Tuesday, June 3, 2025

10.09.25: Level 1 (review); Ora Maritima [12]; Britannia antīqua [2](i) Part One: listening and comprehension

Listen to the extract and answer the questions. The translation is at the end of the post.

Vocabulary

affirmō, affirmāre [1]: assert; maintain

bellicōsus, -a, -um: warlike; fierce

calēdonius, -a, -um: Caledonian; Scottish

Cambria (Mediaeval Latin): Wales (Welsh: Cymru)

Celta (masc. or fem.): a Celt

colōrātus, -a, -um: coloured

colōrō, colōrāre [1]: colour; dye

cōnstō, cōnstāre [1]: consist

corium, -ī [2/n]: leather; skin; hide

essedum, -ī [2/n]: chariot

ferus, -a, -um: wild; savage

flāvus, -a, -um: yellow; golden; blond; flaxen.

This is the adjective the text uses here. However, in the descriptions of the Celts by the Roman historian Tacitus, he uses the adjective rutilus, -a, -um meaning “of a yellowish-red” colour, that red hair colour being a characteristic of some Celtic people.

hodiernus, -a, -um: today’s; of today

membrum, -ī [2/n]: limb

meridiānus, -a, -um: southern

rōbustus, -a, -um: strong

populus, -ī [2/m]: people; (here): tribe

sīcut: just like

ūniversus, -a, -um: whole; entire

vitrum, -ī [2/n]: [i] glass (material); [ii] (here) woad (a blue dye used by the Britons)

Part 2(i)

"Incolae antīquī insulae nostrae ferī et bellicōsī erant. Hastīs, sagittīs, essedīs inter sē pugnābant. Proelia Britannōs antīquōs dēlectābant. Multī et dīversī erant populī Britannōrum. Multī ex populīs erant Celtae. Celtīs antīquīs, sīcut Germānīs, capillī flāvī, oculī caeruleī, membra magna et rōbusta erant. Sīc Tacitus dē Calēdoniīs narrat. Incolae Cambriae merīdiānae 'colōrātī' erant. Sed Rōmānīs statūra parva, oculī et capillī nigrī erant. Ūniversī Britannī, ut Gāius Iūlius affirmat, membra vitrō colōrābant, sīcut nautae nostrī hodiernī. Vestīmenta ex coriīs ferārum cōnstābant. In casīs parvīs circum silvās suās habitābant."

Questions

[1] Complete the notes with single words:

[a] Character of the ancient inhabitants: [i] __________ and [ii] __________

[b] They fought amongst each other with [i] __________, [ii] __________, and [iii] __________

[c] They loved __________.

[d] The people / tribes were [i] __________ and [ii] __________.

[e] Many of them were __________.

[f] They were similar to the __________.

[g] Physical description of the inhabitants of Britannia:

eyes: __________

hair: __________

limbs: [i] __________, and [ii] __________

[h]

Who gives this physical description? __________

Who specifically is being described? __________

[i] Physical description of the Romans:

hair: __________

eyes: __________

stature: __________

[j] How do we interpret the term colōrātī? __________

[k] Who, according to the writer, have a similar design now? __________

[2]

[i] Describe the clothes of the Ancient Britons (2).

[ii] Where did they live? (3)

____________________

Part 2(i)

The ancient inhabitants of our island were wild and warlike. They fought with / amongst each other with spears, arrows, and chariots. The ancient Britons loved battles. There were many diverse tribes of Britons. Many of the tribes were Celts. The ancient Celts, like the Germans, had blond hair, blue eyes, and large and robust limbs. Tacitus talks of the Scots in this way. The inhabitants of southern Wales were 'coloured' [i.e. they had tattoos of woad]. But the Romans were small in stature, and had black eyes and hair. All the Britons, as Gaius Julius states, would dye their limbs with woad, like our present-day sailors. Their clothes consisted of the skins of wild animals. They lived in small houses around their forests. 

Answers

[1]

[a] [i] wild [ii] warlike

[b] [i] spears, [ii]arows, [iii] chariots

[c] battles

[d] [i] many, [ii]diverse.

[e] Celts

[f] Germans (Germanic tribes)

[g] eyes: blue; hair: blonde; limbs: [i] large, [ii] robuse

[h] Tacitus; Scots

[i] hair: black; eyes: black; stature: small

[j] tattoo(ed)

[k] sailors

[2]

[i] (1) skin of (2) wild animals

[ii] (1) small (2) houses / cottages (3) around their forests

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