Latin Roll Call

Earlier today my colleague emailed me with a sighting of Latin in a new animated film of the stop-action variety called "Fantastic Mr. Fox." I know almost nothing about this film, but I decided to look for the Latin Roll Call and found it. Mr. Fox decides to call all the animals hiding out in his home by their binomial nomenclature, their Latin genus and species names. I love these two anglicized Latin words, because knowing the Latin words makes so clear how the two-named system works. The genus (Latin for "kind, sort, race") is the general kind of animal (or plant), and the species (Latin for "appearance") is the specific sort, usually based on its appearance. Among the animals listed in the roll call are the mole (talpa europea), rabbit (oryctolagus cuniculus), weasel (mustela nivalis), beaver (castor fiber), and badger (meles meles). Of course, looking into what each of these Latin words means will take you to many interesting insights into our furry friends. In the meantime just hearing the words is a lot of fun.

Arms and a woman

I read in the 11/2/2009 edition of The Weekly Standard about a letter written to New Criterion magazine by Sarah Ruden, whose translation of the Aeneid I am using in my AP Vergil class this year. So I decided to see if I could locate the letter at the magazine's website, and I was astonished and delighted to learn that the blog of New Criterion is called Arma virumque, arms and the man, the opening words of Vergil's Aeneid, and a clear explanation for the title is given in the sidebar at the link above.

Image of God

I went back to my high school alma mater this weekend for a Board of Trustees meeting. While there I attended a reception in the school’s art gallery where I viewed the delightful sculptures of an alumna I know from the class of ’74. Hoping to send her a message, I picked up her business card and was amused to notice that the words imago Dei "image of God" were part of her email address. I smiled to recognize that she as a sculptor was mindful of the ultimate sculptor of us all, and I also immediately recalled one of my recent favorite songs, heard on a recording by New York State dulcimer player and extraordinary musician/singer Susan Trump. The song is called “Fashioned in the Clay,” written by Elmer Beal. You can read the lyrics and a little about the songwriter here.

Good, Better, Best

My students are usually amused when I recite the following rhyme about a positive-comparative-superlative adjective in English:

Good, better, best

Never let it rest

'Til the good is better

And the better best.

My Latin 2 class is memorizing tonight five irregularly compared adjectives, and I think English derivatives are most helpful in learning the Latin words. But I also like mottoes that contain the irregular forms. The motto of Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut is Monitī meliora sequāmur, a quotation from Book 3 of Vergil's Aeneid, rendered by me literally as having been warned/advised, let us follow better things. You may already know that meliora is the Latin word meaning better things, because we've mentioned the English word ameliorate, to improve, make better, elsewhere. But did you know that meliorate, meliorable, meliorative, and meliorism are also English words? Meliorism, according to my dictionary, is the belief that the world naturally tends to get better--what a happy thought!

TINY PRINT

This past Sunday I was reading through the New York Times Magazine section, and I noticed an ad for Northeastern University, which was graced by a small rendering of the university's seal next to the name at the bottom of the page. Clearly legible on a tiny scroll in the seal were the words LUX VERITAS VIRTUS, and on a ribbon below the scroll, harder to see, were the words FOUNDED A.D. 1898. The Latin word lūx, lūcis f. means light; the Latin word vēritās, vēritātis f. means truth; and the Latin word virtūs, virtūtis f. ranges in meaning from manliness to courage to moral excellence. I had discussed the mottoes of Harvard (VERITAS) and Yale (LUX ET VERITAS) in my classes last week, and I was interested to learn Northeastern's motto and to see the addition of the powerful word virtūs. I also found this article about the evolution of the current seal interesting.

Great Caesar's Ghostly Name

Yesterday when I checked on the progress of SV Concordia's current voyage, I glanced at the map of Spain, and one town name caught my eye, Zaragoza. If you do not know, the name Zaragoza (also spelled in English Saragossa) is derived from the name of Caesar Augustus. Those of you who may be teaching the AP Vergil curriculum right now may also be interested in some of the helpful links found here about the great first Roman emperor.

SEEKING HARMONY

I'm still going through the cache of summer photos, and here is one of SV Concordia, which features the Latin motto CONCORDIAM SECTEMUR, which itself features a frequentative verb form, sector (1) I keep on following, chase, hunt from the more familiar sequor (3) I follow, the source of many English words containing the letters sequen or secut, as in sequence, sequential, consequent, consecutive, executive, and prosecute. The motto can be translated LET US KEEP FOLLOWING HARMONY, CONCORD, FRIENDSHIP; the verb, a deponent, is present subjunctive, hortatory, hence "let us." SV Concordia is the home of West Island College Class Afloat based at Lunenburg Academy in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada. You can read about the current voyage here.

RINGING IN LATIN

Yesterday in class when I asked a Latin 2 student what I had in my hand, he said, "Chalkus," instead of the real Latin word crēta, but he was following an old trick of creating a Latin-sounding word by adding the ending -us to an existing English word.

On my drive to school this morning, I heard a radio ad for a new product called Quietus, which provides relief for sufferers of tinnitus. Unlike chalkus, in Latin quiētus, a, um is a real word, a first and second declension adjective meaning quiet, at rest, and in Latin tinnitus, ūs m. is a fourth declension noun meaning ringing. When I checked the origin of tinnitus, I found that it is from the verb tinniō (4) whose origin is given in the Oxford Latin Dictionary as onomatopoeic, i.e., imitating the sound of ringing. So chalk another one up for Latin in advertising!

Dawn of a New Convertible

I caught sight of a new and appealing Volkswagen vehicle earlier in the summer. Searching for the model name I located the word EOS, the Greek word for the dawn. What a great name for a car which resembles, with the top down (to my mind), a dawning sun, something about the gently curving lines. In English words eo- appears as a prefix to mean 'dawn' or 'early' as in the Eolithic age, the early Stone Age or the eohippus, a possible early form of a horse. Can you find another word containing the prefix eo-?

Mercury at the Racetrack

Continuing with some photos from the vintage car show at Lime Rock: above is a photo of a medallion featuring the logo of the Royal Aero Club, a fascinating endeavor whose history you can read here. Can you 1) name the symbol featured on the logo and 2) find another mythological reference (hint: it's a color photo) within the history of the Club?

Medusa at the Racetrack

Last Sunday my husband and I went to the vintage car show at Lime Rock Race Track in Lime Rock, CT. I love old cars, especially sports cars, but also touring cars. Truly the Jaguar E-type is the most beautiful, a quintessential sports car, and there were plenty on view. But I was really delighted by a Ford circa 1922, a picture of which is above. I wandered all round it, inspecting all the details of construction, and as I was about to walk away, I noticed the name painted on the hood, just above the number 29. Can you see it in the photo? (The glare makes it hard to read without a magnifying glass!) It reads "Medusa." Now, why would an early motor car be named Medusa, the former beauty turned Gorgon with snakes for hair? I have an idea, but I invite your speculations.

Leader of the Pack

Aeneid 1.364 contains the phrase dux femina facti to describe Dido as she escapes from Tyre and her wicked brother Pygmalion. I thought of this phrase tonight as I headed off-campus from an evening meeting, and the car ahead of me had a license plate beginning with the letters DUX followed by four numbers. I think it was a random collection of letters, like my fairly new license plate that begins with the letters EGB. (My husband and I were pleased to receive this random plate, as it brought to mind a beloved past member of our pack, a little Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Egbert. Alas, Egbert was the runt of his litter, and consequently a dear.) So the Latin word of the evening is dux, ducis m. leader.

FOCAL POINT

Many years ago my current classroom at school was the Faculty Room. Over the summer this room was cleaned and refreshed. Old tables and chairs were removed, and some used chairs-cum-desktops were brought in yesterday, while we await the arrival of a new Harkness table and chairs. When I arrived this morning to reclaim some books, I was amused to notice that the maintenance staff had oriented the desks towards the fireplace; I was amused, because the blackboards are on two other walls. But a fireplace is often the focus of a room; home decorators often look to a fireplace to provide focus in a living room, den, library, even bedroom. And why not? The Latin word for the day is focus, -i m. hearth, fire-place. The fireplace in my classroom is boarded up (a good idea; one year squirrels came down and had a merry time over a weekend), but the bricks and mantel provide interesting decoration, and give me another little springboard into Latin with my students.

REMEMBERING

To go to the drug store in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, one needs to park at a meter in a lot next door to The Royal Canadian Legion, which is advertised by several versions of the sign above. I missed the Latin words around the inside the first time I saw the signs, and the next time, I brought my camera. MEMORIAM EORUM RETINEBIMUS, we will hold on to the memory of them. The Legion is the largest former service organization in Canada; more information here, along with a mini-version of the same sign.

Frequently in a newspaper you may see listed among the obituaries remembrances, or announcements published in memoriam. Be careful to notice the spelling; memoria, ae f. memory is a first declension noun, so it must end in the letters -am.

A BUSY BEE

Above are two photos I took a couple of years ago at a Celtic fair in Goshen, CT. I was so delighted to find many Latin mottoes among the booths for the many clans present. Clan Fergusson as seen in the photos has the motto DULCIUS EX ASPERIS, a sweeter [thing] from/out of harsher [things] or more sweetly from difficulties. The bee among the motto words is checking out a thistle, the national flower of Scotland.

WEEKLY STANDARDS

I guess I was so caught up in four sightings of classical learning in one article in this week's edition of The Weekly Standard that I forgot to write about them, so here goes. On page twelve in the August 31st issue is an article by William Anderson entitled "Who Owns Your Body? Under Obamacare, not you." Within the article can be found the Latin phrases ad nauseam, ipso facto, and ad hoc, and later in the article is the phrase Procrustean protocols. The three Latin phrases have become so common in English as to not merit italics in an English dictionary; ad nauseam (to the point of sickness), ipso facto (by/from the deed/fact itself), and ad hoc (for this purpose) are familiar to many readers. For readers of Greek mythology, Procrustes is also a familiar figure, one of the villains met by Theseus on his way to Athens. Procrustes forced all passersby to lie down on his special bed; if the traveler's legs were too long, Procrustes lopped them off, and if the traveler was not long enough to cover the bed, Procrustes stretched him until he fit. Thanks, Weekly Standard, for keeping us supplied with Latin phrases and mythological references.

DRIVING PEACE

An unexpected trip today to buy a new computer power cord yielded a Latin sighting. The salesman/owner of the business, when he found out that I am a Latin teacher, said that I would understand his license plate: PAX-1 and his email address PAX-5. License plates are often an amusing source of Latin and Greek; sometimes I give a creative assignment to my middle-school students to come up with a Latin license plate; my favorite from the past was AMOCANES. I have considered CARPE DM, but I do not feel comfortable with the abbreviation DM as found on tombstones and standing for Dis Manibus, to the spirits of the departed. Driving is dangerous enough.

Latin word of the day: pax. pacis f. peace, and excellent English derivatives include pacifier, pacifist, Pacific, pacificator. The Gunn clan has the motto AUT PAX AUT BELLUM, either peace or war.

IN THE BAG

Another trip to the grocery store yielded one paper bag, to carry the overflow from my two reusable bags. As I was folding it to save in a cupboard for future newspaper recycling, I noticed the company name printed in blue on the bottom: DURO Bag Mfg. Co., and my particular bag was labeled 1/6 DUROTUFF. Happily, my bag was also made in the USA, and carried the date JUN 17 09. I've sent an email to the company which, although their web page features a short history, does not explain whence the name. The company HQ are in Kentucky; if you are in the market for paper bags, check them out here.

I am guessing that the company name derives from duro (1) I endure, last, a really hopeful name for a paper-bag manufacturer. I love paper bags and wish more stores offered them in lieu of plastic.

Vergil uses this verb in Aeneas' speech to the Trojans after the shipwreck caused by Juno and Aeolus in Book One of the Aeneid: Durate et vosmet rebus servate secundis (line 207): Hang on/endure/be tough and keep/save yourselves for better things/good fortune. Two really good English derivatives are durable and obdurate. Another good trade-name is Duracell batteries.

BETTER LIVING THROUGH LATIN

In looking at the link in yesterday's post, I noticed MORE and different Latin words in the colorful seal of Canada (around the outside), so this morning I had to look them up, and lo, ANOTHER great motto, DESIDERANTES MELIOREM PATRIAM, this time from the Order of Canada, with more information here. This new motto is useful for reminding students that a first declension noun (patria, -ae f. homeland, fatherland) can be modified by a third-declension adjective (melior, melius, gen. melioris, better), but the endings must agree (case, number, gender), not rhyme. This motto also reminds students that melior is the irregular comparative form of bonus, a, um good, and gives everyone a chance to learn or review the English derivative ameliorate, to make better.

The present participle, desiderantes, is also of interest to teachers of a certain age who remember listening to a top-40 hit by Les Crane called Desiderata when they were in junior high school. The verb desidero (1) I desire, long for is the source for both verb forms; to revisit that history click here.

FROM SEA TO SEA

Still a novice with a digital camera, I found some of my first photos taken in Canada a year or two ago. I love mail, so even though Canadian stamps cost a fortune AND you need to pay tax on each stamp (!), I still write and mail letters when I can. Here is a picture of the Canadian motto as found on the door handle at the Canada Post Office in Riverport, Nova Scotia. A mari usque ad mare, from sea all the way to sea, a motto useful for reminding students of the ablative i-stem 3rd declension noun, mare, maris n. sea. Here is a little background on the motto.

NOTED WELL

Yesterday I received in the mail the most recent edition of The Blair Quarter Note, the magazine of the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. I started receiving this publication after sending a donation to the school in memory of a dulcimer genius, David Schnaufer, who died three years ago. Two quick citations caught my eye; the first was in the cover article about The Blakemore Trio which is preparing to perform a new work, Gates of Silence, by composer Susan Botti. Here is the text which interested me:

In composing Gates of Silence, Botti was inspired by Virgil’s epic poem, The Aeneid, and the rhythms of loss, renewal, hope and continuation that she feels resonate powerfully today. “I was reading the description of the fall of Troy, and then I’d pick up the newspaper and read about the destruction of a storm—this experience of your home and community being devastated through war or natural disaster, the emotion of that, and the question of how people continue on, “ Botti says. “I read about the people in Greensburg, Kansas. It’s been two years since the terrible tornados that devastated the town. And they’re rebuilding—it’s going to be this incredible green city. It’s remarkable, people’s sense of hope. So the line of the piece is inspired by that in a way—that no matter what we lose, there’s a sense of hope and the ability to look forward. I find it very inspiring and beautiful.” (p. 4-5)

The second bit of Latin that caught my eye was in the Undergraduate news column on p. 14, where I learned that there is a Canadian Undergraduate Journal of Musicology called…Nota Bene (Note Well). I love this stuff!

RUPESTRIAN DELIGHTS

I was delighted to learn the word rupestrian from World Wide Words, an e-newsletter which I receive weekly on Saturdays here in New York. Here you can read the short article. One of my favorite passages from Ovid contains the word rupes, rupis f. cliff, rock; see Ovid's Remedia Amoris, lines 175-190 at The Latin Library: ecce, petunt rupes praeruptaque saxa capellae (Look, the she-goats seek the cliffs and sheer rocks, line 179). Ah, I wonder if past Latin 3 students remember this passage, which also has a fabulous two-line (lines 187-188) summary of the four seasons.

Watchers of PBS may recognize the allusion in the title to riparian delights, as expounded by Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced bou-quet) in the British comedy Keeping Up Appearances, but more on riparian another time.

Civis Romanus sum

Having spent several weeks this summer outside of the United States, I nevertheless tried to keep up with political doings, because however corny it sounds, I feel that I need to be a responsible citizen. I wrote to my senators and state representative to express my opinion on proposed health-care reform legislation. One way I try to inform myself about different issues is to read The Weekly Standard, a weekly political magazine on the right of the political spectrum. I am not interested in discussing politics here, but I do find that the contributors to this and other magazines and blogs are a great source of Latin sightings.

Yesterday's sighting is: Civis Romanus sum (I am a Roman citizen: more information about the origin of this phrase here), a quotation in an article in the Scrapbook section (p. 3) of the Aug 17/Aug 24 2009 issue of The Weekly Standard. The article was quoting a blog post by Max Boot, who was quoting a speech in the House of Commons by Lord Palmerston, Britain's foreign secretary circa 1847. Max Boot ends his post with an opinion which contains today's sighting: "We could use a 'Civis Americanus sum' doctrine today."

BRINGING LATIN TO LIFE

Well, it’s our first full day back in Millerton, NY after a six-week sojourn to Nova Scotia, Canada. I am surfing the internet before beginning my day, and, since our well in NS brings in water loaded with iron, I am looking for water conditioning systems. The first result of my search is the following website, and the name of the company is Vitasalus, Inc. As you will see on the homepage, their motto is “We bring wellness to life.” It is early in the morning, but I appreciate the wordplay; vita, vitae f. life and salus, salutis f. health are our two Latin words of the day, but keep in mind that salus could also be translated as “wellness,” and "wellness" taken in its other English meaning is potentially the condition of one’s water well. "Bring to life” can also have a double meaning. Maybe it is too early in the morning…

AB INITIO

I have loved Latin since the first day my high-school classmate Marianne showed me her Latin book, the first volume of Lingua Latina. In this blog I hope to post a daily sighting of Latin in the world, some with photos. incipiamus!