21.09.26: Level 3+ (review); impersonal verbs [2] emotional states [i]

[i]

pudet: it shames

miseret: it moves to pity

paenitet: it causes regret

taedet: it wearies

piget: it disgusts; it annoys

[ii] The person who experiences these states becomes the object of the impersonal verb, but the impersonal construction in Latin will most often change to a personal construction in English:

pudet:  it shames

mē pudet │  literally: it shames me / it causes me shame

• I am ashamed

miseret: it moves to pity

mē miseret │ literally: it moves me to pity

• I feel pity / compassion

paenitet: it causes regret

taedet:  it wearies

taedet ipsum Pompēium vehementerque paenitet (Cicero)

• Pompey himself is weary of it and deeply regrets it.

piget, -ēre | it disgusts; it annoys

simul mē piget (Plautus)

• At the same time it irks me.

[iii]  With these impersonal verbs (1) the person affected is in the accusative case:

(2) the cause of that emotional state is in the genitive case:

(1) mē [accusative] (2) huius factī [genitive] paenitet

[literally: it causes me regret of this deed]

• I regret (2) this deed.

(1) mē [accusative] piget (2) ignāviae tuae [genitive]

• (1) I am disgusted (2) by your laziness.

(1) mē [accusative] cīvitātis mōrum [genitive] piget taedetque (Cicero)

• (1) I am sick and tired (2) of the ways of the state.

Crasse, (1) pudet mē [accusative] tuī [genitive] (Cicero)

• Crassus, (1) I am ashamed (2) of you.

(2) vestrī [genitive] (1) mē [accusative] pudet miseretque (Tacitus)

• (2) For you (1) I feel shame and compassion.

21.09.26: Level 3+ (review); impersonal verbs [1] introduction; weather expressions

In Latin, impersonal verbs do not have a personal subject i.e. they are not used with a nominative subject that performs the action. Instead, they typically express natural phenomena, mental states, necessity, obligation, emotion, or general events, and are normally used only in the third person singular.

In English, we often express impersonal ideas using the dummy subject “it”, as in:

It is raining.

It seems that…

It is necessary to…

Latin does not use a dummy subject, and so these ideas are expressed by impersonal verb forms alone, without a grammatical subject.

Example:

pluit: it is raining

There is no nominative subject; the verb stands by itself.

Latin impersonal verbs fall into several main semantic groups. Here we will look at:

[1] natural phenomena i.e. describing weather or natural events, for example:

grandinat: it is hailing

pluit: it is raining

ningit: it is snowing

tonat: it is thundering

Similarly:

French: il pleut; German: es regnet

Latin, however, does not use any pronoun.

[i] plumbō et saxīs grandinat. (Pacuvius)

• it’s hailing with lead and rocks

[ii] At quārē aliquandō nōn fulgurat et tonat (Seneca)

• But why is there no lightning sometimes and yet it thunders?

[iii] prius quam lūcet adsunt (Plautus)

• before it is daybreak they are with me

[iv] intereā tōtō nōn sētius aëre ningit (Virgil)

• Meanwhile it snows no less over the whole sky

[v] cum pluit in terrīs et ventī nūbila portant (Lucretius)

• when it rains on earth and winds bring clouds

[vi] cum tonat, … fulminat, cum serēnat (Minucius)

• when it thunders, … lightning strikes, when it’s clear

[vii] Ante rorat* quam pluit (Varro)

• it drizzles before it rains

*rorat can also refer to the formation of dew

Inchoative verbs may also function impersonally, for example:

• calēscit: it is getting hot; it’s starting to get hot
• frigēscit: it’s turning cold
• vesperāscit: it grows late

https://adckl.blogspot.com/search/label/inchoative%20verbs

The entire topic of weather can be found at:

https://adckl.blogspot.com/search/label/topic%3A%20weather

20.09.26: topic; architecture [2]; Comenius (1658) LXVII; domus [2]

Part [2]

The hinges are upon the right hand, upon which the doors hang, the latch or the bolt are on the left hand.

Cardinēs sunt ā dextrīs, ā quibus pendent forēs; claustrum aut pessulus ā sinistrīs.

[i] cardō, -inis [3/n]: hinge; in Ancient Rome a hinge was usually constructed by a socket and pivot

[ii] claustrum, -ī [2/n]: (usually plural i.e. claustra, -ōrum) lock, bar, bolt; anything used to lock something

[iii] pessulus, -ī [2/m]: bolt

[iv] foris, -is [3/f]: door; entrance; pl: forēs, -ium, refers to the two leaves of a door

also: valvae, -ārum [1/f/pl]: double or folding door

Part [3]

Before the house is a forecourt, with a pavement of square stones, born up with pillars, in which is the chapiter*, and the base. 

Sub aedibus est cavædium, pavimentō tessellātō fulcītum columnīs, in quibus peristȳlium et basis.

[i] Note the distinction between:

(1) aedis, -is [3/f]: (singular) temple, shrine

(2) aedēs, -ium (plural): house

[ii] cavaedium, -ī [2/n]: main room of a Roman house; the far more common Latin term is atrium, -ī [2/n]

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

The translator, and the image, show an open forecourt, but the ātrium of a Roman house was internal, the only opening being a form of skylight to allow rainwater to fall into a decorative and shallow pool below. The function of the ātrium will be discussed in the subsequent sections on the Roman house.

[iii] pavīmentum, -ī [2/n]: hard floor, a pavement; in the Ancient Roman period this could refer to (1) a floor made by beating small stones, earth, or lime into a flat surface, or (2) artificial flooring composed of coloured marbles such as pavīmentum sectile: marble cut into sets of regular forms and size.

[iv] tessellātus , -a, -um: made of small, square stones; checkered; tessellated

pavīmentum tessellātum: flooring of marble regularly cut without a mixture of forms; note that Hoole specifically translates this as ‘a pavement of square stones’.

in expedītiōnibus tessellāta et sectilia pavīmenta circumtulisse (Suetonius)

(It was said that) he carried about in his expeditions tesselated and cut mosaic slabs [for the floor of his tent].

*[v] Engl. chapiter (archit.) the uppermost part of a column; Comenius uses the noun:

peristȳlium, -ī [2/n]: the inner garden of a Roman house surrounded by columns i.e. a location rather than a specific architectural term

[vi] basis, -is [3/f]: base; foot; pedestal; lowest part of a column

[vii] columna, -ae [1/f]: column

19.09.26: Level 1 (review); vocabulary [16]: food and drink (1)

Identify the nouns that refer to:

(a) meat and poultry

(b) seafood

agnīna

anas

ānser

cancer

carō bubula

concha

conchȳlium

gallīna

lōcusta

mȳtilus

ostrea

perna

piscis

porcīna

pullus

squilla

succīdia

[2] Label the images

agnīna, -ae [1/f]

gallīna, -ae [1/f]

perna, -ae [1/f]

porcīna, -ae [1/f]

succīdia, -ae [1/f]

pullus, -ī [2/m]

anas, anatis [3/f]

ānser, -is [3/m]

carō, carnis [3/f] bubula

[3] Label the images

concha, -ae [1/f]

lōcusta, -ae [1/f]

ostrea, -ae [1/f]

squilla, -ae [1/f]

cancer, cancrī [2/m]

conchȳlium, -ī [2/n]

mȳtilus / mītilus, -ī [2/m]

piscis, -is [3/m]

[1]

(a) agnīna; anas; ānser; carō bubula; gallīna; perna; porcīna; pullus; succīdia

(b) cancer; concha; conchȳlium; lōcusta; mȳtilus; ostrea; piscis; squilla

[2]

Notes:

gallīna, -ae [1/f]: hen

pullus, -ī [2/m]: chicken; young fowl

perna, -ae [1/f]: gammon; thigh and leg of ham

succīdia, -ae [1/f]: leg or side of meat, especially pork

[3]

Notes:

concha, -ae [1/f]: shellfish; mussel

conchȳlium, -ī [2/n]: shellfish