28.05.24: follow-up; the Laws of the Twelve Tables

In extract [8] in the previous post, reference is made to the Laws of the Twelve Tables: lēx duodecim tabulārum

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

“Like the Magna Carta, the US Constitution, or the Rights of Man, the Twelve Tables are rightly considered one of the foundational bits of legislation for Western law and legal practice.”

https://historycooperative.org/the-twelve-tables/

It is worth reading a little about this since it provides information about the formation of Roman Law.

28.05.24: level 2; perfect tense [9]

Things to look out for:

4th conjugation verbs with the -v- stem e.g. audivi often lose that /v/; when I’m writing in Latin, I tend to keep it in because it’s a strong marker of the perfect tense, but both occur:

audīvī │ audiī

audīvistī │audiistī

audīvit │ audiit

audīvimus │audiimus

audīvistis │audiistis

audīvērunt │audiērunt

If your aim is to be able to read Classical Latin, the quotations that are used contain verbs that are very common and it’s best to pick up their past tense forms as you go along.

cēlō, cēlāre, cēlāvī [1]: hide

1. At, bona līberta, haec scīvistī et mē cēlāvistī? (Plautus) │ But, my worthy freed-woman, you knew of this, and concealed it from me.

dīcō, dīcere, dīxī [3]: say

2. sed nunc omnia, quae audiit saepe quae dīxit, aspernātur (Pliny) │ but now he rejects everything that he heard and often said

3. rīdiculum: postquam ante ōstium mē audīvit stāre approperat (Terence) │ What nonsense! As soon as she has heard that I'm standing before the door, she makes all haste.

serviō, servīre, servīvī [4]: to be a slave (to somebody; the verb is followed by a dative case)

4. Servīs serviimus (Historia Augusta)│ We have been slaves to slaves.

5. Diū quī domī ōtiōsī dormiērunt (Plautus) │those who have slept a long time at home when not at work

6. Multa enim falsa dē mē audiērunt (Cicero) │ For they have heard many false statements concerning me

7. Illī eum tumulum … magnīs operibus mūnīvērunt (Caes) │ they fortified the hillock with a great number of works

8. From Livy:

sum, esse, fuī: be; fuī: I was

pāreō, pārēre, pāruī [2]: obey (what or whom you obey is in the dative case)

lēgō, legere, lēgī [3]: read

Aemiliō dictātōre, tot cēnsōrēs fuērunt, nōbilissimī fortissimīque virī, nēmō eōrum duodecim tabulās lēgit? nēmō id iūs esse, quod postrēmō populus iussisset, sciit? immō vērō omnēs scīvērunt et ideō Aemiliae potius legī pāruērunt quam illī antīquae.

Since Mamercus Aemilius was Dictator, and there have been all those censors since, men of the highest rank and strength of character, not one of them read the Twelve Tables, not one of them knew that the last order of the people is the law for the time being? Of course they all knew it, and for that reason they preferred to obey [= they instead obeyed] the Aemilian Law rather than that older one

9. An extract from Poenulus (the Little Carthaginian) by Plautus

videō, vidēre, vīdī [2]: see

accipiō, accipere, accēpī [3-iō]: receive

sciō, scīre, scīvī [4]: know

AGORASTOCELĒS: Vīdistis, lēnō cum aurum accēpit? │ Did you see it, when the Procurer received the money?

ADVOCĀTĪ: Vīdimus. │ We saw it.

Agor: Eum vōs meum esse servum scītis? │ You know that he is my slave?

Adv: Scīvimus. │ We knew it.

Agor: Rem adversus populī saepe legēs? │ That it is a thing against the reiterated laws of the people?

Adv: Scīvimus. │ We knew it.

28.05.24: Level 1; Ora Maritima [2](8); ways of learning [iii]

Three in one:

Ex fenestrā meā [ablative singular] │ lūnam [accusative singular] │ et stellās [accusative plural] spectō.

From / out of my window │ I look at │ the moon │ and the stars.

28.05.24: Level 1; Ora Maritima [2](7); ways of learning [ii]

Seeing how the cases are working together in sentences is crucial otherwise the words look random on a page.

When you look at them all – deliberately – put in bold, it seems intimidating, but four out of the five plural case endings for the first declension are in those texts.

____________________

Fēriae nunc sunt. Inter fēriās in villā maritimā habitō. Ō beātās fēriās! In arēnā ōrae maritimae sunt ancorae et catēnae. Nam incolae ōrae maritimae sunt nautae. Magna est audācia nautārum: procellās nōn formīdant. Nautās amō, ut nautae mē amant. Cum nautīs interdum in scaphīs nāvigō.

Ex fenestrīs vīllae undās spectās. Undās caeruleās amō. Quam magnae sunt, quam perlūcidae! Post cēnam lūnam et stēllās ex fenestrā meā spectō. Prope vīllam est silva, ubi cum amitā meā saepe ambulō. 

Quantopere nōs silva dēlectat! Ō cōpiam plantārum et herbārum! Ō cōpiam bācārum! Nōn sōlum nautae sed etiam agricolae circum habitant. Casae agricolārum parvae sunt. Nautae casās albās habitant. Amita mea casās agricolārum et nautārum saepe vīsitat.

____________________

Image #1: Many words in bold – but only four colours.

Image #2: Take a second look. What you need to know at this stage: four endings. For me, I took one example of each so that each ending can be seen in context.

[1] Nominative plural:

Agricolae circum habitant │ Farmers live all around.

[2] Accusative plural:

Procellās nōn formīdant │ They do not fear the storms.

Inter fēriās │ during the holidays

[3] Genitive plural:

Magna est audācia ¦ nautārum │ Great is the bravery ¦ of the sailors.

[4] Ablative plural:

Ex fenestrīs │ from / out of the windows

And once you become confident in the endings and how the cases are used, you can see them working together in the same sentence.

Three in one:

Ex fenestrīs [ablative plural]│vīllae [genitive singular]│undās [accusative plural] spectās.

From the windows │of the house │you look at │the waves. 

28.05.24: Level 1; 10 at a time; places [2]

27.05.24: level 2; perfect tense [8]; 2nd and 4th conjugation (2)

appāreō, appārēre, appāruī [2]: appear

doceō, docēre, docuī [2]: teach

habeō, habēre, habuī [2]: have

moneō, monēre, monuī [2]: warn

videō, vidēre, vīdī [2]: see

____________________

audiō, audīre, audīvī [4]: hear

mūniō, mūnīre, mūnīvī [4]: fortify

sciō, scīre, scīvī [4]: know

sepeliō, sepelīre, sepelīvī [4]: bury

aperiō, aperīrī, aperuī [4]: open

veniō, venīre, vēnī [4]: come

inveniō, invenīre, invēnī [4]: find

There were a few posts recently about the way in which Latin – most often through French – was brought into the English language.

[i] habeō, habēre, habuī [2]: have; that is not from Latin. Engl. ‘have’ is from Old English habban, which can trace its Germanic ancestry back to Indo-European, which is also the original source of the Latin verb.

[ii] Apart from habeō, every one of those verbs above appears in English.

The most important first step is to recognise meaning. Below are English words related to those verbs:

1. What part of a camera is the aperture?
2. An inventor might … a solution to a problem.
3. What does an advent calendar tell you?
4. What is made in a munitions factory?
5. What is the function of [i] audio equipment and [ii] video equipment?
6. A dead body may be placed in a sepulchre.
7. The word science is usually associated with, for example, Physics or Chemistry, but the original meaning of science had a far wider meaning.
8. The word doctor now is most often associated with medicine, but, in Ancient Rome, doctōrēs were not doctors. What job did they do?

Even just a few letters can ‘trigger’ recognition: admonish i.e. caution; warn (moneō)

Verbs are the cornerstone of a sentence; you may not know every word in a Latin sentence but go for the verbs first. In the image match the verbs with their meanings.

• (Apollo) warned
• Apollo came
• Each of them gave [=had] a speech.
• He opened
• He taught (me)
• I buried
• I found
• I knew
• I saw
• Surely you’ve heard?
• The king heard
• They appeared
• They found
• They warned
• We all came
• We fortified
• We saw

27.05.24: Level 1; Ora Maritima [2](6); ways of learning [i]

When it comes to learning the key components of Latin, there are two questions:

[i] Where do you start?

[ii] How do you learn them?

Where do you start? The grammar books and textbooks will prioritise, and they almost always prioritise with the first declension of nouns and the first conjugation of verbs. The little passages so far have done almost all of it.

The grammar books will give you the “tables” and, of course, you need them. But how you approach them can vary. Some people, for example, will recite them, some use flash cards, some write the endings out again and again. It doesn’t matter but I wanted to share how I did it. I used this book and I learned them in the context of phrases and short sentences all of which came from these texts. That way, not only did I learn the endings, I learned the basic functions of the cases.

____________________

1. Quam bella est ōra maritima! Nōn procul ab ōrā maritimā est vīlla. In vīllā amita mea habitat; et ego cum amitā meā nunc habitō. Ante iānuam vīllae est ārea; in āreā est castanea, ubi luscinia interdum cantat. Sub umbrā castaneae ancilla interdum cēnam parat. Amō ōram maritimam; amō vīllam bellam.

____________________

First declension: nouns ending in -a; almost all of them are feminine

[1] Nominative singular: the subject of the sentence

The first sentence in the book …

• Quam bella est ōra maritima! │ How beautiful is the sea-shore!

[2] Accusative singular: [i] the direct object of the sentence [ii] with certain prepositions

• [i] Amō ōram maritimam │ I love the sea-shore,
• [ii] Ante ianuam │ before [in front of] the door

[3] Genitive singular: of

• sub umbrā ¦ castaneae │beneath the shade ¦ of a chestnut tree

[4] Ablative singular: with certain prepositions and this little text gives four of the main ones

• Nōn procul ab ōrā maritimā │not far from the coast
• Cum amitā meā nunc habitō │I now live with my aunt
• In villā amita mea habitat │ My aunt lives in the house
• Sub umbrā │ beneath the shade

The two images show four out of the five singular case endings for this declension. I like the first one because it was created round about the time the author was there. 

27.05.24: Level 1; 10 at a time; places [1]

 

26.05.24: level 2; perfect tense [7]; 2nd and 4th conjugation (1)

second conjugation

habeō, habēre, habu│ī

doceō, docēre, docuī: teach

iaceō, iacēre, iacuī: be lying

monēo, monēre, monuī: warn

taceō, tacēre, tacuī: be silent

teneō, tenēre, tenuī: hold

timeō, timēre, timuī: fear

Like other languages, and I’ll use English as an example, verbs will act in a certain way e.g. I work > I worked. But not all English verbs do that e.g. I swim > I swam, and they have to be remembered.

The same applies in Latin; many Latin 2nd conjugation verbs have the perfect stem i.e. habu│ī, but not all of them.

fleō, flēre, flēvī: weep

maneō, manēre, mānsī: remain

respondeo, repondēre, respondī: reply

videō, vidēre, vīdī: see

The same applies to the 4th conjugation; you will see many of them with a stem in -v-:

fourth conjugation

audiō, audīre, audīv│ī: hear

sciō, scīre, scīvī: know

dormiō, dormīre, dormīvī: sleep

cūstōdiō, cūstōdīre, cūstōdīvī: guard

mūniō, mūnīre, mūnīvī: fortify

pūniō, pūnīre, pūnīvī: punish

Again, you can’t assume that they all do that:

aperiō, aperīre, aperuī [4]: open

sentiō, sentīre, sēnsī [4]: feel

veniō, venīre, vēnī [4]: come

Image: the key point is that, whatever that stem letter is, it stays throughout; the same endings are always added.

habuī: I had

audīvistī: you (sg.) heard

dormīvit: he / she slept

vīdimus: we saw

aperuistis: you (pl.) opened

vēnērunt: they came

26.05.24: Level 1; Ora Maritima [2](5)

Genitive and ablative

[3] Ex fenestrīs vīllae undās spectās. Undās caeruleās amō. Quam magnae sunt, quam perlūcidae! Post cēnam lūnam et stēllās ex fenestrā meā spectō. Prope vīllam est silva, ubi cum amitā meā saepe ambulō. Quantopere nōs silva dēlectat! Ō cōpiam plantārum et herbārum! Ō cōpiam bācārum! Nōn sōlum nautae sed etiam agricolae circum habitant. Casae agricolārum parvae sunt. Nautae casās albās habitant. Amita mea casās agricolārum et nautārum saepe vīsitat.

Genitive

ex fenestrīs │ vīllae: out of / from the windows │of the house

casae │ agricolārum: the cottages │ of the sailors

Ō cōpiam │ plantārum et herbārum! Oh, such a huge amount │of plants and herbs!

Ō cōpiam │ bācārum! Oh, such a huge amount │of berries!

Ablative

cum amitā meā: with my aunt

ex fenestrā meā: out of / from my window

ex fenestrīs: from the windows

26.05.24; level 1; match the verbs

1. To carry

2. I carry

3. You (sg.) carry

4. Carry! (sg.)

5. Do you (sg.) carry?

6. He / she / it carries

7. We carry

8. You (pl.) carry

9. Do you (pl.) carry?

10. Carry! (pl.)

11. They carry

25.05.24: level 2; perfect tense [6]

In this video, he shows that the perfect tense endings apply to all verbs.

25.05.24: Level 1; Ora Maritima [2](4)

Nominative

• Amita mea … vīsitat: my aunt visits …
• Silva … dēlectat: the forest delights …
• …est silva: … (there) is a forest
• Agricolae … habitant: the farmers live (inhabit) …
• Nautae …. habitant: the sailors live (inhabit) …
• Casae sunt …: the cottages are …

Accusative

• post cēnam: after dinner
• prope vīllam: near the house
• lūnam et stēllās … spectō: I look at the moon and the stars.
• Ō cōpiam bācārum! Literally: Oh (what) an abundance; oh such a large number, such a huge amount …
• undās spectās: You look at the waves
• Undās caeruleās amō: I love the blue waves.
• Nautae │casās albās │habitant: The sailors live in (inhabit) │white cottages.
• Amita mea │casās …│ saepe vīsitat: My aunt often visits │the cottages.

25.05.24: level 1: first conjugation present tense; sum, esse

 

24.05.24: level 2; perfect tense [5]; first conjugation (4); perfect of sum, esse

2 first conjugation verbs that don’t form the perfect tense with -v-:

dō, dare, dedī [1]: give

stō, stāre, stetī [1]: stand

And the irregular verb: sum, esse

Sum, esse, fuī: that perfect tense could not be predicted but, like any other verb, once you have the perfect tense, the same endings are added

• fuī: I was (have been)
• fuistī: you (sg.) were
• fuit: he / she / it was
• fuimus: we were
• fuistis: you (pl.) were
• fuērunt: they were

Find the Latin

The boy gave me

You didn’t give me

We have given everything

They all gave

You have been (foolish)

We were (happy)

We are (happy)

The place was

There were around one hundred …

Three Romans stood …

Yesterday I stood

The brave cavalryman stood …

____________________

1. Fuērunt enim circiter centum latrōnēs

2. Heri fēlīcēs fuimus; hodiē miserī sumus.

3. Herī in summō saxō stetī.

4. Locus herbōsus fuit.

5. Mihi nōn dedistī.

6. Omnēs gemitum profundum dedērunt.

7. Omnia dedimus.

8. Prō comitibus suīs fortis eques stetit.

9. Puer quī hoc mihi dēdit est Pūblius.

10. Stulta et scelerāta fuistī.

11. Trēs igitur Rōmānī in angustō locō stetērunt. 

 

24.05.24: Level 1; Ora Maritima [2](3): cloze

24.05.24: Level 1: match up the personal endings

 

24.05.24: Level 1; child’s play - the personal endings tell you who’s doing what …

24.05.24: O Fortuna (Codex Buranus) [2]

This song is packed with aspects of Latin that have been covered in the posts since the group started. If you’ve been following the posts, or the other site, or you’re using your own resources, songs like this really help you to see where you are, and / or point to areas that still need to be looked at.

1st declension nouns

angaria, -ae [1/f]: (original meaning) compulsory service to a lord (very apt in this song)

c(h)orda, -ae [1/f]: string (of a musical instrument)

fortūna, -ae [1/f]: fortune; fate

hōra, -ae [1/f]: hour

lūna, -ae [1/f]: moon

mora, -ae [1/f]: delay

rota, -ae [1/f]: wheel

hāc in hōrā: (ablative) in this hour

sine morā: (ablative) without delay

Note: in Mediaeval Latin spelling there is shift from /ae/ to /e/to reflect pronunciation change e.g. saepe (often) > sepe; puellae > puelle, there’s an interesting example in this song:

Corde pulsum tangite. This is from chorda, -ae [1/f]: string of a musical instrument.

Chordae pulsum tangite │ literally: touch the beat of the string; pluck the vibrating string

The other Mediaeval spelling to note is michi; Classical Latin: mihi

2nd declension nouns

dorsum, -ī [2/n]: back

lūdus, -ī [2/m]: game

pulsus, -ī [2/m]: beat; pulse; strike

per ludum: (accusative) through(out) / during the game

3rd declension nouns

mēns, mentis [3/f]: mind

sors, sortis [3/f]: fate

egestās, egestātis [3/f]: poverty; want; need

potestās, potestātis[3/f]: power

virtūs, virtūtis [3/f]: virtue

salūs, salūtis [3/f]: safety; security; health

scelus, sceleris [3/n]: evil deed; wickedness

4th and 5th declension nouns

status, -ūs [4/m]: state; condition

aciēs, aciēī [5/f]: sharpness; keeness

glaciēs, glaciēī [5/f]: ice

statū (ablative) variābilis: changeable in state / condition

1st / 2nd declension adjectives

contrārius, -a, -um: contrary; conflicting

malus, -a, -um: bad; evil

nūdus, -a, -um: bare

vānus, -a, -um: vain; empty; deceptive

Note: these words below are not actually adjectives although they have exactly the same endings

affectus, -a, -um: (here) weakened; impaired

dēfectus, -a, -um: tired; worn out

obumbrātus, -a, -um: darkened; shadowed

vēlātus, -a, -um: wrapped; veiled

In English, if we say, for example, the letter was written, these words, known in grammar as passive participles, have the same meaning; they will be discussed in a later post.

3rd declension adjectives

dētestābilis, -e: abominable; detestable

dissolūbilis, -e: dissoluble

fortis, -e: strong; brave

immānis, -e: immense; enormous; (here) inhuman

inānis, -e: empty; meaningless

variābilis, -e: variable; changeable

volūbilis, -e: turning; spinning

1st conjugation verbs

cūrō, cūrāre [1]: take care of; heal; cure

obdūrō, obdūrāre [1]: harden; persist

3rd conjugation verbs

crēscō, crēscere [3]: grow

dēcrēscō, dēcrēscere [3]: decrease

dissolvō, dissolvere [3]: dissolve

plangō, plangere [3]: lament

sternō, sternere [3]: knock to the ground; strike down

tangō, tangere [3]: touch; strike

Irregular

ferō, ferre: bring

The only verb that I’m not going to say anything about is:

michi quoque niteris │you bear upon me too

That involves an aspect of Latin verbs that will take quite some time to explain. It’s best just to note it.

And take a close look at the image because there are three verb tenses around the image of the king:

rēgnō, rēgnāre, rēgnāvī [1]: rule; reign

rēgnō: I rule / I am ruling

rēgnābō: I shall rule

rēgnāvī: I (have) ruled