12.04.26: Level 3; Subjunctive [19] independent uses [3] deliberative [v] Latin tutorial

KEY POINTS: deliberative subjunctive

• from dēlīberō, -āre [1]: weigh carefully, consider, debate
• Used in direct questions to express mental weighing or hesitation about what action should be (or should have been) taken.
• Present subjunctive: deliberation occurring now (current or future consideration)
• Imperfect subjunctive: deliberation that occurred then (consideration in the past)
• The perfect subjunctive is not used for deliberation, because dēlīberāre describes a mental process that happens before an action, not after it.

12.04.26: Level 3; Subjunctive [18] independent uses [3] deliberative [iv] with the imperfect subjunctive; practice

Example: Quid scrīberēmus? │ What were we (supposed) to write? / What should we have written?

1. Quid dīcerem?
2. Quid illī facerent?
3. Quō festīnārem?
4. Quem praeficeret Catullus?
5. Cui crēderēmus?
6. Quō illa fugeret?
7. Quid facerent rēgīnae?
8. Fugerēmusne?
9. Quem illī vītārent?
10. Quid facerēmus?

____________________

1. What was I to say? / What should I have said?
2. What were they (supposed) to do? / What should they have done?
3. To where was I (supposed) to hurry? / Where should I have hurried to?
4. Whom should Catullus have put in charge? / Whom was Catullus (supposed) to put in charge?
5. Whom were we (supposed) to trust? / Whom should we have trusted?
6. Where should she have fled to? / To where was she (supposed) to flee?
7. What were the queens (supposed) to do? / What should the queens have done?
8. Were we to flee? / Should we have fled?
9. Whom should they have avoided? / Whom were they (supposed) to avoid?
10. What were we (supposed) to do? / What should we have done?

12.04.26: Level 3; Subjunctive [17] independent uses [3] deliberative [iii] with the imperfect subjunctive

So far, we have only seen examples of the deliberative subjunctive usage with the present subjunctive. Here, we can see how the imperfect subjunctive is used:

Compare:

[i] Present subjunctive:

Quid dīcam? │ What am I (supposed) to say? / What should I say?

[ii] Imperfect subjunctive:

Quid dīcerem? (Cicero) │ What was I to say? / What should I have said?

An ego nōn venīrem? (Cicero) │ Should I not have come?

Quid facerem? │ What was I to do? / What should I have done?

Quid facerēmus? │ What were we to do? / What should we have done?

i.e. the imperfect subjunctive is used for past deliberation, often with a sense of frustration, helplessness, or hindsight.

Although such questions are often translated into English using “should have,” the perfect subjunctive is not used for deliberation in Latin, since deliberation takes place before an action is carried out, not after it.

Therefore, Latin chooses:

Present subjunctive: deliberation now

Imperfect subjunctive: deliberation then

11.04.26: Describing objects [13]; gemstones (i); Comenius XII (1658); stones

Stones │ lapidēs

Sand and gravel is stone broken into bits. │ arēna, & sabulum, est lapis comminūtus.

A great stone is a piece of a rock (or crag) │ saxum est pars petræ (cautis).

A whetstone, a flint, a marble &c are ordinary stones. │ cōs, silex, marmor &c. sunt obscūrī lapidēs.

A load-stone (lodestone) draweth iron to it. │ magnēs adtrahit ferrum.

Jewels are clear stones, as │ gemmæ sunt pellūcidī lapillī, ut

The diamond white │ adamās candidus,

The ruby red  │ rubīnus rubeus,

The sapphire blue │ sapphīrus cæruleus,

The emerald green │ smaragdus viridis,

The jacinth yellow, &c. │ hyacynthus lūteus, &c.

And they glister being cut into corners. │ et micant angulātī.

Pearls and unions* grow in shell-fish. │ margarītæ & ūniōnēs crēscunt in conchīs.

Corals, in a sea-shrub. │ corallia in marīnā arbusculā.

Amber is gathered from the sea. │ succinum colligitur ē marī.

Glass is like chrystal. │ vitrum simile est c(h)rystallō.

*union (archaic): a large, high-quality pearl

Vocabulary [1]

(h)arēna, -ae [1/f]: sand; used to refer to any sandy place including, for example, the location of combat in the amphitheatre > Engl. deriv. arena

sabulum, -ī [2/n]; sabulō, -ōnis [3/m]: coarse sand, gravel

cautēs, -is [3/f]: rough / pointed rock or cliff, crag

cōs, cōtis [3/f]: any hard stone, but specifically to a whetstone or grindstone

magnēs, magnētis [3/m]: (obsolete) lodestone, referring to the mineral magnetite; magnet

obscūrus, -a, -um: the usual meaning is ‘dark’ (Engl. deriv. obscure), but has a wider sense of ‘indistinct’ or ‘unknown’ i.e. there is nothing remarkable about the stones described

pellūcidus, -a, -um (or perlūcidus): transparent

Notes:

[i] a nice example of the use of -ātus, -a, -um

angulō, -āre, -āvī, -ātus [1]: to make angular

et micant angulātī │ and, having been cut into corners, they glister; nice to see the now archaic ‘glister’, made famous in the Shakespearean quotation: ‘all that glisters is not gold’

micō, -āre, -āvī [1]: gleam, glitter, twinkle; in Ancient Rome that’s what the stars do ….

sīdera micantia / stēllae micantēs: twinkling stars

[ii] The use of the dative case with the adjective similis, -e: Glass is like / similar to c(h)rystal. │ vitrum simile est c(h)rystallō.

Vocabulary [2]: gemstones

This is simply a reference list; as mentioned above, these (and others) will be discussed more in the next post:

gemma, -ae [1/f]: jewel; precious stone

adamās, -antis [3/m]: diamond

corallium, -ī [2/n]: coral, usually referring to the reddish-orange variety

crystalum, -ī [2/n]: crystal

margarīta, -ae [1/f]: pearl

rubīnus, -ī [2/m]: (Mediaeval) ruby

sapphīrus, -ī [2/m]: sapphire

smaragdus, -ī [2/m] (also zmaragdus): emerald

succinum, -ī / sūcinum, -ī  [2/n]; glaesum, -ī [2/n]: amber

Note:

hyacinthus, -ī [2m]: jacinth; the stone can be of different colours, one of which is blue, and the Romans referred to hyacinthus as a blue gem (hence the flower hyacinth), which is distinct from sapphīrus, the latter specifically denoting a sapphire

Some dictionaries suggest that hyacinthus may have referred to a sapphire, but let’s not complicate matters and keep the two separate.

11.04.26: Level 2; Vincent (Latin Reader); LIX; The Battle of Mount Graupius

Translate:

Agricola etiam mīlitēs suōs convocāvit. "Ō mīlitēs’, inquit, 'septem annōs bellum contrā hostēs gessistis: Britanniam castrīs et armīs victōria et glōria ūna in pugnā erunt nōbīs.’ Inde mīlitēs Rōmānī impetum facere incipiēbant. Agricola pedēs ante mīlitēs cōnstitit. Rōmānī hostēs magna cum caede superāvērunt atque nox erat fīnis pugnae. Inde Agricola, dum classis Rōmāna circum Britanniam nāvigat, legiōnēs suās in hīberna dūxit. Posteā, ubi prōvinciam trādidit, in Ītaliam revertit.

Battle of Mons Graupius:

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

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/encyclopaedia_romana/britannia/monsgraupius/monsgraupius.html

____________________

Agricola also summoned his soldiers. “O soldiers,” he said, “for seven years you have waged war against the enemy; Britain will be won for us with camps and arms—victory and glory will be ours together in this one battle.” Then the Roman soldiers began to make their attack. Agricola took his stand on foot in front of the soldiers.* The Romans overcame the enemy with great slaughter, and night was the end of the fighting. Then Agricola, while the Roman fleet was sailing around Britain, led his legions into winter quarters. Afterwards, when he handed over the province, he returned to Italy.

*The original text:

dīmissō equō pedēs ante vēxilla cōnstitit │ his horse having been sent away, he took his stand on foot before the colours

10.04.26: Level 1 (review); introduction to numbers and nominative plurals [i]; video #1

These short videos introduce two closely related ideas in Latin grammar:

[i] How the numbers ūnus, duo, and trēs work

[ii] How nouns form the nominative plural

Together, these topics lay essential foundations for understanding agreement, number, and noun endings in Latin.

Video #1: Numbers 1–3 and 2^nd declension masculine nouns

[1] In Latin, the numbers ūnus (one), duo (two), and trēs (three) change their form depending on the gender of the noun they describe. This means that numbers agree with nouns in gender, just like adjectives do.

[2] Classical Latin has no definite or indefinite article. There is no word for the or a / an. Although ūnus later developed into words such as French un and une, in Classical Latin it means only the numeral “one”, not an article.

[3] Most 2^nd declension nouns ending in -us or -(e)r are masculine (a few exceptions will be discussed later).

Examples:

equus │ horse

gladius │ sword

puer │ boy

vir │ man

liber │ book

Equus can be translated as “horse”, “a horse”, or “the horse”, depending on context. This works in a similar way to Russian, where dom means house / a house / the house, but odin dom means “one house”.

[4] ūnus is used with masculine nouns:

ūnus equus │ one horse

ūnus gladius │ one sword

ūnus puer │ one boy

ūnus vir │ one man

ūnus liber │ one book

[5] duo is used with masculine plural nouns:

duo equī │ two horses

duo gladiī │ two swords

duo puerī │ two boys

duo virī │ two men

duo librī │ two books

[6] trēs is used with masculine plural nouns:

trēs equī │ three horses

trēs gladiī │ three swords

trēs puerī │ three boys

trēs virī │ three men

trēs librī │ three books

[7] 2^nd declension masculine nouns form the nominative plural with -ī.

[a] Nouns ending in -us

-us > -ī

equus > equī (horse > horses)

[b] Nouns ending in -(e)r

-(e)r > -ī

puer > puerī (boy > boys)

vir > virī (man > men)

[c] Some nouns ending in -er lose the -e- before adding -ī (this pattern will be discussed in more detail later.)

liber > librī (book > books)

[8] Practice Sentences

Quot? │ how many?

Quot is indeclinable i.e. it does not change regardless of the gender or case of the noun

Quot equī / puerī / virī sunt in pictūrā? │ How many horses / boys / men are in the picture?

In pictūrā est ūnus equus. │ In the picture (there) is one horse.

In pictūrā sunt duo puerī. │ In the picture (there) are two boys.

In pictūrā sunt trēs virī. │ In the picture (there) are three men.

10.04.26: Level 1 (review); presentation; Where are you? Where is (s)he?

This short video brings together the ablative case of first and second declension nouns and looks again at the verb esse (to be)

[1]

Ubi │ where?

Ubi sum? │ Where am I?

Ubi es? │ Where are you (singular)?

Ubi est? │ Where is (s)he / it?

Ubi est cattus? │ Where’s the cat?

sum: I am

es: you (singular) are

est: (s)he it

[2] The nouns used belong to two declensions:

[i] First Declension: -a

culīna: kitchen

Gallia: Gaul

schola: school

via: street / road

vīlla: villa; country residence (large and expensive)

[ii] Second declension:

masculine -us

hortus: garden

lūdus: school (can be equated – very broadly – to an elementary school)

neuter: -um

templum: temple

You are also introduced to some parts of a large Roman house or villa:

ātrium: the ‘reception’ room, where the master of the house would meet his ‘clients’ i.e. those looking for some assistance, or influence, or advice … or money

cubiculum: bedroom

trīclīnium: as the name suggests, it was a dining room comprising three sides with cushions on which diners reclined; it’s unlikely this was used on a daily basis, but certainly for entertaining guests

peristȳlium: an internal garden with columns

[3] When the preposition ‘in’ is used with these nouns, the nouns go into the ablative case. There are only two changes to note:

[i] First Declension

culīna > In culīnā sum │ I am in the kitchen

[ii] 2^nd declension: both nouns in -us and -um act in the same way (which is why they are grouped together in the same declension)

hortus > in hortō sum │ I am in the garden

templum > in templō sum │ I am in the temple