“D.M. BODICACIA CONIUNX VIXIT ANNO S XXVII”
D.M. Dīs Mānibus: to the
spirits of the dead, an introductory statement commonly found on the tombstones
BODICACIA: the name of the
deceased
CONIUNX: wife
VIXIT: she lived
ANNOS XXVII: for
twenty-seven years
Notice that the stone-carver
couldn’t get the S on the same line as the rest of the word ANNOS!
The Ashmolean Museum produced a great worksheet for kids to interpret Roman tombstones.
While looking at tombstones
may not be your idea of a great day out, they often provided a lot more
information about the person than merely the birth and death dates. The ones
shown below, however, are a good starting point.
In Latin, the phrase VIXIT
ANNOS, followed by a numeral, means ‘he (or she) lived for … years’.
Sometimes the stone-carver
shortened this to VIX. ANN. or sometimes even just V. A.
The second image takes this
a bit further:
In addition to the number of
years, sometimes Roman tombstones also tell us how many months, days, or even
hours a person lived.
These are the words to look
out for: MENSES or M. (months); DIES or D. (days); HORIS or H. (hours). As with
V.A., the numeral comes afterwards, and so M.X means ‘ten months’
The numbers 20-90 have two very distinct markers -gintā / -gintī. Note also L (50) and C (100) in the Roman numerals.
Become familiar with these
before moving on.
Compounds of the numbers can
occur in alternative forms but are straightforward to recognise since they are
constructed from numbers already introduced. The variations exist in English,
the first English translation below being, of course, the one now commonly
used, but the other English variant appears in older English writing and poetry
e.g. four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie. Other European
languages also form compound numbers in similar ways.
Compare English twenty-one
or, in older English, one and twenty; French vingt-et-un; German
ein¦und¦zwanzig; Dutch een¦en¦twintig
Pause …
When you saw the numbers 18
and 19 in the earlier post, those were expressed in a different way
As with 18 and 19, all other
multiples of 10 ending in 8 and 9 have more than one way of forming the numbers
XXVIII duo¦dē¦trīgintā
[literally 2 from 30] (28)
XXIX un¦dē¦trīgintā
[literally 1 from 30] (29)
Here are some random numbers
which all follow the patterns above
Pause (again) …
Following the same patterns
for multiples of 10 ending in 8 and 9, we should be able to say
But can we? The next part
here is purely for interest.
Attestation is a term used when
providing documented evidence of, in the case of Latin, a specific word, phrase
or grammatical structure used during the Classical period. When amicable
discussions, heated debates and civil wars occur in Latin discussion forums,
everybody rushes to the Roman authors and fires attestations. If Cicero said
it, it must be OK. Plautus said it once – even if nobody else did – so it must
OK. If you ever step onto the battlefield of Latin arguments, you’ll see what I
mean.
Can we say ūndēcentum for
99? Yes, we can because Pliny the Elder wrote it – once. Most likely, countless
others said it but there is only one attested example in the literature. But if
it was good enough for Pliny the Elder, it’s good enough for us.
Logic would suggest that,
if ūndēcentum (99) is possible, by extension, duodēcentum (98)
would also be acceptable.
Your enemies are sharpening
their swords!
Wiktionary: “Attested at
least from the 16th century CE onwards.” And so there is no written evidence that
the word was ever in use during the Roman period. In the end, it doesn’t really
matter – it's been used since the 16th century and so we can use it too – but
it does make for good arguments.
Incidentally, a post I wrote
in the Learning Latin FB group referred to the phrase Ecce mē! (Here
I am!) A missile was fired in my direction – I quoted Plautus (because he did
say it) – and my adversary politely conceded defeat!
Read the text for understanding and then take a look at the notes, especially those on the pronouns in the ablative case.
Agricolae Perīculum
Effugiunt
[Latin Our Living Heritage;
Breslove and Hooper (1968): slightly adapted]
Pater līberōs fēmināsque in
aedificium dūcit. Animālia ex agrīs cōgit. Est īrātus quod Gallī līberōs
terrent. Noctū pater et Mārcus, frāter līberōrum, ad cēterōs agricolās veniunt;
dē perīculō monēre temptant. Sed agricolae nōn audiunt quod dormiunt. Itaque
nōn respondent.
Mārcus īrātus fortiter
clāmat. "Nōnne audītis? Cūr dormītis? Dē magnō perīculō vōs monēmus. Gallī
ad agrōs nostrōs perveniunt. Līberōs nostrōs terrent. Aedificia vestra et
familiae vestrae sunt in magnō perīculō. Cūr diūtius manētis?"
Tandem agricolae respondent.
“Nōn dormīmus. Vōs audīmus.” Statim ex agrīs animālia cōgunt. Cum līberīs
fēminīsque Rōmam fugiunt. Sēcum bona portant et servōs dūcunt. Intrā mūrōs
Rōmae manent. Laetī sunt quod perīculum effugiunt.
Vocabulary
cēterus, -a, -um: the other;
the rest
diūtius: [i] diū: for a long
time [ii] diūtius: for longer
perveniō, pervenīre [4]
(usually with ad + accusative): reach
temptō, temptāre [1]: try;
attempt; test
Notes
[1] Read carefully!
These two very simple
statements are classic examples of why, when reading Latin, you can’t just go
through it from left to right!
What do these mean?
[2] Secum bona portant.
They carry (their) possessions with them.
[i] There is the
adjective bonus, -a, -um: good
[ii] There is also a
noun: bonum, meaning a ‘moral good’ but in the plural – bona –
it refers to ‘possessions’.
[3] Sē¦cum bona
portant. They carry their possessions with ¦ them.
A few points to note here:
[i] sē is
a reflexive pronoun referring back to the subject of the
sentence i.e. They take the goods with themselves.
[ii] cum (with)
is a preposition that is followed by the ablative case; the pronouns in the
ablative case are given below; look at the examples and note in particular what
happens with cum when it’s used with certain pronouns –
and only that preposition does this.
> ablative mē: sine mē
(without me); mēcum (with me)
> ablative tē: ā tē (from
you / by you); tēcum (with you)
> ablative eō: cum eō
(with him)
> ablative: eā
> ablative: eō
> ablative: nōbis; prō*
nōbis (for us; on our behalf); nōbiscum (with us)
> ablative: vōbis;
cōram** vōbis (before you i.e. in your presence); vōbiscum (with
you)
> ablative: eīs; cum eīs
(with them)
*prō + ablative: for; on
behalf of
**cōram + ablative: in the
presence of; face to face with
These pronouns are also
posted in the images in a table; marked in grey are those pronouns which are
the same in different cases.
[iii] cum is
attached to the end of the pronoun: mēcum (with me), tēcum (with
you), nōbiscum (with us), vōbiscum (with you); with eō / eā / eō and eīs it is
not attached i.e. cum eō (with him), cum eīs (with them). No other preposition
attaches itself in this way, as the poet Martial tells you!
Nec tēcum possum
vīvere, nec sine tē. (Martial)
I can neither live with you,
nor without you.
And if you want to express
undying love, image #2 posted shows you how! The word order is slightly
different, but the meaning’s the same.
Similarly:
Some simple exercises to practise the 3-iō conjugation
[1] Put the 3rd-iō
conjugation verbs into the corresponding singular or plural form, for example:
faciō > facimus
[2] Translate:
[3] (Image #1): What are
these people doing? Choose the appropriate verb.
[4] (Image #2): Put the
verbs into their appropriate forms.
18.03.04: 3rd-iō conjugation
When you complete this post,
you’ll have reached a major milestone because you will have seen all the verb
conjugations in the present tense; that will provide the basis for you to move
on to other tenses which will give you the inroad into reading the authors.
If you look at the first
image posted, you see two verbs side by side; in grammar books they are
generally presented this way because both of them are classified as 3rd
conjugation, the infinitive in short /e/. However, the verb on the right can be
noted as [3-iō] although wiktionary (rather threateningly) lists this verb type
as “third conjugation iō-variant”.
Why is it called this?
[i] Here’s a 3rd conjugation
bibō, bibere [3]:
drink
[ii] Here’s a 4th
conjugation
audiō, audīre [4];
hear
[iii] Now, the final ‘tick
box’ of the conjugations:
faciō, facere
[3-iō]: do; make
Take a second look; the
first person singular looks like audiō [4th conjugation] but the
infinitive is short /e/ -ere, like bibere [3rd conjugation], and
what emerges is a combination of the two:
[1] fáciō [like 4th
conjugation; compare audiō]: I do
***
Now it has the endings of
the 3rd conjugation
[2] fácĭs [compare:
bíbĭs]: you (sg.) do
[3] fácĭt [compare:
bíbĭt]: he / she / it does
[4] fácĭmus [compare:
bíbĭmus]: we do
[5] fácĭtis [compare:
bíbĭtis]: you (pl.) do
***
Then …
[6] fáciunt [like
4th conjugation: audiunt]: they do
Some frequently occurring
verbs are of the 3-iō type:
You’ve now been introduced
to all the present tense conjugations and all the principal parts that you need
for the moment. They are shown in the second image.
Read the text for understanding and note the verbs
in bold; they will be explained in the next post.
Gallī ad urbem Rōmam veniunt
[Latin for Canadian Schools; Breslove and Hooper (1958)]
Gallī virī magnī sunt et fortiter hastīs gladiīsque pugnant. Gallī
Rōmam capere et Rōmānōs superāre parant. Gallī cōpiās ē Galliā
dūcunt. Nunc Gallī in viīs prope Rōmam sunt. Magnīs cum cōpiīs in agrōs
agricolārum veniunt. Multōs virōs fēmināsque interficiunt; multōs
in agrīs capiunt. Propter perīculum agricolae Rōmānī līberōs
servōsque cōgunt et ex agrīs ad urbem fugiunt. Rōma mūrōs altōs et
longōs habet. Gallī ad portās Rōmae properant. Mox Rōmānī Gallōs circum urbem
audiunt. Incolae Gallōs nōn timent, sed in urbe est magna inopia frūmentī.
Līberī Rōmānī sunt ieiūnī.
Vocabulary
cōgō, cōgere [3]: (here) collect; gather together
copiae (plural): troops; (military) forces
fortiter: bravely
Gallus: Gaul (person)
hasta: spear
ieiūnus, -a, -um: hungry
inopia: scarcity
mox: soon
perīculum: danger
propter; preposition + accusative: on account of
superō, superāre [1]: overcome; overpower; conquer
urbs: city (ad urbem: to the city; circum urbem: around the city; in
urbe: in the city)
verbs to be discussed in the next post:
Notes
[1] fortiter: bravely i.e. an adverb describing
how the Gauls fight
We need to make a distinction between an adverb and an adverbial phrase:
[i] They fight bravely i.e. a single word in English often
ending in -ly: slowly, quickly, angrily etc.
[ii] They fight ¦ for many hours. This is an adverbial
phrase: none of those three words are adverbs, but put together as a
phrase, they do act as an adverb describing the length of time the fighting
takes place.
We’ll do more on adverbs in a later post but, for the moment, just note
these two endings that indicate single adverbs, like [i] above:
[a] fortiter: these ones are easy to spot because of the ending –(i)ter:
[b] 1st / 2nd declension adjectives change to -ē:
There are many adverbs that do not have these endings just as English
adverbs do not all end in -ly; mox (soon) listed in the
vocabulary is also an adverb, as are, for example:
The big plus point about adverbs is that, both in Latin and in English,
regardless of how they are formed, they don’t change.
[2] Gallī … fortiter hastīs gladiīsque pugnant.
ablative of means / instrument
Russian speakers would grasp this concept immediately. When, in Russian,
you say “I write with a pencil”, a case without a preposition,
known as the instrumental case, is used. That ‘instrumental’ case did exist in
Latin but was absorbed into the ablative case. This is another use of the
ablative case: to define by what means or what ‘instrument’ an
action is performed:
Gallī … fortiter hastīs gladiīsque pugnant.
[3] Magnīs cum cōpiīs (with large
forces): note the word order where the preposition is inserted between the
adjective and the noun; this is a common feature in Latin literature.
[4] Multōs … capiunt: They capture many people.
The map shows the territory of Gaul and the surrounding areas
including Lūtētia (modern day Paris).
And since the text is about the Gauls, there's an image of the most
famous of them all!
