Saturday, May 17, 2025

29.08.25: topic; Dialogī puerīlēs (Simon Roeth: 1556) [1] dē tempore (ii) vocabulary, notes, exercises

[1] Vocabulary: nouns

[a] clock time

hōra, -ae [1/f]: hour

sēmihōra, -ae [1/f]: half an hour

sēsquihōra, -ae [1/f]: hour and a half

[b] day; parts of the day

aurōra, -ae [1/f]: dawn; sunrise

dīlūculum, -ī [2/n]: dawn; daybreak

merīdiēs, -ēī [5/m]: midday

vesper, -ī [2/m], or vesper, -is [3/m]: evening

nox, noctis [3/f]: night

diēs, -ēī [5 m/f]: day

hebdomas, hebdomadis [3/f]: week; the most common word in Latin for ‘seven’ is septem although this word could have that meaning, but it generally refers to a period of seven days i.e. a week (Late Latin: septimāna, -ae [1/f]). We can ‘dig’ a little because the word is originally from Anc. Gk. ἑβδομάς [hebdomás] ‘a group of seven’ (including days) < ἕβδομος [hébdomos] ‘seventh’ and ultimately from ἑπτά [heptá] ‘seven’ as in the Engl. deriv. heptagon

[c] seasons

vēr, -is [3/n]: spring

aetās, aetātis [3/f]: summer

autumnus, -ī [2/m]: autumn

hiems, -is [3/f]: winter

[d] months

[i] mēnsis, -is [3/m]: month

[i] -ius e.g. Iānuārius, -ī [2/m]

[ii] -er e.g. September, Septembris [3/m]

[iii] Aprīlis, -is [3/m]

[e] years

annus, -ī [2/m]: year

saeculum, -ī [2/n]: century

decennium, -ī [2/n]: decade (similarly quīnquennium, triennium, biennium)

Notes:

nudius tertius │ the day before yesterday; note the use of the ordinal number tertius (third)

The literal meaning of nudius is: ‘It is now the Xth day since ….’  i.e. Latin includes today in the calculation:

[1] today │ hodiē > [2] yesterday │ heri > [3] day before yesterday │ nudius tertius [it is now the third day]

This concept can be extended:

Hēia, nūdius quīntus nātus ille quidem est (Plautus) │ Why, indeed it is now the fifth day since he was born.

nam [i] heri et [ii] nudius tertius, ¦ quārtus, quīntus, sextus … (Plautus) │ for [i] yesterday and [ii] the day before yesterday, ¦ (and) the day before that, and the day before that, and the day before that

[2] Vocabulary: match the English words and expressions with the Latin in the word cloud

  • autumn
  • century
  • dawn
  • day
  • day after tomorrow
  • day before yesterday
  • daybreak
  • evening
  • every day
  • half an hour
  • hour
  • hour and a half
  • midday
  • month
  • night
  • only just
  • recently
  • spring
  • summer
  • today
  • tomorrow
  • week
  • winter
  • year
  • yesterday

aetās; annus; aurōra; autumnus; cotīdiē; crās; diēs; dīlūculum; hebdomas; heri; hiems; hodiē; hōra; iam prīmum; mēnsis; merīdiēs; nox; nudius tertius; nūper; perendiē; saeculum; sēmihōra; sēsquihōra; vēr; vesper

[2] Phrases

Loquāmur dē [+ ablative] │ Let’s talk about …

Quid est …? │ What is …?

Quot sunt annī partēs? │ How many (parts of the year) are there?

Quandō fuistī in scholā? │ When were you in school?

Tempus quōmodo dīviditur? │ How is time divided?

Ēnumerā (mihi) … │ Count (for me) …

Recēnsē (mihi) … │ Go over / review / revise (for me) …

Recēnsē ōrdine. │ Go over (them) in order.

Fac igitur. │ Do it, then / Therefore, do (it)

Dīc minōrēs annī partēs. │ Say (the smaller parts of the year)

Perge dīcere. │ Continue / carry on saying (them).

Quattuor sciō. │ I know four.

[3] Questions: can you answer the questions of a 16th century school teacher? You can see that the author designed them to provide one word or short phrase answers.

[i] Recēnsē mihi quāsdam speciēs temporis.

[ii] Quot sunt annī partēs? Ēnumerā mihi.

[iii] Annus quot mēnsēs habet? Recēnsē ōrdine.

[iv] Dīc minōrēs annī partēs.

[v] Quandō fuistī in scholā? │ When were you in school? > Fuī … │ I was …

[vi] Quandō [i] mē [ii] tēcum dūcēs? │ When will you take [i] me [ii] with you? > [i] Tē [ii] mēcum dūcam … │ I will take [i] you [ii] with me …

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