Sunday, February 16, 2025

28.04.25: Level 3; Beasts in Egypt and Libya [1]

Translate into English:

In Aegyptō paucae bēstiae reperiuntur. Itaque omnēs sacrae habentur. Fēlēs canēsque coluntur. Mortuā fēle in quāvīs domō, omnēs aedium illārum incolae supercilia sōla rādunt: mortuō cane, tōtum rādunt corpus et caput. Mortuae fēlēs in sacrīs sepulcrīs, Būbastī in oppidō sepeliuntur. Canēs mortuōs in suō quisque oppidō sepeliunt. Mūrēs etiam, arāneōs, accipitrēs, ibēs, ichneumonēs, colunt.

Vocabulary

accipiter, acciptrī [2/m]: hawk

aedis, -is [3/f]: [i] (singular) temple; [ii] here: plural; aedēs, -ium: house, dwelling

arāneus, -ī [2/m]: spider

Būbastis, -is [3/f; Loc: Būbastī or Būbaste]: Bubastis, an ancient city in Egypt, the centre for the worship of the feline goddess Bastet and a principal location for mummified cats

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

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/history-magazine/article/bubastis-egyptian-sacred-city-of-cats

ībis, ībidis [3/f]: ibis

ichneumōn, ichneumonis [3/m]: ichneumon, an Egyptian mongoose

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

rādō, -ere, rāsī, rāsus [3]: [i] shave, scrape; [ii] rub, smooth

reperiō, -īre, repperī, repertus [4]: find, discover

Notes

[1] ablative absolute constructions with the participle + noun

mortuā fēle │with the cat having died = after / when the cat has died (is dead)

mortuō cane │with the dog having died = after / when the dog has died (is dead)

[2] 2 words both of which have a second indeclinable part:

[a]

in quāvīs domō: in whichever house

[i] (here) functioning as an adjective:

quī¦vīs, quaevīs, quodvīs: whichever, whatever < [1] quī + [2] vīs (indeclinable: “you want”);

[ii] It can also stand alone as a pronoun

quīvīs, quaevīs, quidvīs: whoever (you will), anyone, whatever (you will), anything, whatsoever

[b] in suō quisque oppidō │ each one in his own house

quis¦que, quaeque, quodque: each (one) < [1] quis + [2] que (indeclineable)

[3] word order

(i) omnēs ¦ (ii) aedium illārum ¦ (i) incolae │ (i) all the inhabitants ¦ (ii) of that house

(ii) Būbastī ¦ (i) in oppidō │(i) in the town ¦ (ii) apposition: (of) Bubastis 


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Few / not many animals are found in Egypt. Therefore, they are all held / regarded as sacred. Dogs and cats are worshipped. When a cat has died in any house, all the inhabitants of that house shave their eyebrows only: when a dog has died, they shave the whole of the body and head. Dead cats are buried in sacred tombs in the town of Bubastis. They bury dead dogs, each one in his own city. They also / even worship mice, spiders, hawks, ibises (and) mongooses.



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