber, imbris [3/m]: rain
lūx, lūcis [3/f]: light; daylight (and can also be used to
refer to ‘dawn’)
nūbēs, nūbis [3/f]: cloud
nebula, -ae [1/f]: cloud
nox, noctis [3/f]: night
occidō, occidere [3]: go down; set (of the
sun); note: not occīdō, occīdere [3] (with long
/ī/) which means ‘kill’
sōl, -is [3/m]: sun
We might feel sorry for the soldiers posted at Hadrian’s
Wall; they would probably have preferred the more pleasant climate of Hispania!
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