[1]
A: quid requīris?
│ What are you looking for?
B: requīrō sex
ova, quaesō. │ I am looking for six eggs, please.
A: quid aliud? │
What else?
B: ūnam lītram
lactis, quaesō. │ One litre of milk, please.
A: quantī cōnstant
haec omnia? │ How much do all these things cost?
B: omnia cōnstant
centum vīgintī sēstertiīs. │ Everything costs one hundred and twenty sesterces.
[2]
A: salvē, domina!
quid requīris? │ Hello, madam! What are you looking for?
B: requīrō duās
lībrās malōrum. │ I am looking for two pounds of apples.
A: quid aliud? │
What else?
B: ūnam lībram tomātārum.
│ One pound of tomatoes.
The aim of the
Wilkes dialogues is to practise speaking the language in order to reinforce
knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. Therefore, as with earlier dialogues, they
are given a contemporary setting which does pose a challenge since they need to
convey our concepts of weights, measures and prices; these often do not have
equivalents in Classical Latin, or the Romans had different interpretations of
measurement.
[1] lībra, -ae
[1/f]: Roman measurement of weight; the Roman pound = approximately 327g, divided
into 12 ūnciae (ounces)
ūncia, -ae [1/f]:
ounce
gramma, -ae [1/f]:
the term exists in Classical Latin to refer to a small unit of weight <
Greek γράμμα [grắmmă]; it is not
identical to the modern gram of the metric system.
> chilogramma,
-ae [1/f]: kilogram
chilo-, from Greek
χίλιοι [khílioi] “one thousand” + gramma; the term kilo- was not
used in Classical Latin
[2] “litre” is a
harder “nut” to crack
https://neolatinlexicon.org/latin/liter/
The Neo-Latin
Lexicon gives two possibilities:
[i] litra, -ae
[1/f]
The evidence is
slight, and it was not a standard Classical Latin unit of liquid measure.
However, a 13th-century document contains the phrase:
cōguntur solvere ūnam
Litram oleī │ they are required to pay one Litra of oil
The word comes
from Greek λῑ́τρᾱ (lī́trā), originally a unit of weight.
This example shows that litra could be used of a liquid measure in
medieval Latin, but the attestation is isolated and does not imply common or
standard usage. It provides limited — though genuine — support for using the
noun as a volume term.
[ii] litrum, -ī
[2/n]: there is no clear historical evidence for neuter form in -um. It
may have been created to match other Neo-Latin measurement terms.
Compare:
CL: metrum, -ī
[2/n]: poetic metre
> Neo-Latin:
metrum = metre (unit of length)
CL: centimeter,
centimetrī [2/m]: Late Latin word meaning “one who employs many metres” (a poet
using numerous metrical forms)
> Neo-Latin:
centimetrum, -ī [2/n]: centimetre
> Neo-Latin: chilometrum,
-ī [2/n]: kilometre < χίλιοι [khílioi] + metrum
The Romans had a
variety of terms to describe weights and measures. At this stage, they are
beyond the scope of the work here since the purpose of this post is to enable
you to express contemporary ideas with legitimate Neo-Latin when it is
required.
[3] tomata, -ae
[1/f]: (Neo-Latin) tomato; an alternative is:
lycopersicum,
-ī [2/n]: tomato; this is a good example of scholarly or scientific
vocabulary since the species originated in Central and South America and was
introduced to other European colonies in the 16th century
The word is
derived from Anc. Gk. λύκος / lúkos: “wolf” + περσικών / persikṓn “peach”; if you’re scared of wolves, you
suffer from lycophobia. If you’re a lycanthrope, then you tend
rapidly to grow body hair and howl a lot during a full moon.
LINKS:
[i] food and drink
https://adckl.blogspot.com/search/label/topic%3A%20food%20and%20drink
[ii] 24.03.26:
Level 1 (review); presentation; asking prices
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2026/01/240326-level-1-review-presentation.html
[iii] weights and
measures
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/11/140126-comenius-cv-geometry-vocabulary_1.html
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/11/140126-comenius-cv-geometry-vocabulary.html
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