08.01.25; level 1; topic; school [18]; sports and exercise [6]; Comenius; games

“What you lose on the Merry-Totters, you gain on the roundabouts”

I like using extracts from Comenius’ work; apart from the vast range of Latin vocabulary the book provides, the illustrations give you an insight into a child's perspective. They would have known all these games, and I can imagine them pointing to them in the picture and probably wishing they were playing them rather than sitting in a classroom! I’m not too sure about a blowpipe and bow in a playground.

A single page of Comenius’ work is packed with information and, despite some of the obvious 17^th century references (which are explained in the notes), the vocabulary is very useful in talking about games, and much of it goes way back to the Mediaeval and Classical periods.

Puerī solent lūdere │ Boys are accustomed to playing [= usually play]

vel Globīs fictilibus, 1. │ either with bowling-stones

vel iactantēs Globum, 2. │ or throwing a bowl

ad Conās, 3. │ at nine-pins

vel mittentēs Sphærulam │ or striking a ball

per Annulum, 5. │ through a ring

Clāvā, 4. │ with a bandy (club)

versantēs Turbinem, 6. │ scourging [= whipping] i.e. spinning a top

Flagellō, 7. │ with a whip

vel iaculantēs Sclopō, 8. │ or shooting with a trunk [= blow-pipe; ‘pea-shooter’]

& Arcū, 9. vel incīdentēs │ and a bow, or going

Grallīs, 10. vel │ upon stilts, or

super Petaurum, 11. / sē agitantēs & oscillantēs. │ getting excited and swinging themselves on a merry-totter [= swing]

[i]

lūdī puerīlēs: boys’ games (or children’s games); although the noun puer and the adjective puerīlis are most often translated as boy and boyish (which the title states), the term can refer to both a male and female child and the adjective puerīlis can also translate as ‘youthful’

soleō, -ēre [2]: be accustomed [+ infinitive: to doing something]

• Puerī solent lūdere … │ Boys (children) are accustomed to playing = usually play

fictilis, -e: made of clay, ceramic, earthenware

globus, -ī [2/m] any round object

• Puerī globīs fictilibus [ablative] lūdunt │ The boys (children) play with bowling stones

iactō, -āre, -āvī [1]: throw

• Globum ad *conās* iactant. │ They throw a ball at the nine-pins (bowling pins).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine-pin_bowling

*I’m unsure why Comenius used a feminine form to refer to the bowling pins; it isn’t listed anywhere. The term referring to any form of ‘cone’ shape is:

cōnus, -ī [2/n]: cone; cōnīs lūdō [3]: (New Latin) I go bowling

images: [i] Roman boys and girls playing some form of ball game (possibly harpastum; see previous post [ii] Mediaeval bowling (1468)

[ii]

ān(n)ulus, -ī [2/m]: ring

clāva, -ae [1/f]: (CL); club; (New Latin) club bent at the bottom for hitting a ball; it is used to refer to a type of hockey stick but is listed in the New Latin lexicon as golf club

sphaerula, -ae [1/f]: small ball

• Puer sphaerulam ¦ per annulum ¦ clāvā ¦ mittit. │ The boy sends the small ball ¦ through the ring ¦ with a club.

[iii]

flagellum, -ī [2/n]: whip

turbō, turbinis [3/m] spinning top

versō, -āre, -āvī [1]: keep turning

• Puer turbinem flagellō versat. │ The boy keeps the top spinning with a whip.

Images: [i] Extract from ‘Children’s Games’ (1559) by Pieter Brueghel the Elder; [ii] Ancient Roman spinning top (Egypt; 1^st – 3^rd century AD); by G.dallorto - Own work, Attribution, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31342380

[iv]

arcus, -ūs [4/m]: bow

iaculor, iaculārī: (deponent verb) throw; hurl; used here to mean ‘shoot’

• Sclopō* vel arcū iaculantur │ They shoot with a “trunk” or a bow

*The image shows the boy using some form of blow-pipe / pea-shooter, translated as “trunk” presumably since it’s wooden and cylindrical. The origin of the word is unclear but appears to be related to: stloppus, -ī [2/m], a slap (the sound produced by striking upon the inflated cheek) [Lewis & Short]; also listed as scloppus in Gaffiot); variant forms appear in manuscripts including sclop- and scoph-, an onomatopoetic word conveying the sound; it is found in Italian [i] schioppo (gun) and [ii] scoppio (explosion) 

There is a contemporary reference to it as meaning 'gun' by Diego Collado, a Spanish Christian missionary (1587 – 1638):

illīs etiam ministrāvī quaerendō vīctū alia, sclopōs, et glandēs ... │ For obtaining my livelihood, I also procured other stuff for them: guns and bullets ...

sclopētum, -ī [2/n] (New Latin) rifle; gun; firearm

[v]

incīdō, -ere [3]: fall / drop upon something i.e. picture the boy getting on to the stilts! He would probably use some form of ladder in order unsteadily to “drop down” upon them.

grallae, -ārum [1/f/pl]: (CL) stilts; used by actors, but, as one image shows – not only by actors

Images: [i] stilt walkers (Greece; 6^th century BC); [ii] extract from the Magerius mosaic (Roman; 3^rd century AD; discovered in Tunisia) depicting venatores, professional wild animal hunters performing at the Games; this one makes life difficult for himself by fighting on stilts; [iii] they did like to exaggerate in the Middle Ages!

[vi]

agitō, -āre, -āvī [1]: excite

oscillō, -āre, -āvī [1]: swing

You learn something new every day, and sometimes it’s an English word!

petaurum, -ī [2/n]: (CL) stage or springboard used by tumblers and ropedancers; (here) a swing or, far more nicely expressed in the 17^th century, a Merry-Totter

Puerī sē agitant vel sē oscillant super petaurum │ The boys excite themselves [= get excited] and swing themselves on the swing.

Image: Mediaeval “merry-totters” (early 14^th century);  judging by the images, the boys in the 14^th and 17^th century don’t look that merry.