08.03.24: the ablative of description / quality

A feature of Latin with which you need to become familiar is that the cases very often operate without prepositions, whereas other languages e.g. English and French, which do not have case systems, need prepositions to convey the same idea. The absence of prepositions can sometimes make case usages more challenging to spot.

The ablative of description, also known as the ablative of quality, is used to describe a person’s personal qualities or physical features; English conveys this idea with the prepositions with and of, for example ‘a man of great wisdom’ or ‘a man with long hair’. This is generally expressed in Latin by using a noun and an adjective in the ablative case:

nāsus: nose

> vir ¦ magnō nasō: a man ¦ with a big nose

barba; capillus

> vir ¦ [i] barbā albā et [ii] capillō prōmissō: a man ¦ [i] with a white beard and [ii] long hair

oculī

> fēmina ¦ oculīs caeruleīs: a lady ¦ with blue eyes

prudentia: wisdom

> vir ¦ magnā prudentiā: a man ¦ of great wisdom

statūra: height; size of the body

Puerī ¦ statūrā parvā ¦ sunt. The boys are ¦ small in stature.

statūrā parvā / haud magnā: small / not big in stature

statūrā procerā / magnā: tall / big in stature

statūrā mediā: medium height; medium build

A good way of remembering case usages is to learn a quotation which illustrates the point; the quotation from Cicero in the previous post well illustrates this particular use.

summus, -a, -um: highest

ingenium: intelligence; genius; natural character

scientia: knowledge; learning

cōpia: abundance; (here) ability

Aristotelēs, vir ¦ [i] summō ingeniō, [ii] scientiā, [iii] cōpiā

Aristotle, a man of the greatest genius, learning and ability

Look at the image posted and describe the hair using the ablative of description. Here are the adjectives to use:

cōmptus, -a, -um: taken care of; combed

incōmptus, -a, -um: untidy; messy

ōrnātus, -a, -um: adorned; decorated

tōnsus, -a, -um: shaved; clipped

[1] puella ¦ capill__ __________

[2] puerulus …

[3] fēmina …

[4] discipulus …

08.03.24: describing Aristotle

In preparation for the next post on the ablative case, a quotation from the Roman lawyer and statesman, M. Tullius Cicero ...

08.03.24: the ablative of source / material

In this post and the next one we will look at two uses of the ablative case which are useful in terms of describing things or people.

The ablative case is used to show the source from which something / someone comes or the material of which something is made. You have already seen an example of the ablative of source with the preposition ē / ex:

Ex Aegyptō oriundus sum. I come from Egypt.

Ex Italiā oriunda est. She’s from Italy.

As an alternative to using adjectives to describe objects which has been discussed in previous posts, the same construction with ē / ex + noun can be used i.e. X is made of Y:

nummī (coins) ¦ argentum (silver) > nummī ex argentō: coins made of silver

ōlla (pot) ¦ argilla (clay) > ōlla ex argillā: a pot made from clay

Use the nouns listed below with ē / ex to describe what each object is made of, for example:

fistula ¦ plumbum > fistula ē / ex plumbō: a water pipe made of lead

armilla ¦ aurum: armilla ex __________ (a bracelet made of gold)

gladius ¦ ferrum: ….. (a sword made of iron)

mēnsa ¦ lignum: ….. (a table made of wood)

pōculum ¦ argilla: ….. (a cup made of clay)

speculum ¦ vitrum: ….. (a mirror made of glass)

Many of the ablative uses do not involve detailed explanation. There are, however, many of them and so it is better to become familiar with them gradually.

The image shows part of the title page of a book printed in Venice in 1683:

THESAVRVS NVMISMATVM,

Antīquōrum & Recentiōrum,

Ex Aurō, Argentō, & Aere

A treasure trove of ancient and more modern coins made of gold, silver and bronze; aes (bronze / copper) is not a 1st or 2nd declension noun and declines differently) but you can still see the use of the abative of source / material

The second image shows a necklace made of gold and amethysts:

Monīle ex aurō et amethystīs

08.03.24: practice with adjectives of material

Look again at the adjectives of material in previous posts and choose the best adjective to describe each of the objects in the images below.

08.03.24: equus ligneus: the wooden horse

In Vergil’s Aeneid, the Greeks, after a fruitless ten year siege of the walled city of Troy, construct a large wooden horse, leave it outside the walls of the city and pretend to sail away. They leave behind Sinon, a Greek warrior, who misleads the Trojans into believing that the horse is an offering; if it is taken into the city, the Trojans can conquer Greece. The Trojans take the horse into the city but inside the horse there are Greek soldiers hiding and, at night, they emerge from the horse, open the city gates and allow the Greek army to massacre the Trojans. Aeneas, a Trojan hero, is one of the few who survive the slaughter. Commanded by the gods to flee, he searches for a new home, finally arriving in Italy. Aeneas is regarded as the ancestor of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome.

The Mykonos vase (750-650 BCE) is the earliest depiction of the Trojan horse; on the side of the horse are the faces of the hidden Greek warriers.

08.03.24: plumbum (lead); plumbeus (made of lead)

Pompeii harboured a deadly threat long before Vesuvius erupted. Lead piping was used as a water conduit throughout the Roman world which, although less corrosive than other metals, is now known to be a poor choice for distributing drinking water. Lead particles could accumulate in the body leading to lead poisoning to which babies and young children were particularly susceptible. Tests of a lead water pipe fragment from Pompeii show evidence of antimony, a highly toxic metallic element.

08.03.24: Roman pottery

08.03.24: a hopeful house owner

In the previous post, the word lucrum (profit; gain) was introduced. At the threshold of a house in Pompeii is the phrase SALVE LVCRV(M) with the /m/ omitted: Welcome, gain! At the risk of sounding cynical, it seems that the owner was especially happy to welcome guests with cash!

08.03.24: Ora Maritima

[Ora Maritima: Sonnenschein (1902)]

Monumenta antiqua

Agellus patruī meī in Cantiō est, inter Dubrās et Rutupiās situs. Dubrae et Rutupiae oppida antīqua sunt. Multa sunt monumenta antīqua in Britanniā, multa vestīgia Rōmānōrum. Reliquiae villārum, oppidōrum, amphitheātrōrum Rōmānōrum hodiē exstant. Multae viae Rōmānae in Britanniā sunt. In Cantiō est via Rōmāna inter Rutupiās et Londinium. Solum Britannicum multōs nummōs aureōs, argenteōs, aēneōs et Britannōrum et Rōmānōrum occultat. Rusticīs nummī saepe sunt causa lucrī, cum arant vel fundāmenta aedificiōrum antīquōrum excavant. Nam nummōs antīquōs magnō pretiō vēnumdant. Patruō meō magnus numerus est nummōrum Rōmānōrum.

Vocabulary

monumentum: monument

situs, -a, -um: situated

vestīgium: vestige, trace

reliquiae: relics; 1st declension but almost always plural

exstāre: exist, remain

solum: soil

nummus: coin

Britannus: a Briton

occultāre: to hide

causa: cause, source

lucrum: gain; profit

fundāmentum: foundations

excavāre: excavate

pretium: price

vēnumdare: to offer for sale

Notes

[1] Town names in Roman Britain:

Although Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 and 54 BCE as part of his Gallic Wars, it did not become a Roman province until 43CE, the occupation lasting until 410CE.

There are many place names in Britain which originally had different Roman names:

Cantium: Kent; the name is believed to be of Celtic origin but Roman sources referred to the location as Cantium or Cantia

Londinium: London; capital of Roman Britain during most of Roman rule

Eboracum: York; largest town in northern Britain and a provincial capital

Camulodunum: Colchester; first capital of Roman Britain

Some town names in Latin are plural:

Dubrae: Dover

Rutupiae: Richborough

Athēnae: Athens

These place names have plural endings in all cases.

inter + accusative: inter Dubrās et Rutipiās (between Dover and Richborough)

[2] magnō pretiō: at a great price; this is one of many uses of the ablative case and it is worth noting these uses as you come across them. This, unsurprisingly, is known as the ablative of price i.e. when something is sold at a certain price, that price is expressed in the ablative case

[3] 2 uses of the dative:

[i] Rusticīs nummī saepe sunt causa lucrī. The coins are often a source of profit for the people living in the countryside. The dative can express for whose benefit something exists or is done.

[ii] dative of possession: patruō meō est… [literally: to my uncle there is…] = my uncle has…

[4] adjectives of material

From the text:

aureus, -a, um: golden; made of gold

argenteus, -a, -um: silver; made of silver

aēneus, -a, -um: copper; made of copper

suffix: -eus

Most adjectives referring to material are created by the combination of the noun + the suffix -eus, -a, -um i.e. a 1st/ 2nd declension adjective which indicates ‘made of’; some of the adjectives e.g. aureus and argenteus can refer to the material or the colour.

aes: copper; bronze > aēneus, -a, -um : (made of) copper; bronze

argentum: silver > argenteus: made of silver; silver-coloured

aurum: gold > aureus: made of gold; gold-coloured

ferrum: iron > ferreus: (made of) iron

lāna: wool > lāneus: woollen

although not obvious from statues or images, togas were made of wool

lignum: firewood > ligneus: wooden

wood used for building was known as materia

marmor: marble > marmoreus : (made of) marble

plumbum: lead > plumbeus: (made of) lead

saxum: rock; stone > saxeus: rocky; stony; of rock

scortum: skin; hide > scorteus: leather

testa: earthenware jar > testeus: earthenware

vitrum: glass (material) > vitreus: (made of) glass

08.03.24: adjectives of material

 

08.03.24: more on character

Match the adjectives with the nouns in the image; each adjective can only be used once and so look carefully at the endings

ānxius

callidī

ignāvus

īrātus

labōriōsus

lacrimōsa

laetae

mala

miserae

pigrī

saevus

stultus

coniūrātus: conspirator (found mainly in the plural)

venēfica: witch; sorceress; female poisoner

ventus: wind

08.03.24: describing character; adverbs and adverbial phrases of frequency

While many adjectives to describe character or mood do not belong to the 1st / 2nd declension group of adjectives and have different endings, there are nonetheless more than enough 1st / 2nd declension adjectives that you can use at this stage to describe somebody's personality or feelings. Some English derivatives have been added in brackets. Although the meanings of those derivatives may have changed, they are still related to the original Latin word.

• amīcus, -a, -um: friendly (Engl. amicable)
• ānxius, -a, -um: anxious
• āthlēticus, -a, -um: athletic
• benignus, -a, -um: kind (Engl. benign)
• bonus, -a, -um: good
• callidus, -a, -um: clever; wise, but can also meaning 'cunning' or 'crafty'
• dēfessus, -a, -um: tired
• ignāvus, -a, -um: lazy
• inimīcus, -a, -um: hostile; in Classical literature, this normally refers to a personal enemy rather than an enemy in battle which is generally a plural noun: hostēs. An English derivative is inimical i.e. unfriendly or hostile.
• īrātus, -a, -um: angry (Engl. irate)
• iūcundus, -a, -um: pleasant; agreeable
• labōriōsus, -a, -um: hard-working (Engl. laborious)
• lacrimōsus, -a, -um: tearful (Engl. lachrymose)
• laetus, -a, -um: happy
• malus, -a, -um: bad; evil (Engl. malfunction; maladjusted)
• miser, -a, -um: wretched; miserable; unhappy (Engl. miserable)
• piger, pigra, pigrum: lazy; backward
• saevus, -a, -um: cruel; savage
• sevērus, -a, -um: strict; stern (Engl. severe)
• studiōsus, -a, -um: eager; studious
• stultus, -a, -um: foolish (Engl. stultifying)

quālis

When asking about a person's character, you can use the interrogative word quālis meaning 'what kind / sort of...?'; the word is both masculine and feminine.

Quālis puer est Sextus? │ What kind of boy is Sextus?

Quālis vir est magister tuus? │ What kind of man is your teacher?

Quālis puella est Cornēlia? │ What kind of girl is Cornelia?

Quālis fēmina est? │ What kind of woman is she?

Quālis fēmina est domina vīllae? │ What kind of woman is the mistress of the estate?

We can add a little 'icing' to character description by using some adverbs of frequency since people are rarely consistent in their personalities. Adverbs are your best friends because they have no gender, case, number; they are what they are!

Here are some adverbs and adverbial phrases some of which have appeared in earlier posts:

• semper: always
• saepe: often
• interdum: sometimes; occasionally
• rārō; rārē: rarely
• numquam: never
• mane: in the morning
• co(t)tīdiē: every day
• interdiū: during the day
• vesperī / vespere: in the evening
• noctū / nocte: at night

You can also include the adverb valdē (very; very much; exceedingly) to intensify the description.

Here are some of those adverbs at work together with simple reasons introduced by quod (because):

1. Quālis puella est amīca tua? Amīca mea semper laeta est quod multam pecūniam habet.
2. Quālis vir est pater tuus? Pater meus vesperī dēfessus est quod interdiū labōriōsus est.
3. Fīlius meus saepe stultus est quod in scholā numquam studiōsus est.
4. Frāter meus multōs amīcōs habet quod valdē iūcundus est.
5. Quālis vir est ille* agricola? Agricola valdē ignāvus est quod equōs suōs rārō cūrat et in lectō cotīdiē iacet.
6. Fīlia mea interdum misera est quod nūllam pecūniam habet.

nūllus, -a, -um: no; not any

*ille, illa, illud is a demonstrative adjective and pronoun meaning 'that (person / thing)'; it contrasts with hic, haec, hoc in that it used when referring to someone or something that is away from the speaker:

Quantī cōnstat hic liber?

How much does this book cost? [i.e. the book that is near us or right in front of us or the one I'm holding in my hand]

Quantī cōnstat ille liber?

How much does that book cost? [i.e. the book that is over there]

And if you have absolutely no time for the person you're describing, you can opt for the demonstrative adjectives iste, ista, istud, which also mean 'that' but, in Classical Latin, have a pejorative sense, for example:

Iste puerulus valdē callidus est. │ That wretched / no-good little boy is exceedingly crafty!

We will look at this (and that and these and those) again in a later post.

07.03.24: describing hair [2]

You saw the three alternative constructions below in the post on describing eye colour.

[i] Capillus meus cānus est. My hair is grey.

[ii] Capillum cānum habeō. I have grey hair.

[iii] Capillus mihi cānus est. [dative of possession] I have grey hair.

Read this short text which uses two of those constructions.

Plūs quam mīlle capillōs habeō. [i] Capillus meus niger est. Capillus agricolae horridus est. [ii] Nōnnūllī capillum album habent. Nōn habeō barbam, nam puerī barbās nōn habent.

I have more than a thousand hairs. My hair is black. The farmer’s hair is dishevelled. Some people have white hair. I don’t have a beard, for boys don’t have beards.

plūs quam: more than

mīlle: thousand

Note the use of the plural capillōs because the speaker is stating the specific number of hairs on his head. The other references to hair in general are in the singular.

Cuius capillus longus est? Capillus Brutī longus est.

Whose hair is long? Brutus' hair is long.

Cuius capillus horridus est? Capillus Iūliae horridus est.

Whose hair is dishevelled? Julia's hair is dishevelled.

Other useful vocabulary when describing hair:

barba: beard

barbātus: bearded

calvus: bald

Barbam (nōn) habeō. I (don’t) have a beard.

Vir barbātus est. The man is bearded = The man has a beard.

Senex calvus est. The old man is bald.

A way of practising some of the vocbulary and phrases used to give physical descriptions is to write a few sentences about a friend or family member. The examples below show some different ways of expressing the same ideas.

Mihi est ūnus fīlius. Nōmen eī Iūlius est. Quīnque annōs nātus est. Barbam non habet quod puer parvus est! Oculōs caeruleōs habet. Capillus fīliī meī flāvus et curtus est.

Mihi est ūna fīlia. Nōmen eī Iūlia est. Fīlia mea septendecim annōs nāta est. Puella alta est. Oculī eī fuscī sunt. Capillum longum nigrumque habet.

The wealthy Romans paid a lot of attention to their appearance. The first image shows an ōrnātrīx, sometimes rather loosely translated as a 'hairdresser' but the term more accurately refers to a female slave who beautified and adorned their owners, working to create elaborate hairstyles, arranging clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, and perfumes, in fact anything to embellish their owners.

The English word 'barber' is, via French, derived from barba (beard) whereas the Latin word for somebody who cuts people's hair and beard is tōnsor [m] or tōnstrīx [f]. That word, in fact, does exist in English in the rather high-brow and antiquated phrase: tonsorial parlour, meaning the same as a barber's shop.

07.03.24: describing hair [1]

The word for ‘hair’ (of the head) is capillus; it is most often found in the singular which is the form we will use here, although the plural form capillī also occurs (the Mediaeval text in the previous post used the plural); French ‘les cheveux’, German ‘die Haare’ and Russian ‘volosy’ also follow a plural pattern.

Below are some adjectives to describe hair (or the lack of it): colour, length, style

longus; prōmissus: long

curtus: short

crīspus: curly

undulātus: wavy

dīrēctus: straight

horridus: dishevelled; standing on end

ōrnātus: styled

tōnsus: clipped

albus: white

cānus: grey

flāvus: blond

fuscus: brown (Mediaeval Latin: brunneus)

niger: black

rūfus: red

barbātus: bearded

calvus: bald

From the late 1st century BCE or the early 1st century CE onwards the images posted are of the startling and life-like mummy portraits from Fayum at the time of Roman rule in Egypt. The portraits covered the faces of bodies that were mummified for burial.

07.03.24: how to colour your hair - Mediaeval style!

The next post will focus on describing hair colour and style. Below is an excerpt from the Trotula, a 12th century text on women’s medicine, and here we have a hair remedy:

Sī mulier velit habēre longōs capillōs et nigrōs, accipe lacertam viridem et remōtō capite et caudā, coque in oleō commūnī. Tālī oleō inunge caput; reddit capillōs longōs et nigrōs.

If a woman would like to have long and black hair, take a green lizard and, its head and tail having been removed, cook it in ordinary oil. Anoint the head with such oil; this makes the hair long and black.

The Mediaeval lady in the manuscript has her head covered, and so we can't really tell if this miracle cure worked or not!

07.03.24: describing eye colour

Latin, like English, can have more than one way of expressing the same idea. The first two listed below are effectively the same as in English, but note the differences in the cases.

Quō colōre sunt oculī tuī? What colour are your eyes?

[1] Oculōs caeruleōs [accusative] habeō. I have blue eyes.

Latin uses the accusative case since ‘eyes’ is the direct object of the sentence, and caeruleōs agrees in gender, number and case with oculōs.

[2] Oculī meī sunt caeruleī [nominative]. My eyes are blue.

The nominative case is used; ‘eyes’ is the subject of the sentence, and meī and caeruleī agree in gender, number and case with oculī.

[3] Oculī mihi sunt caeruleī. [Literally: to me there are blue eyes] = I have blue eyes.

You have already seen this construction in previous posts. Its grammatical name is the dative of possession and is functioning in exactly the same way as in other examples before:

Mihi est fīlius. I have a son.

Here is part of a description of an animal written in 1667. Note the use of the dative of possession.

Oculī eī sunt nigrī, parvī, vīvidī et erectī.

It has black, small, lively and alert eyes (or: Its eyes are ...)

When learning a language, be able to recognise the different means of expression and, in active communication, be confident in using at least one of them.

07.03.24: describing colours

Quō colōre est equus? Equus est niger.

What colour is the horse? The horse is black.

Quō colōre est toga? Toga candida est.

What colour is the toga? The toga is shining white.

Quō colōre est gemma? What colour is the gemstone?

Gemma est rubra et nigra.

Gemma rubra nigraque est.

The gemstone is red and blue.

In the example above, you can see that two ideas can be joined either by 'et' or with the enclitic -que attached to the second word.

Quō colōre est caelum? Caelum est caeruleum.

What colour is the sky? The sky is blue.

Quō colōre sunt mergī? Mergī sunt albī.

What colour are the seagulls? The seagulls are white.

Quō colōre sunt rosae? Rosae roseae sunt.

What colour are the roses? The roses are pink.

Quō colōre sunt māla? Māla sunt rubra.

What colour are the apples? The apples are red.

Using the adjectives from the previous post and the images posted here, describe the colours in the same way as the examples above. Note that some of them may need two colours.

07.03.24: Quō colōre est?

The image is of a book aimed at teaching Latin to young children. Its title, however, is what we will be studying in the next post:

Quō colōre est?

What colour is it?

07.03.24: colour adjectives

colōrēs: colours

There is a wide range of vocabulary in Latin to describe colour, the Roman interpretation of which could be as diverse as our own. Posted are some 1st / 2nd declension adjectives to describe colour, but there are many more.

āter; niger: both mean ‘black’, but āter is closer to the English ‘matt black’, a flat colour without shine, whereas niger is shining black. Compare matt black and gloss black paints and you will see the difference between the two; āter also suggests dark in the sense of ‘gloomy’.

caeruleus: often simply (and superficially) translated as blue, referred to the colour of the sky or the blue-green tones of the sea

purpureus: The reddish-purple dye known as Tyrian purple (purpura), possibly first used by the Phoenicians as early as 1570BCE was made from the secretions of thousands of sea-snails and highly valued by the Romans who used it to colour ceremonial robes.

ruber; rūfus: used by the Romans to make the same distinction as we do between a red colour which you, for example, would see on walls (ruber), and the red colour of a person’s hair (rūfus); rūfus can also mean ‘ruddy’ to describe someone’s complexion.

albus: is the general word for ‘white’ – not the ‘whiter than white’ of our washing powder advertisements!

candidus: has the specific meaning of ‘shining / brilliant white’; at election times, those hoping to gain a seat in the Senate or become top man in their town would wander around the streets dressed in shining white togas, maybe to send a message to the electorate that they were squeaky clean although, judging by the behaviour of some of them, that was far from the truth. But they would certainly stand out from the crowd. These were the men ‘dressed in shining white’ – candidātī – from which the English word ‘candidate’ is derived. Maybe some of our present-day candidates aren’t quite as squeaky clean either!

Togas would have been taken to a ‘fullery’, a workshop for cleaning clothes. There the laundry workers (fullōnēs) filled the tubs with a mixture of water and alkaline chemicals – sometimes including ammonia derived from urine – and trampled, scrubbed and wrung out the cloth.

prasinus: the colour is specifically described as ‘leek green’, and was also used as a noun to refer to a particular group of charioteers (see note below).

The second image shows the epitaph for Fuscus; we will focus on the first two lines of the inscription:

FVSCVS CVRSOR

PRASINI VIX[IT] ANN[OS] XXIV

Fuscus, charioteer

of the Green (racing stable), lived 24 years

His name Fuscus may suggest that he was born in Africa since the word not only means ‘brown’ but also ‘dark-skinned’ or ‘dusky’; he would have been a slave charioteer.

In chariot racing the four factions in Rome were named for the colours worn by their drivers: Red, White, Green, and Blue, each faction entering up to three chariots per race; Fuscus belonged to the green faction.

The third image is reproduced from wiktionary and it shows that there is a far wider range of colour adjectives than have been listed here. Some of the 'colour matches' in that list do not always convey precisely the meanings, but if you wish to explore them more, wiktionary will provide detailed definitions.

viridis

This word is also an adjective meaning ‘green’ and is the most general word used for every shade of the colour, but viridis is not a 1st / 2nd declension adjective: it belongs to another group and is declined differently. However, we will use it here in two examples posted below so that, when we start to look at physical descriptions, those who have green eyes do not feel left out! The word will reappear when its declension pattern is covered in a later post. The only form you will need in the next post is viridēs.