Quid edis / bibis in prandiō / cēnā? What do you eat / drink at lunch / dinner?
- prandium: lunch
- cēna: dinner, the
principal meal of the day
All the words in the images
are 1st or 2nd declension nouns. However, the general word for ‘meat’ is carō;
it is a 3rd declension noun: Carnem edō. And so, just become
familiar with the word rather than analyse why it ends the way it does.
The same applies to the word
for 'fish' piscis: it, too, is 3rd declension; Piscēs edimus (we
eat fish; in Latin the plural of piscis is used).
Below are some notes on
vocabulary not discussed in the previous post.
acētāria (neut. pl)
This refers to something
which is prepared with oil and vinegar e.g. vegetables and, therefore, salad
būbula
vacca: cow; taurus: bull,
but būbula (beef)
frūmentum
grain, part of the staple
diet of the Romans; the lack of it would have been a source of real concern and
is referred to in the literature.
garum
You might use ketchup
nowadays, but the Romans used garum, a fermented fish sauce, to
enhance the flavour of their dishes. High quality garum could fetch very high
prices. One of the wealthiest citizens in Pompeii was a garum merchant.
placenta
This word did not have the
biological associations that it does now. It refers to a type of cake
consisting of several layers of dough interspersed with cheese, honey and bay
leaves. It was then baked and covered in honey.
posca
Posca was a low-quality
watered-down wine mixed with herbs and spices, popular among the military but
shunned by the upper classes.
mulsum
Considered to be the oldest
alcoholic drink in the world, mulsum is the sweet Roman
mixture of wine and honey. Wild grapes were not as sweet as they are now and so
honey was added. Mulsum is also known as ‘mead’.
cervisia: beer (alternative
spellings cervēs(i)a; cerevisia); the word is of Celtic origin. And so, if
you’re on a trip to Ibiza, and you proudly state to the waiter in Spanish “Una
cerveza, por favor”, you know where the word came from!
The Vindolanda tablets
At the time they were discovered, the Vindolanda tablets were the oldest surviving handwritten documents in Britain providing a rich source of information about life on the northern frontier of Roman Britain. The documents record official military matters as well as personal messages to and from members of the garrison of Vindolanda, their families, and their slaves (adapted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vindolanda_tablets )
One, however, is of
particular interest which was sent by Masclus, a Roman cavalry officer, to
Flavius Cerialis, the prefect (military official) who lived at Vindolanda. The
date is estimated at 97-105 CE.
cervesam commilitones non
habunt quam rogo
iubeas mitti
My fellow-soldiers have
no beer. Please order some to be sent.
You can see the original
document below; no marks, though, for handwriting or the peculiar use of habunt (2nd
conjugation is habent; Masclus wasn't spot on in Latin grammar!)
Look at the post on the
formation of 3rd conjugation verbs, and then look at these verbs:
- bibere (to drink)
- coquere (to cook)
- edere (to eat)
- emere (to buy)
- quaerere (to look for)
- sūmere (to take)
- vēndere (to sell)
Have a try at completing the
Latin sentences below using these verbs. The English translations are given to
help you. Remember to check the verb endings!
- Quid in culīnā ____?
- Quid in tabernā ____?
- ____nē olīvās?
- Ūvās nōn ____.
- Rōmānī frūmentum ____.
- Lupus in silvā cibum
____.
- Sextus ientāculum in
hortō____.
- Cervisiam ____ nōn amō.
- What are you (sg)
cooking in the kitchen?
- What are you (pl)
buying in the shop?
- Do you (sg) sell
olives?
- We don’t sell grapes.
- The Romans eat grain.
- The wolf is looking for
food in the forest.
- Sextus takes breakfast
in the garden.
- I don’t like to drink
beer.
