Latin and Greek are not studied very much anymore but there are still some values to having a basic knowledge of these two languages.
One is that you don’t hardly ever need to use the dictionary. A knowledge of Latin is still definitely recommended for people going into law and one of Greek for people going into medicine although some medical terms are of Latin origin too as in COMMOTIO RETINAE (swelling of the retina) and ENUCLEATION (removal of the eyeball / during surgery).
Here are a few Latin inscriptions found in various parts of the old Roman Empire and their meanings:
From Pompeii
Perari, fures - Perarius, you are a thief.
Bonus deus hic habitat in domo - A better (stronger God lives in this house) a sign that there were Christians living in Pompeii at the time of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.
Antiochus Liviae servus -Antiochus the slave of Livia. Antiochus was a popular name in what is now Turkey and Syria. He was probably a Syrian.
From Britian
Genio centuriae - To the genius of the century
Aurelius libens votum solvit animo - Aurelius willingly and courageously fulfilled his vow.
From North Africa
Saturno magno sacrum - A sacrifice to great Saturn.
Ut facia(t) (il)lum mortu(s) - May he be killed.
Dacia (Romania)
In huc tumulum est positus Terentius filius Gaione annorum viginiti cinque militans inter sagittarios iuniores.
- In this tomb is deposited Terence, son of Gaion, 25 years old, who served among the corps of young archers.
Any comments or opinions… Please feel free to
respond.
Thank you for the compliment! Or I could be joking or cynical and say "Flattery will get you nowhere" but I think you are sincere. It also appears from previous posts that you like languages like Latin and Spanish. One small correction: Comotio retina should have read Commotio retinae a term opthomologists use for "swelling of the eye". On these library computers I only have 60 minutes a day. This forces me to hussle and, of course, increases the error probality.
My daughter is a Latin scholar. She has been studying the language and ancient culture for 6 years now. She’s 12. Each year she competes in the Latin Olympics and wins several ribbons. Check it out here: http://cuip.uchicago.edu/~jay/olympics/
I took a look at the above mentioned site about Latin "olympics". I thought the name came from olympiad which was (or rather is) a period of four years. But evidently, this contest is held every year. It bothers me that an organizer and supporters of a classic language would have missed on this. It seems to me a disregard of what a word really means and makes me wonder of the standards of this contest.
:-[ :( :( :( :( :( :(
Thanks for your reply. For many people their only exposure to Latin is in a church choir where they learn to sing the words phonetically. Most people think that Latin is used exclusively in the Catholic Church but I’ve heard Episcopalian and Presbytarian choirs sing some songs in Latin too.
Dear Stickler:
The fact that your daughter is interested in Latin is something you can be proud of.
Dear Iterman:
Technically you are correct. Some people might consider it a nit but I’ve heard before that purists and classicists don’t like to see Greek and Latin words abused or mixed together as in television, radiology, homosexual etc.
Brian, you’re always so courtly in your posts. It’s very welcome in this age of abbreviation and rote politeness.
I just wanted to mention that often purists and classicists are just frightened of change and wish to hold back progress. Yeah, Shrub, I’m lookin’ at you and your constitutional amendments. ;D
[quote author=Iterman link=board=translate;num=1078951223;start=0#5 date=03/11/04 at 20:08:05]I took a look at the above mentioned site about Latin "olympics". I thought the name came from olympiad which was (or rather is) a period of four years. But evidently, this contest is held every year. It bothers me that an organizer and supporters of a classic language would have missed on this. It seems to me a disregard of what a word really means and makes me wonder of the standards of this contest.
:-[ :( :( :( :( :( :(
Well, I guess that Latin and Olympics could be construed as oxymoronic to a purist, although the Etymology for "Olympiad" lends credence to its juxtaposition with "Latin." :D
But judging from these quotes:
Olympic Games
pl.n.
1. A group of modern international athletic contests held as separate winter and summer competitions every four years in a different city. In 1994 the winter games were moved ahead two years so that the winter and summer games would alternate every two years. Also called Olympics.
2. A Pan-Hellenic festival in ancient Greece consisting of athletic games and contests of choral poetry and dance, first celebrated in 776 B.C. and held periodically until A.D. 393 on the plain of Olympia in honor of the Olympian Zeus. Also called Olympian Games.
O·lym·pi·ad
(click to hear the word) (-lmp-d)
n.
An interval of four years between celebrations of the Olympic Games, by which the ancient Greeks reckoned dates.
Sports A celebration of the modern Olympic Games.
[hr]
[Back-formation from Middle English Olympiades, Olympiads, from Latin Olympias, Olympiad-, Olympiad, from Greek Olumpias, Olumpiad-, from Olumpia Olympia, Greece, site of the Olympic Games.]
. . . LATIN OLYMPICS challenges students in both elementary and high school Latin programs in the Chicago Public Schools to compete for honors in city-wide competitions. Students have an opportunity to compete in written and oral academic competitions, and in creative and graphic arts contests based on their knowledge of the Latin language and of Roman civilization.
Students enter four academic competitions and as many creative and graphic events as they choose.
. . . The day of the Olympics is almost like a festival at the University of Illinois. Parents, kids and teachers enjoy visiting the displays, watching the oratorical and costume contests, . . .
. . . The Latin Olmpics appears to be an annual festival. I suppose if they waited four years between contests there’d be no one left to speak it due to lack of interest!
Sine cubare canes dormientis! (Let sleeping dogs lie!)
(M. Henri will, no doubt, correct my Latin grammar, vocabulary, and syntax. )
Latin is dead, as dead as can be;
First it killed the Romans, and now it’s killing me!
Katy: No biggy but I just thought I’d tell you that if you ever wish to learn Latin there are different levels of Latin.
St. Augustine (Who live in North Africa) is considered very deep and very difficult to read. Not recommended for a beginners.
Julius Caesar is supposed to be much easier. I’m told he wrote for the Roman fifth grader. Most schools start out having students read him.
One of the simplest Latin texts I ‘ve seen is from Ausonius of Bordeaux (Then called Burdigala) who wrote
a short book on cooking in the 4th century A.D. I saw it once with a French translation. I would recommend it for any begiinner if you can find it. (I’m still a beginner too!).
Latin used to be a compulsary subject for every student on secondary school here in Spain. I studied Latin for two years, and Ancient Greek for 2 years, too. This isn’t the appropriate thread to make this statement, but I prefer Greek..
Now, students have a subject called "Classical Culture", and they learn mythological stories.. fairy tales for them.
It was a good idea when all the students had to learn Latin for a year; after all, I had to study Maths, Physics, and some other subjects, even if I didn’t like that stuff.. I’m glad to have a general culture now.. As someone said Education is what survives when what has been learnt has been forgotten (Skinner, I think..)
Brian wrote:
One of the simplest Latin texts I ‘ve seen is from Ausonius of Bordeaux (Then called Burdigala) who wrote
a short book on cooking in the 4th century A.D.
The texts we used to translate didn’t seem to be that easy.. I just remember having translated lots of "fabulae", texts by Cicero ("de amicitia"," de senectute"...) We had a great time with Beatus ille, when a class mate got confused with a word (I think it was "suis"), and instead of a possesive pronoun, she wrote something about pigs..
Thanks for your comment. Europe lost a lot when it stopped using Latin in favor of national languages (Even though I’m not putting down national languages). For example, it enabled men like Newton and Leibnitz who spoke different languages to still exchange information and ideas with each other and for Newton to be able to read Galileo.
I’m glad to hear you have an interest in Greek. Like Latin it was a living language that underwent various changes in grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary over time. For example, the classical Greek word for "green" chloros was replaced by "prasinos" (leek; the color of leek) in the late Roman period and is still prasinos in modern Greek.
Spain was one of the few places in the Roman Empire where there was no Greek influence. I’m told that this was because the Carthaginians (enemies of the Greeks) had been firmly established there. Still, archeologists have found the grave site of a slave girl there with a Greek name, Glyke also known by a Roman name, Flavia.
Until about 350 BCE, Saguntum was an Iberian village, with a few Greek traders.
To the north the villages, or colonies, were Greek, having been settled by Greeks coming from Phocaea, and later, Greece proper. These settlements extended northward along the coast as far as the Spanish / French border, Nice being the last Greek settlement.
Greek colonists carried their love of the vine across the Mediterranean Sea, and around 1500 BC they introduced vineyards to the Italian and Iberian Peninsulas.
[quote author=brian_costello link=board=translate;num=1078951223;start=0#6 date=03/12/04 at 15:47:38]For many people their only exposure to Latin is in a church choir where they learn to sing the words phonetically. Most people think that Latin is used exclusively in the Catholic Church but I’ve heard Episcopalian and Presbytarian choirs sing some songs in Latin too.
Although I grew up in the Catholic faith, we were not exposed to Latin at all. Not one word of it. My exposure came, ironically, from the public school sector, where my wonderfully talented and gifted music teacher made sure we learned various classics of the choral literature. Among these, of course, were some of the late Renaissance masterworks by Palestrina, Lassus, etc.
I have another question for the Agoran masses: if you are familiar with Latin diction, which pronunciation method did you learn—Italian, or German? (I suppose English should also be an option, but I’m not sure what comprises English Latin diction…)
I don’t know if you’re an English Ward or Irish Ward. I’ve have heard that Ward can be an Irish name from MacAnBhaird which means "Son of the Poet" and also contains the element "Bard" in it.
Nobody knows how the Romans spoke Latin but its is believed that Latin as pronounced by someone from central Italy would still be closer to the way an ancient Roman pronounced it than the way a Spaniard, Frenchman or Englishman would pronounce it.
[quote author=brian_costello link=board=translate;num=1078951223;start=15#15 date=03/16/04 at 15:56:56]Nobody knows how the Romans spoke Latin but its is believed that Latin as pronounced by someone from central Italy would still be closer to the way an ancient Roman pronounced it than the way a Spaniard, Frenchman or Englishman would pronounce it.
That’s what I’ve heard before, too… But it doesn’t exactly jive with the notion that "colonial" languages are slower to change and closer to the original language, does it?
)