by Domnall Óg
Home >> Latin Lovers
Status Quo is the only British rock band I can think of who have a Latin name. As their music never changes, it is an appropriate one. When we learn to tell the time we split the day into two halves – ante and post meridiem. – then abbreviate them to ‘am’ and ‘pm’. Spanish people talk about their ‘curriculum’ and English talk of their ‘CV’ – both are referring to their ‘curricula vitae’. No textbook would be complete with out its ‘exempli gratia’ ( shortened to ‘eg’. )
When I forget to include something in a letter I add it after my signature. It’s called a ‘P.S’ from the Latin ‘post scriptum’. Actors ad lib , accountants calculate per capita , meetings adjourn sine die and ab initio ad nauseum Latin, inter alia is a sine qua non in our beautifully mixed up language.
Mr Robinson, my old Latin teacher, wore a gown and smelled of chalk dust. He was so old that many of us thought Latin was his mother tongue. Our school motto was _Fidelitor et Fortitor _ But he wasn’t teaching a dead language. Far from it.
We haven’t translated those expressions because we haven’t found any better ones. Amid the plastic neologisms, fancy French food terms and earthly English we find Latin elegance and precision like marble columns standing in the confused undergrowth of a forest.
People who are intelligent use more Latin words. That has been proven by scientists. Latin means, ipso facto, smart.
One of the greatest English poets Wilfred Owen used a Latin phrase in his most famous poem. He condemns “The old lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori .”
From a personal point of view, having a little Latin helped me when I was learning Castellano. It also helped when I saw the film “Dead Poets’ Society”. Who does not remember “Carpe Diem”? __
Glossary
Status Quo= The current state
Curriculum vitae = List of life events
Ad lib= Improvise verbally
Sin die = without a formal date
Ab initio= From the beginning
Ad nauseum= Until you’re sick of it
Inter alia = Amongst other things
Sine qua non = Essential
Fidelitor et Fortitor *= Faith and Strength
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori * =It is sweet and fitting to die for your country.
Carpe Diem, quod mimimum credula postero. = Seize the Day and forget about tomorrow
_
Photo by Brian Sawyer (Creative Commons)
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Posted on http://www.weeklyletter.com at 2007-05-03 10:00:00 +0200
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What a very interesting article!, Dónal.
I must admit that I’ve never learnt anything about Latin language. I had a very good but very old teacher, and he never realised that the most of people at my class were copying the exams every time. But now I’m not very proud of it. My youngest brother and my mother are very good with Latin (and Spanish) language, and I think it’s very good when you have to say (or write) something really important (like in a court, e.g.).
But in the other side, I’ve known a lot of people who think they knows Latin (or Spanish) language and want to look like highly-educated, saying things like ” de motu propio”, “a grosso modo”, when the right expression is “motu proprio”, or “grosso modo”, but this is another story.
Another word maybe “versus” used like the English meaning as “against”, but really mean “toward”.
Good luck “urbi et orbi”,
Carlos
Good afternoon Donal,
I must admit I enjoyed this article very much. As a Latin Lover myself, I studied two years of Latin on my own and my father actually tutored me through a third year of Latin, full of translations of Cicero . My Latin teacher was a Dominican priest by the name of Fr. Gambro. He taught us Latin in “Latin”. As you know, Latin is the official language of the Catholic Church. To the day, the L’Osservatore Romano is still the official language newspaper of the Church, published entirely in Latin.
Many people say that “Latin is a dead language.” I like to think the opposite. I would never had learned so many Spanish words if it had not been for my years of Latin studies. Knowing Latin is the key to learning the Romance Languages: Italian, Spanish, French and dialects such as Catalonian, etc. When my brother Steven was in Moscow, he met another orthodox priest who obviously was Russian. He did not know English and of course, my brother did not know Russian, but they had a conversation in Latin. Dead language? Probably, but still a useful vehicle for lawyers, language lovers, and historians.
Unfortunately, Latin is more well-known today as the name of a popular street gang called the “Latin Kings.” Cicero would be rolling in his grave!
Thanks for your comments. You’re absolutely right!
There is only one thing worse than people who “want to look highly-educated” and that is people who, being educated, think that it is cool to appear not educated. The decimation of English by dumbing down is akin to the destruction of the Amazon rain forests. Nobody should ever be dissuaded from expressing themselves for fear that those around them may not understand. That way lies mediocrity.
That being said, it is funny when English speakers try to use French in their conversations to sound chic. You know the type, they think that pas de deux means “father of twins”. As my friend Carol says, ‘Prententious? Moi?’
Paul,
My first contact with Latin was the Latin or Tridentine Mass (which I understand the Pope may be about to reintroduce). I used to sing in the church choir as a child and I remember singing “Tantum ergo Sacramentum. Veneremur cernui” without any idea what I was singing. Latin has beautiful sounds in it especially when it is sung. Perhaps, as marketing experts say, “the medium is part of the message”. And by the way, so we don’t upset any readers we may have from the 6,000,000 Catalonian speakers that exist, Catalonian is not a dialect. It’s a language that replaced Latin in the dissolution between the 8th and the 10th centuries in the territories of the Carolingian Empire.
Looking at this diagram we can see that Latin has a tremendous influence. ‘Vulgar Latin’ was spoken by soldiers, merchants and sailors as opposed to ‘Classical Latin’ which was more literary.
At highschool, there was a Latin teacher who was quite an attractive man. His nickname was THE LATINLOVER.
It must be difficult to be a Latin teacher these days!
Hi Dónal and congratulations for this very interesting Post.
All these comments prove that Latin is still alive i.e (id est) is not dead and does not R.I.P (Requiescat in Pace). From the 7th century A.C. (ante Christum) to the Middle Age which approximately last in 1500 A.D. (Anno Domini), Latin has always been the Ad Hoc language for knowledge, regardless of the traditional conflict opposing sciences vs (versus) literature and of course the sine qua non common language for Christendom.
Even today, the Modus Operandi to assign scientific names in any fields, e.g. (exempli gratia) biology or medicine, is to use Latin.
N.B. (nota bene): everybody agrees that correctly understanding Latin guarantees you a good predisposition for most languages, literature, mathematics, philosophy etc. (et cetera). Vox Populi?
Guilhem
What can I say? Like Shakira singing a Beatles song! A perfect mix of Latin and English!
In secondary school, I had a Latin teacher with a very bad temper and an artificial leg she controlled by slapping her thigh. She ended up making me hate such an absurd language that I will never use. By the way, Catalan is a language, only dialect to Latin, just like Spanish. At any rate, that argument, nowadays, is obsolete.
Thanks Natxo,
I am imaging your Latin teacher marking the rhythm of declinations with a mighty thwack to her prosthetic leg.
Funnily enough the word “prosthetic” comes from Greek via late Latin from prostithenai which means ‘add’.
Not a lot of people know that.
Hi,
Unfortunately I had a bad experience with latin because the non-creative and boring classes I received at my Catholic school. The teacher was very unkind, It would had been in a very different way if I’d had a teacher as “the Dead Poet’s Society” one (I like very much this film and this character). Years later my best friend who is Spanish philologist, has taught me very interesting and curious things about Latin and Greek. Currently I think my Latin classes were a chance that I missed. Now the problem is the time…
Best Regards.
One of the best scenes in “Dead Poets’ Society” is where the teacher explains-
“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”
Hi Dónal
great article. I studied Latin for two years there in the early 70’s. In illo tempore, everybody had to study at least two years of Latin which I think it was very good to know the roots of a lot of Spanish words. It was even exciting. Translating Caesar’s Bellum Gallicum was often like a pastime ( at least for me).
I used to be also a fan of Status Quo. If they had studied enough Latin their name would’ve been Statu Quo. But who cares? I’m Just suppossing that it’s Never to late to do Whatever you want.
In 1981 I went to one of their concerts, in the old Real Madrid Basketball court. It was great, but… I was 24 and now I’m …. The old Real Madrid Basketball court is gone.
Sic transit gloria mundi
Thank you Juan.
I never learned enough Latin to think of translating as a pastime! Quite the opposite in fact! We also had to translate from Old English (Anglo-Saxon) ...
Hwanon ferigeað ge fætte scyldas,
græge syrcan ond grimhelmas,
heresceafta heap?
...and Middle English
This frere bosteth that he knoweth helle,
And God it woot, that it is litel wonder;
Freres and feendes been but lyte asonder
Odd as it may seem, Shakespeare wrote in what is known as Early Modern English.
So, you are lucky to be learning English in 2007!
Alas, I never had the opportunity to study Latin, at least not until the university. So, I have no memories of chalk covered declensions or prosthetic leg moods.
I am almost completely sure that not one world language escaped the influence of Latin. And if it did, Latin’s daughters were sure to have played their part. A language that many forget is a sister language, a fellow Romance language, is Romanian. Though it has many Slavic influences as well, it stands with Italian in having taken on many Latin characteristics that Spanish and French did not. There is a reason behind that characteristic Italian plural “i” instead of our “s”!
That reminds me of the Latin teacher who went to a bar.
“What’ll it be?” asked the barman
“A Martinus,” said the professor.
“Don’t you mean Martini?”
“If I’d wanted more than one, I’d have said so”
Like in the English language or so much of it, Latin impressed a very long and very deep mark on the Spanish language.
I think there are a lot of more Latin words used daily in Spanish than in English, for instance like these idiomatic expressions : rigor mortis (dead’s rigidity), mare magnum (a big mix up), in dubio pro reo (in case of doubt in accused’s favour), exccusatio non petita accusatio manifesta (an unasked for excuse is a certain accusation), motu propio (on your own), nosce te ipsum (know yourself), grosso modo (without depth), nihil obstat (no problem), de facto (in fact), stricto sensu (rigorusly), hic et nunc (here and now), in situ (on the place), etcetera. (this one is a latinism too, and it mean so on)...
Under this point of wiew it seems to me that protect and teach old languages isn’t only a way to know our past, but a way to learn and to improve our present languages.
Thank you for your comments Toni.
That is a very interesting list of Latin phrases. As you rightly say there is a deeper influence of Latin in Castillian Spanish than in English. It is difficult to find a word in Castillian that doesn’t come from Latin.
English is a mixture of German, French, Latin and Scandinavian languages. I think that makes English etymologically more interesting.