Could mid-17th century kids describe their town in Latin? Yes, they could. Apart from a couple of words that need short explanation, Comenius creates a topical exercise in speaking with visual stimuli 300 years before anybody else thought it was a brilliant idea. And it was relevant to the kids because what they saw in the book, they saw in their everyday lives.
Complete each section with the nouns listed below.
[1]
Within the city
are (1) streets paved with stones, │ Intrā urbem sunt (1) __________
lapidus strātae,
(2) market
places, in some places with (3) galleries (here: arched walkways) │
(2) __________ , alicubi cum (3) __________
and (4) narrow
lanes. │ et (4) __________ .
The public
buildings are in the middle of the city, │ Pūblica aedificia sunt in mediā
urbe,
(5) the church
│ (5) __________
(6) the school
│(6) __________
(7) the guild
hall (town hall; Comenius uses the Classical Latin senate house)
│(7) __________
(8) the exchange.
│(8) __________ .
angiportīs; cūria;
domus mercātūrae; fora; plāteae; portibus; schola; templum
[2]
[Not numbered in
the image:
About the walls
and the gates, │ Circā __________ et __________ , ]
(9) the magazine
(i.e. the place were weapons / arms are stored) │ (9) __________
(10) the granary│
(10) __________
[Not numbered in
the image:
inns │ __________
ale houses │ __________ ]
(11) cook shops│
(11) __________
(12) the Play-house
│ (12) __________
(13) and the hospital.│
(13) __________.
armāmentārium; caupōnae;
dīversōria; granārium; nosodochium; popīnae; theātrum; moenia; portūs
[3]
In the by-places,
│ In recessibus,
(14) the houses
of office [note 1] │ (14) __________
And (15) the prison
│ et (15) __________
[Not numbered in
the image:
In the chief steeple
[note 2] │ In __________ prīmāriā]
is (16) the clock
│est (16) __________
and the (17) watchmen’s
dwelling. │ et habitātiō (17) __________.
carcer; foricae
(cloācae); hōrologium; turre; vigilum
[4]
[Not numbered in
the image:
In the streets
are │ In __________ sunt]
(18) wells.
│ (18) __________ .
(19) The river
│ (19) __________
[Not numbered in
the image:
or beck
(small river; stream) │ vel __________ ]
running about the
city │ urbem interfluēns
serves to wash
away the filth. │ īnservit sordibus eluendīs.
(20) The tower
[note 2] │ (20) __________
stands in the
highest part of the city. │ exstat in summō urbis.
arx; flūvius; plāteīs;
puteī; rīvus
Notes
(1) Here we have the
“Old English” tradition of avoiding saying anything that could be deemed
offensive and remotely ‘biological’, a tradition continuing all the way to at
least the Victorians: they never talked about the ‘legs’ of a chair – but the ‘limbs’,
and they never ‘went to bed’ – they ‘retired’.
This one is a tremendous
example. Hoole, the schoolmaster, author and translator of Comenius, is unwilling
to sully the sensitive ears of mid-17th century schoolboys.
Back in 1658, if
one was ‘caught short’, one did not use ‘public toilets’ or ‘latrines’, rather one
went to the Houses of Office!
The Latin,
however, is quite happy to call it what it is:
cloāca, -ae [1/f]:
underground sewer
forica, -ae [1/f]:
public latrine
But even Comenius
avoids lātrīna, -ae [1/f]: lavatory
The refusal to
mention the unmentionable bodily functions is not confined to Britain. In 1879
the Americans Lewis and Short, compilers of the Latin-English dictionary, described
latrīna as ‘water-closet’; ‘privy’. At all costs, don’t actually say
what it is – and the US still says “restroom”.
(2)
turris, -is [3/f]:
the general word in Classical Latin for a tower, especially in military
contexts.
In section [3] Comenius
uses turris to refer to a steeple.
arx, arcis [3/f]:
citadel; stronghold; castle, but one that is most often located in a high
position.
In section [4] the
translation as ‘tower’ reflects English usage e.g. The Tower of London,
which is not so much a tower, but a collection of fortified buildings
originally functioning as a fortress and prison.
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