15.10.24: follow-up; Latin in the forest [2]

Listen to Vincent’s commentary again and fill in the missing words:

In silvā __________ exercēre et __________ et facultātem latīnē loquendī __________.

Salvē, __________ facis?

__________.

__________ sumus?

In silvā __________.

__________ tibi?

__________ placet.

Trādō __________ novum __________ meum.

__________!

__________ timēre!

Omnia __________ silvestria __________ sunt __________.

Viātōrēs __________!

__________ nōs habēmus?

__________!

__________!

amīcī; amīcum; animālia; bene; corpus; deambulō; ecce; īnsānī; maximē; mihi; nōlīte; optimē; placetne; possumus; quid; quōmodo; simul; sumus; ubi; vōbis

15.10.24: follow-up; Latin in the forest [1]

Another great video from Vincent using a lot of important basic Latin. At the end they do sound as if they're about to invade Gaul. 

[A] Transcript

In silvā possumus exercēre et corpus et facultātem latīnē loquendī simul.

Salvē, quid facis?

Deambulō.

Ubi sumus?

In silvā sumus.

Placetne tibi?

Maximē placet.

Trādō vōbīs novum amīcum meum.

Ecce!

Nōlīte timēre!

Omnia animālia silvestria mihi sunt amīcī.

Viātōrēs īnsānī!

Quōmodo nōs habēmus?

Bene!

Optimē!

__________

[B] Find the Latin:

(The animals) are my friends = literally: are friends to me

at the same time [Engl. deriv. simultaneous]

Do you like (it) = literally: is it pleasing to you?

Don’t … > Don’t be afraid

Hello

How are we (doing)?

I introduce to you

I like (it) a lot = literally: it is very much pleasing to me

I’m going for a walk

in Latin

Very good!

We are

We can / are able to … > We can exercise …

Well!

What …? > What are you doing?

Where …?

15.10.24: Latin in the forest

 

18.10.24: Follow-up on the previous post; ghosts etc. [8] curse tablets

If you’ve been short-changed at KFC or somebody’s nicked your parking space, then do what the Romans did and write a …

dēfixiō, dēfixiōnis [3/f]: curse tablet, a scroll or an inscription often made of lead, the wording of which was intended to bring harm to a specific person

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_tablet

A collection of 130 curse tablets were discovered in the Romano-British city of Bath; thefts from the bathhouses were common and, apart from one, all the inscriptions refer to losses of personal property, some of which name the culprit:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_curse_tablets

https://www.romanbaths.co.uk/roman-curse-tablets

Image #1: The example below does refer to a “theft”, but the “theft” of a person, namely a girl called Vilbia: the curse is written backwards in order to enhance the effectiveness:

[I]VQ ¦ IHIM ¦ MAIBLIV ¦ TIVALO / [V]NI ¦ CIS ¦ TAVQIL ¦ [ODO]MOC ¦ AVQA

= QV[I] ¦ MIHI ¦ VILBIAM ¦ IN[V]OLAVIT ¦ SIC ¦ LIQVAT ¦ COM[ODO] ¦ AQVA │ May he who carried off Vilbia from me become as liquid as water.

Below is the rest in its transposed form:

ELL[A]: she, as opposed to Classical Latin illa

M[V]TA: dumb

ELL[A] M[V]TA QVI EAM [VOR]AVIT SI = May she (become) dumb who devoured* her [*other possibilities are suggested] whether it be …

Image #2: Whoever Vilbia was, several people had their eyes on her; the image shows the “usual suspects”, Roman style

17.10.24: Follow-up on the previous post; ghosts etc. [7] witches and wizards

Quōmodo dīcitur "witch"?

[1] sāga, -ae [1/f]: witch; sooth-sayer; prophetess

[2] striga, -ae [1/f]: [i] witch; sorceress; hag [ii] vampire; the word is derived from Anc. Gk στρίξ [stríx] ‘a screech-owl,’ a creature believed by the ancients to suck the blood of young children

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0062:entry=striga-harpers

[3] strīx, strīgis [3/f]: screech-owl; the bird was believed to bring bad omens and became associated with evil spirits and vampirism

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/screech_owl#English

[4] venēfica, -ae [1/f]: [i] witch; sorceress [ii] female poisoner

[5] image #1: haruspex, haruspicis [3/m]: diviner (who read the intestines of sacrificed animals); sooth-sayer; the term is clearly indicated in the inscription

[6] augur, -is [3 m/f]: also a diviner or soothsayer who based predictions on the flights of birds; augurium, -ī [2/n]: augury, referring to the practice of this type of divination

[7] magus, -ī [2/m]: wizard; magician; the term could also be used both in a derogatory way to refer to a trickster or a charlatan and to describe the Magician of the Tarot cards; the feminine equivalent is maga, -ae [1/f]: enchantress; magician (fem.); witch

[8] maleficus, -ī [2/m]: evildoer; sorcerer; magician

[9] From the last word, we find far less “fun” mythological stuff in the feminine form of maleficus:

image #2: Malleus Maleficārum │ the Hammer of Witches, a book published in 1486 which proposed that witches be burned at the stake; the book was revived, ironically, during the period of the Renaissance and partly contributed to the prosecution of witches in the 16th and 17th century; the image shows the 1574 edition

https://en.wikipedia.org/.../Witch_trials_in_early_modern...

[10] Image #3: from Latin familiāris, -e (belonging to the household; familiar; intimate) or from the related noun familiāris,-is [3/m] (servant; acquaintance), there is the English derived term familiar. A witch’s familiars were attendant evil spirits often in the form of animals. We tend to associate witches with black cats but the image from 1579 of Hainous and Horrible Actes Committed by Elizabeth Stile also shows toads.

image #4: early - possibly the earliest - depiction of witches on broomsticks (1451)

Some Halloween reading from the Roman authors:

https://medium.com/.../wicked-witches-of-latin-literature...

And if you want to know how to spot a witch, the UK Monty Python comedy team, mocking the brainless English peasantry in the 10th century, will tell you ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf71YotfykQ

16.10.24: Follow-up on the previous post; ghosts etc. [6] creature features [2]

Referring to: https://www.facebook.com/.../permalink/533141859297087/

Who’s who in the Greek and Roman monster world?

[a] Match the names with the images

centaurus, -ī [2/m]

Cerberus, -ī [2/m]

chimaera, -ae [1/f]

cyclōps, cyclōpis [3/m]

gorgō, gorgonis [3/f]

harpyia, -ae [1/f]

hydra, -ae [1/f]

Mīnōtaurus, -ī [2/m]

[b] Can you match the questions with the answers listed below?

[1] What is name of the most famous Cyclops?

[2]

[i] Which monster could turn you into stone?

[ii] What was the name of the most famous one?

[iii] Who killed her?

[2] Who killed the Hydra?

[3] Who killed the Minotaur?

[4] Which of the monsters had the head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a dragon?

[5] Which of the monsters had the upper body of a man and the lower body of a horse?

[6] Which monster guarded the Underworld?

Centaur; Cerberus; Chimaera; Gorgon; Hercules; Medusa; Perseus; Polyphemus; Theseus

16.10.24: Follow-up on the previous post; ghosts etc. [5] creature features [1]

Referring to: https://www.facebook.com/.../permalink/533141859297087/

mōnstrum, -ī [2/n] the term does not just refer to a “monster” as we imagine it now, but anything that conjured up wonder or, in the case of Plautus, fear …

Is this stereotypical comedy, where men think they’re in charge – but it’s actually the women who call the shots – any different from situation comedies now, yet they’re 2000 years apart?

monstrum mulieris, tantilla tanta verba funditat, (Plautus) │ A monstrosity of a woman! Diminutive as she is, she does spit out such mighty words

15.10.24: Follow-up on the previous post; ghosts etc. [4]

Referring to: https://www.facebook.com/.../permalink/533141859297087/

larva, -ae [1/f]: evil spirit; demon; ghost

Image: the skeleton of Pompeii

You can make your own for Halloween …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGufvzaNu-Q

14.10.24: Follow-up on the previous post; spirits etc. [3]

Referring to: https://www.facebook.com/.../permalink/533141859297087/

All the words below have a meaning of ‘likeness’, ‘appearance’ or ‘imitation’ (the first three often refer to statues) and so have a further meaning of “ghost” i.e. a likeness / copy / imitation of a person alive

effigiēs, -ēī [5/f] > Engl. deriv. effigy

imāgō, imāginis [3/f] > Engl. deriv. image

simulācrum, -ī [2/n]: the word still exists in English although it’s rarely used but has the same original meaning of ‘likeness’

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/articles/Simulacrum

spectrum, -ī [2/n] (rare in CL): likeness, but by the Renaissance is used specifically to refer to ‘spectres’ or ‘phantoms’: “…for the spectre’s voice disturbed the very marrow in his bones.” (Dickens)

13.10.24: Follow-up on the previous post; spirits etc. [2]

Referring to: https://www.facebook.com/.../permalink/533141859297087/

spīritus, -ūs [4/m]: [i] air [ii] ghost; spirit, a fourth declension noun. Regardless of your beliefs the following is worth remembering because it contains 3 declensions of masculine nouns all in the genitive case, and it is the genitive case that indicates to which declension a noun belongs:

fīlius, -ī [2/m]: son

pater, patris [3/m]: father

spīritus, -ūs [4/m]: spirit

> In nōmine Patris et Fīliī et Spīritūs Sānctī │ in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

11.10.24: Follow-up on the previous post; spirits etc. [1]

A few notes and additional vocabulary related to some of the words that were in this post:

https://www.facebook.com/.../permalink/533141859297087/

[i] umbra, -ae [1/f]: [i] shadow; shade [ii] ghost

Image #1: A form of it is used in the Mediaeval song O Fortuna that describes fate as:

obumbrāta et vēlāta │ shadowed (darkened / obscured) and veiled

[ii] In the plural it refers to the “shades” of the Underworld. From the Aeneid:

Image#2: vel Pater omnipotēns adigat mē fulmine ad umbrās, / pallentīs umbrās Erebī noctemque profundam │ or may the all-powerful Father drive me with his thunderbolt to the shades (shadows) / to the pale ghosts and deep night of Erebus*

*Erebus, -ī [2/m]: Erebus, the Latin equivalent of Anc. Gk. Ἔρεβος (Érebos), the God of Darkness, “the Son of Chaos”

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Erebus

[iii] lemurēs, -um [3/m/pl]: spirits of the dead; ghosts

[iv] mānēs, -ium [3/m/pl]: the souls and spirits of the dead; this is the word used on gravestones

18.09.24: Remembering a soldier

https://www.facebook.com/.../permalink/520709713873635/

19.03.24: tombstone for Bodicacia

https://www.facebook.com/.../permalink/409721888305752/

Image #3: DIS MANIBUS (to the spirits of the departed; often abbreviated to D.M.)