Spot the odd man out!
Image #1: Take a look at the fruits in the mosaic. Something seems to be in that dish which shouldn’t be there. Why shouldn’t it be there? What could it actually be? Do we go with the “conspiracy theorists” that the Romans were way ahead of Christopher Columbus despite the fact that the Romans were adept at congratulating themselves, yet wrote nothing about it?
Links to different explanations are below
Image #2: closer .....
Brennus, quī erat rēx Gallōrum, cōpiās Rōmānās superāvit et Rōmae appropinquābat. Sed Rōmānī fēminās et puellās et puerōs in locum tūtum mīsērunt; mīlitēs Capitōlium dēfendēbant. Gallī, ubi oppidum intrāvērunt, senātōrēs, quī sōlī sedēbant in forō, necāvērunt et Capitōlium oppugnāvērunt. Noctū Gallī ad summum Capitōlium viā sēcrētā ascendēbant, sed Rōmānī in Capitōliō ānserēs multōs, quī erant sacrī deae Iūnōnī, habēbant. Ānserēs, ubi Gallōs vīdērunt, cūstōdēs Rōmānōs clāmōre magnō excitāvērunt et Capitōlium servāvērunt.
[i] summus, -a, -um: highest; greatest; it can be used to convey
the English noun “the top” for example:
summus mons: the top of the mountain
Gallī ad summum Capitōlium … ascendēbant │ The Gauls went up
to the top of the Capitoline Hill
[ii] dative usage
appropinquō, -āre, -āvī [1]: approach; the verb is followed
by the dative case
Rōmae appropinquābat │ (Brennus) … was approaching
Rome.
… ānserēs multōs, quī erant sacrī deae Iūnōnī [dative] │ … many geese which were sacred to
the goddess Juno
[iii] ablative usage
Gallī ad summum Capitōlium viā sēcrētā
ascendēbant │ the Gauls ascended to the
top of the Capitoline Hill by a secret way
cūstōdēs Rōmānōs clāmōre magnō excitāvērunt │ they
roused the Roman guards with a great cry
[iv] Two points to note about the following extracts:
Image: sentence
structure
Gallī, ¦ ubi oppidum intrāvērunt, ¦ senātōrēs, ¦ quī
sōlī sedēbant in forō, ¦ necāvērunt ¦ et Capitōlium oppugnāvērunt. │
The Gauls, when they entered the town, killed the senators who
were sitting alone in the Forum and attacked the Capitoline Hill.
Ānserēs, ¦ ubi Gallōs
vīdērunt, ¦ cūstōdēs Rōmānōs clāmōre magnō excitāvērunt ¦ et Capitōlium
servāvērunt. │ The geese, when they saw the Gauls, roused the Roman
guards with a great cry and saved the Capitoline Hill.
[2] Note that, whereas English
often begins a sentence with ‘when’, Latin tends to rework it so that the
subject comes first:
Gallī, ubi oppidum
intrāvērunt, …. │ The Gauls, when they entered the town … = When the Gauls entered the town
…
Ānserēs, ¦ ubi Gallōs
vīdērunt, … │ The geese, when they saw the Gauls … = When the geese saw
the Gauls …
____________________
Brennus, who was king of the
Gauls, overcame the Roman forces and was approaching Rome. But the Romans sent
the women and girls and boys were sent to a safe place; the soldiers were
defending the Capitoline Hill. When the Gauls entered the town, they killed the
senators who were sitting alone in the forum, and attacked the Capitoline Hill.
At night the Gauls went up to the top of the Capitoline Hill by a secret way,
but the Romans had many geese on the Capitoline Hill, which were sacred to the
goddess Juno. When the geese saw the Gauls, they roused the Roman guards with a
great cry and saved the Capitoline Hill.
Even if we’re not sure exactly what certain types of Roman food looked like, we do know exactly what Roman bread looked like.
Image #1: fresco from Pompeii showing a customer buying
bread
Image #2: carbonized bread from Pompeii
Image #3: And, if you want to bake it, the link will take
you to a pdf file with the recipe
Similarly, the types of dishes used by the Romans were often not the same as we use now.
catīnus, -ī [2/m]: a deep vessel for serving up or cooking
food; a large bowl, dish, or plate (Wiktionary); note: catīllus, -ī [2/m]: a
small bowl, dish or plate
coc(h)lear, coc(h)leāris [3/n]: spoon; the word is derived
from coc(h)lea, -ae [1/f]: snail shell; Engl: (anatomy) the spiral-shaped
cavity of the inner ear
patella, -ae [1/f]: a small or shallow pan or dish; Engl.
(anatomy): knee-cap
patera, -ae [1/f]:
“a round shallow vessel like a large saucer, but
somewhat deeper than our ordinary saucer” (Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Antiquities)
“[Anc. Gk. Φιάλη (phiálē)] The broad, flat dish or saucer used
by the ancients for drinking and for offering. It had no foot or stem, and thus
resembled a large saucer. Among the Romans, one form of patera had a handle, as
shown in the second illustration.” (Harper’s Dictionary of Classical
Antiquities)
pōcillum, -ī [2/n]: a little cup
diminutives
crustulum, pōcillum and catīllus are
examples of diminutives i.e. smaller versions of larger
objects; the suffix –(u)lus is used to create this type of noun:
crustum (cake; pastry; pie) > crustulum: small
cake or pastry
pōculum (drinking cup) > pōcillum: small drinking cup
catīnus (deep bowl, dish or pot) > catīllus: small bowl
or dish
The image posted here – courtesy of another member of the
group – contains examples of “New Latin”, sometimes known as Neo-Latin; this
will be discussed in greater detail in later posts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Latin
Some of the vocabulary was coined in the post-Classical
period or refers to, for example, more specific types of food now e.g. pancakes
and biscuits, the true nature of which in Ancient Rome can be rather vague.
artolaganus, -ī [2/m]: used in the image to describe a
pancake; “a kind of bread or cake (made of meal, wine, milk, oil, lard, and
pepper” (Lewis and Short)
also: laganum, -ī [2/n]: again, definitions can be vague [i]
pancake; flat cake (Wiktionary) [ii] “a kind of cake made of flour and oil”
(Lewis and Short); laganumis from Anc. Gk. λάγανον (láganon)
meaning ‘thin broad cake; pancake’
https://neolatinlexicon.org/latin/pancake/
https://neolatinlexicon.org/latin/pancake_fritter_doughnut/
To see the issues pertaining to exact definitions of some of
these words, it’s worth looking at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracta_(dough)
Tracta, tractum (Ancient Greek: τρακτὸς, τρακτόν), also called
laganon, laganum, or lagana (Greek: λάγανον) was a kind of drawn out or
rolled-out pastry dough in Roman and Greek cuisines. What exactly it was is
unclear: "Latin tracta... appears to be a kind of pastry. It is hard to be
sure, because its making is never described fully"; and it may have meant
different things at different periods. Laganon / laganum was at different
periods an unleavened bread, a pancake, or later, perhaps a sort of
pasta.
aurantium, -ī [2/n]: orange tree, the term used in scholarly
/ scientific writing post 15th century (more on this in later posts)
caf(f)ēa, -ae [1/f]: (New Latin) coffee
cereālia: cereals < cereālis, -e: pertaining to wheat
crustulum, -ī: biscuit; “small pastry; confectionary” (Lewis
and Short); from crustum, -ī [2/n]: cake; pastry; pie
saccharum, -ī [2/n]: (New Latin) sugar
cubicus, -a, -um: cubic; cubical
thea, -ae [1/f]: (New Latin) tea
tōstus, -a, -um: roasted; scorched; toasted
11.03.24: food and drink
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/04/110324-food-and-drink.html
12.03.24: breakfast time
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/04/120324-breakfast-time.html
12.03.24: lunch, dinner ... and a shortage of beer!
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/04/120324-lunch-dinner-and-shortage-of-beer.html
18.03.24: quiz question
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/04/180324-quiz-question.html
18.03.24: storing dormice
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/04/180324-storing-dormice.html
18.03.24: sentence building
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/04/180324-sentence-building.html
Images: present active participles have the same endings as third declension adjectives: ingēns (huge; enormous) is a good example to use; it isn’t a participle because it’s not formed from a verb but it looks exactly the same as the participle.
The case endings for the participle are the same for all three genders singular and plural apart from: [i] the neuter accusative singular which is the same as the nominative (nāvigāns) and [ii] the neuter nominative and accusative plural (nāvigantia).
The reason for the -ī / -e variation in the ablative singular will be explained later.
The Latin Tutorial video gives an overview of the uses and endings of the present active participle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5rfbu-8OFc
Complete each Latin sentence with the phrases listed below.
[1] Quīntus, _____ in lītore _____, nāvem spectābat.
Quintus who was standing on the shore was watching the
ships.
[2] Pater, _____ _____ lacrimīs plēnī erant, fīlium valēre
iussit.
The father whose eyes were full of tears, said bye to his
son.
[3] Iter _____ Quīntus _____ longissimum erat.
The journey which Quintus was beginning was very long.
[4] Nautae, _____ Quīntus _____, nāvem solvere parābant.
The sailors whom Quintus was watching prepared to cast off the ship.
[5] _____, _____ _____ imperia dederat, nāvem solvērunt.
The sailors to whom the captain had given orders cast off
the ship.
[6] _____ _____ _____ ad Graeciam nāvigābat nōn magna erat.
The ship on which he was sailing to Greece was not very big.
[7] Multī viātōrum _____ Quīntus _____ _____valdē ānxiī
erant.
Many of the travelers with whom Quintus made conversation
were very nervous.
[8] Quīntus tempestātem, _____ cēterōs _____, nōn timuit.
Quintus was not afraid of the storm which terrified the
others.
____________________
____________________
[B] Translate:
Image: ablative case
[i] Singular (masculine / neuter): quō; (feminine) quā
[ii] Plural (all genders): quibus
In English, as in Latin, prepositions can be used with
relative pronouns.
Despite what Winston Churchill said, we do put prepositions
at the ends of sentences – every day!
Who was the girl who you went out with last
night?
This is the book which I was telling you about.
If you were living in the 19th century – or you are speaking very formally now - you would say:
Who was the girl with whom you went out last night?
This is the book about which I was telling you.
You could, of course, talk like that, but we often don’t.
Latin, however, agrees with Winston Churchill: ending a
sentence with a preposition is something up with which Latin will
not put; if a preposition is used with a relative pronoun, it must (with one
exception) be immediately before the relative pronoun i.e. in the same “19th
century English” style.
Elementa mundī sunt quattuor : ignis, ex quō est caelum ; aqua, ex quā ōceanus est ; āēr, ex quō ventī et tempestātēs sunt ; terra, quam propter fōrmam eius orbem terrārum appellāmus.
There are four elements in the world: fire, from which
there is the sky; water, from which there is the ocean; the air, from
which are the winds and storms; the earth, which, because of its shape,
we call the circle of lands.
Pliny writes to Trajan:
The exception is the preposition cum (with); when the
ablative form of this pronoun used with this preposition then cum is
attached to the end of it.
quōcum (masculine / neuter): with whom; with which
quācum (feminine): with whom; with which
quibuscum (all genders): with whom; with which (pl.)
Hostēs quibuscum pugnābāmus mox fūgērunt.
The enemies with whom we were fighting soon fled.
The cloze gives practice in identifying 2nd declension neuter nouns and their case endings.
Inter fēriās commentāriōs meōs dē vītā meā scrīptitō. Dubrās saepe vīsitāmus; nam [1] __________ nōn procul abest. Super [2] __________ est [3] __________ magnum; in [4] __________ est specula antīqua. Mūrī speculae altī et lātī sunt. Quondam erat pharus Rōmānōrum. Prope speculam est [5] __________ cōnsecrātum. Iam secundō [6] __________ post Chrīstum nātum basilica Chrīstiāna erat. [7] __________ in [8] __________ ōrae maritimae stat. Post [9] __________ sunt clīvī grāmineī et lātī. Ex [10] __________ [11] __________ Gallicum spectās.
Ante oculōs sunt [12] __________ alba multōrum [13] __________; [14] __________ sunt Britannica, Francogallica, Germānica, Belgica. Nōnnulla ex [15] __________ Britannicīs “castella” nōmināta sunt. Littera C in [16] __________ est. [17] “__________” in Āfricam Merīdiānam nāvigant, ubi patria mea est.
The English translations of two sets of relative pronouns
convey the case usage:
Image #1: genitive case
Genitive: whose
[i] Singular (all genders): cuius
Puer cuius patrem iuvābāmus est miser. │ The boy whose
father we used to help is unfortunate.
Note: unlike the other relative pronouns neither cuius
nor the plural quōrum and quārum are affected
by the relative clause, but only agree in gender and number with the
antecedent.
[ii] Plural (masculine / neuter): quōrum; (feminine): quārum
Puerī quōrum tabulās Flāvius spectat ānxiī sunt. │ The
children whose tablets Flavius is looking at are anxious.
Fēminae quārum virī magnam pecūniam habent multa
ōrnāmenta ā virīs suīs accipiunt. │ Women whose husbands have a lot of
money receive a lot of jewelry from their husbands.
Dative: to whom
[i] Singular (all genders): cui
[ii] Plural (all genders): quibus
Vir cui pecūniam dedī mihi grātiās ēgit.
In formal English, the ‘to’ should come before the relative
pronoun.
The man to whom I gave the money thanked me.
It is more common in English, however, to express this as
follows:
The man who I gave the money to thanked me.
The second version cannot exist in Latin because
Latin only uses one word to convey the idea. Of course, the less formal English
translation can be used.
Puellae, quibus respondēbam, clāmāvērunt. │ The girls to whom I was replying [= who I was replying to] shouted.
[1] Nox est et noctū agricolae agrōs nōn cūrant. Noctū mātrēs cēnam nōn parant. Noctū discipulī dēfessī in scholā nōn labōrant et linguam Latīnam nōn discunt. Sed noctū nautae saepe labōrant.
[2] Nox est et ibi medicus ambulat. Medicus noster nōn est,
sed medicus puerī. Nunc medicus properat sed est tardus. In silvā properat.
Puer, fīlius agricolae, in casā est aeger. Medicus, vir clārus et benignus, ad
casam agricolae properat quod puer est aeger. Nox est et medicus sōlus ambulat.
Amīcī cum medicō nōn ambulant. Sōlus properat. Tardus est quod lūna est
obscūra. Medicus lūnam clāram vidēre cupit. Stellae quoque sunt obscūrae et
medicus nōn clārē videt. Puer laetus nōn est. Aeger et miser est. Ubi nōs aegrī
sumus, miserī sumus nōs quoque. Puer sōlus est, sed sōlus esse nōn cupit.
Amīcōs bonōs vidēre cupit. Lūnam et stellās nōn videt quod obscūrae sunt. Puer
aeger medicum benignum exspectat sed medicus est tardus.
[3] Nunc medicus iānuam agricolae aperit et puerum aegrum
spectat. Medicus est puerō benignus. Puerō fābulās longās et bonās nārrat. Ex
fenestrīs puer et medicus silvam spectant sed stellās et lūnam nōn vident. Nunc
medicus iānuam claudit. Ex casā agricolae properat et ad silvam ambulat.
[1] The
following statements are false; correct them.
[2] In
paragraph [2] in what order are the following statements first made?
[3] From
all three paragraphs, find the Latin for:
Nominative
Accusative
Genitive
Dative
Ablative
Links to earlier posts on this topic:
[1] 05.07.24: level 2; practice in reading the perfect
tense; a first latin reader (Vincent) [2]; quī, quae, quod
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/06/050724-level-2-practice-in-reading.html
https://www.facebook.com/groups/latinforstarters/permalink/472961791981761/
[2] 11.07.24: level 2; practice in reading the perfect
tense; a First Latin Reader (Vincent) [4]; more on relative clauses and
pronouns quī, quae, quod
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/06/110724-level-2-practice-in-reading.html
https://www.facebook.com/groups/latinforstarters/permalink/474126095198664/
[3] 11.07.24: quī, quae, quod: nominative and accusative
singular: Power Point
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/06/110724-qui-quae-quod-nominative-and.html
https://www.facebook.com/groups/latinforstarters/permalink/475360418408565/
[4] 14.07.24:
Level 2; Practice in reading the perfect tense; A First Latin Reader (Vincent)
[5]
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/06/140724-level-2-practice-in-reading.html
https://www.facebook.com/groups/latinforstarters/posts/478681241409816/
In the next few posts, we will look at all the other relative
pronouns:
Image #1: quī, quae, quod; declined in full. Note that some
of the endings are used in more than one case.
Images #2 - #4: masculine / feminine / neuter plural
[i] Nominative
Masculine: quī
Feminine / neuter: quae
[ii] Accusative
Masculine: quōs
Feminine: quās
Neuter: quae
Many English words ending in -nt are derived from the Latin present active participle. These often came through Old French which got rid of the -is in the genitive before they ended up in English. What is useful is that the stems of the conjugations are still in a very large number of the derivatives.
1st conjugation
2nd conjugation
3rd conjugation
3rd-iō conjugation
4th conjugation
The derivatives are not always consistent in the stem e.g. defendAnt from dēfendēns, dēfendEntis, and dormAnt from dormIĒns, dormientis. However, there are more than enough that can help you remember not only the -nt- stem for the declined forms but also the vowel that goes before each of the conjugations.
And what about the nominative? Well, we’re all homō sapiēns, and so it should be easy enough to remember!
Listen to and read the text. Find the Latin for:
During the holidays I write / jot down notes about my life. We often visit Dover for the town is not far off. Above the town is a large fort; in the castle there is an ancient watch tower. The walls of the watch tower are high and broad. It was once the lighthouse of the Romans. Near the watchtower is a consecrated building. Already in the second century after the birth of Christ there was a Christian basilica. The castle stands on a promontory of the sea coast. Behind the fort are grassy and broad hills. From the fort you can see the English (gallic) Channel. Before (your) eyes are the white sails of many vessels; the ships are British, French, German, and Belgian. Some of the British vessels are named "castle" (liners). The letter C is on the flag. "Castle liners" sail to South Africa, where my country is.
In viā ambulō. Hīc est casa
pulchra. Fenestra casae est aperta et in fenestrā est rosa pulchra. lānua casae
nōn est clausa. Iānua quoque est aperta et hīc est fēmina benigna. Vidēsne virum?
Fēmina cum virō ambulat. Cum fēminā vir rosās spectat. Vir in
casā nōn habitat sed casam et rosās cūrat. Vir rosās ostendit. Femina benigna
est et virō grātiās agit. Rosae sunt grātae fēminae et rosās laudat. Vir
in casā parvā in silvā habitat et vir quoque rosās habet. Vir rosās amat. Ibi
est casa virī. Ibi sunt rosae virī. Bene rosās cūrat et clārae sunt
rosae virī.
Schola puellōrum
puellārumque prope silvam est. Schola nostra est clāra et fāma est magna.
Interdum iānua est aperta. Rosās vidēmus. Agrōs quoque vidēmus. Silvam
ex fenestrīs vidēmus. Ibi est via longa. Ex fenestrīs viam quoque vidēmus.
Nunc magistra nostra discipulōs
exspectat. In scholā nōn labōrāmus. In viīs ambulāmus. Ad scholam properāmus. Vidēsne
puerōs? Hī puerī linguam Latinam discunt, sed hae puellae sunt
parvae et linguam Latīnam non discunt. Magistra nostra est benigna et puerīs
et puellīs cāra. Linguam Latīnam discere cupimus. Interdum mātrēs nostrae ad
scholam properant. Mātrēs nostrae magistram vident et laudant. Nōs quoque
magistram laudāmus.
Nunc fenestrās claudimus. Iānua
scholae est clausa et ibi nōn labōrāmus. Ex scholā ad casās nostrās properāmus.
In agrīs sunt agricolae. Ibi labōrant. Mātrēs nostrae nōs exspectant.
Cēnam parant. Aquam portāmus et mātrēs sunt laetae. Rosās cūrāmus et spectāmus.
Frātrēs parvōs cūrāmus. Hoc est grātum frātribus nostrīs.
Nunc agricolae ex agrīs properant. Cena est parāta et cēna est grāta agricolīs. Fīliī agricolārum ex agrīs cum patribus properant quod hī quoque cum agricolīs in agrīs labōrant.
Find the Latin:
Singular
[1] Nominative
The man looks at the roses
[2] Genitive
There is the house of the man [= man’s house]
[3] Dative
The woman is grateful to the man. [= thanks
the man].
[4] Accusative
Do you see the man?
[5] Ablative
The woman is walking with the man.
Plural
[1] Nominative
These boys are learning Latin.
[2] Genitive
The boys’ school [= the school of the boys]
[3] Dative
Our teacher is dear to the boys.
[4] Accusative
Do you see the boys?
We also see the fields.
[5] Ablative
There are farmers in the fields.
(They) hurry out of the fields.
The nouns puer (boy), vir (man) and ager
(field) are all second declension nouns even though they don’t end in -us. They
take exactly the same endings but note that some of them ending in -er, lose
the /e/ before the endings are added. No vocative is listed since the
nominative and vocative are the same.
