welcome to the ditch

a place where we teach you stuff about latin and rome and stuff like that

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new resources!

my latin mini-competition is tomorrow, so i thought i would share some resources i found while studying!

http://iam-discite.tumblr.com/resources

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iam-discite will be closing down!

Thank you for your support and your willingness to learn Latin, mods and followers! It has been almost a year of not posting anything, so I thought it would be fair to close it. 

The blog itself will continue to be up, and if you need our resources, they are always there on the "resource" tab. Please continue following, because there may be some more added to the list. 

 Latin is a beautiful language, and Rome has such an interesting culture, and we'd love to share that with you all. I would not consider this a failed project, because we have accumulated 425 followers, and a resource list that has helped me in my Latin class. Special thanks to Scilla, the girl who inspired this blog when she messaged me saying that she wanted to learn Latin.

Unfortunately, we're all very busy, and can't keep this up every week. We're not losing interest in the Classics, and the majority of us are still studying and teaching, or running Classics-related blogs. Follow them! The users are linked here with their Roman names.

Varinia Octavian Lepidus Sulpicia Vergilius Diaphanus Valeria Beniaminus Nero Tiro Licinia Maria

That being said, we leave you, as a group, with our last "Valē"! 

-Lana

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Iam-discite is now on Twitter!!

Post by: Valeria 

Approved by: Lana

Hi!! I felt really bad because I haven't contributed much to the blog (due to personal stuff) so I thought I'd make a Twitter account for iam-discite! I'll be updating it whenever the blog updates, and maybe posting links to some older posts as well. 

https://twitter.com/IamDiscite <--- Go follow us!!

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new resources!

i have updated our resources page again! we have almost double the amount from when we started! check them out! -Lana

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Etymology: Patronymics and Metronymics (October 7th, Late Approval)

Post by: Diaphanus

Approved by: Lana

Patronymics and metronymics are words that denote descent or relationship. They derive from masculine and feminine names, and are formed from these suffixes:

-adēs, -iadēs, -idēs, -īdēs, -iōn (when referring to males);

-ās, -ias, -is, -ēis, -īnē (when referring to females).

Most of these are Greek-derived.

Some examples of patronymics and metronymics are:

Atlantiadēs, “son of Atlas (i.e. Mercury),” from Atlās (Atlant-);

Tantalides, “male descendant of Tantalus (e.g. Pelops), from Tantalus (Tantalo-);

Caesariōn, “son of Caesar,” from Caesar (Caesar-);

Tantalis, “female descendant of Tantalus (e.g. Niobe);

Neptūnīnē, “female descendant of Neptune,” from Neptūnus (Neptūno-).

The use of some of these suffixes require explanation.

The suffixes -īdēs, -ēis are used because the Greek suffixes -ιδης, -ις, were added to Greek stems in -ευ, and the resulting -ει-, -ηι- combinations were Latinized as ī, ēi:

Atrīdēs (Ἀτρείδης), “son of Atreus,” from Atreus/Ἀτρεύς (Atreu-, Ἀτρευ-);

Cissēis (Κισσηίς), “daughter of Cisseus,” from Cisseus/Κισσεύς (Cisseu-, Κισσευ-).

-adēs and -ās tend to be used when an i appears immediately before them:

Thestiadēs, “male descendant of Thestius,” from Thestius (Thestio-);

Hēliās, “daughter of Helios,” from Hēlios (Hēlio-).

Sometimes the stem of the proper noun drops or adds a syllable before the suffix:

Scīpiadēs, “son of Scipio,” from Scīpiō (Scīpiōn-);

Lampetidēs (Λαμπετίδης), “son of Lampus,” from Lampus/Λάμπος (Lampo-, Λαμπο-).

The -idēs suffix is found in Plautine comic names. Apparently the idea is that those with these names come from families or groups of people that have traits denoted by such names:

Argentiexterebronidēs, “Mr. Money-Extorter,” from argentum, exterebrāre;

Nūgipalamloquidēs, “Mr. Talks-Nonsense-Openly,” from nūgae, palam, loquī.

The scientific Latin names of zoological families and botanical subclasses are now systematically formed with the termination -idae, the plural form of -idēs:

Hominidae, referring to the great apes, from homō (homin-);

Līliidae, the botanical subclass that includes the family Līliāceae, from līlium (līlio-).

I find it amazing and amusing how the ancient comedians and the modern scientists have not only appropriated this suffix but also used it in specific ways. Moreover, the contrast between the humorous and the serious is a very striking one!

Sources

Greek Grammar, Herbert Weir Smyth;

New Latin Grammar, Allen and Greenough;

Oxford English Dictionary: Home.

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Upper Level Grammar: Expressing Duty and Obligation in Latin (October 4th)

Post by: Diaphanus

Approved by: Lana

In my last few posts on Latin grammar, I explained how to express in Latin several specific ideas that are normally expressed with various auxiliary verbs in English. I have already explained how to express possibility, permission, and necessity in Latin. In this post, I shall finish this series of posts by explaining how to express duty and obligation. Three constructions are available to us in conveying such ideas. Let us see what they are and how they work.

One construction comprises the personal verb dēbēre and the infinitive. This verb expresses duty as owed to others: “I am bound to,” “I am under an obligation to.”

Hōc facere dēbēs (dēbēbis). “You ought to do this.”

Hōc facere dēbuistī (dēbēbās). “You ought to have done this.”

A second construction involves the impersonal verb oportet with either the accusative and infinitive or the subjunctive. This verb expresses a duty as binding on oneself.

Hōc tē facere oportet (oportēbit). “You ought to do this.”

Hōc tē facere oportuit (oportēbat). “You ought to have done this.”

Hōc facerēs oportuit. “You should have done this.”

The third construction pertains to the gerundive, which can also express necessity. What I wrote in my previous grammar post about the gerundive expressing necessity also applies to expressing duty. I should also point out that the gerundive may be used either impersonally (neuter nominative) if the verb is intransitive, or used as a predicative adjective if the verb is transitive (which is often called the Passive Periphrastic).

Tibi currendum est. “You must run.” [Impersonal use with intransive verb]

Carthāgo delenda est. “Carthage must be destroyed.” [Passive Periphrastic]

Dē gustibus nōn est disputandum. “One should not raise a dispute in matters of taste.” [Impersonal use with intransive verb]

Of these three constructions, the one with the gerundive is the commonest. One plausible explanation for this is the gerundive construction’s versatility in expressing duty and necessity.

Source

  Bradley’s Arnold Latin Prose Composition, edited by J. F. Mountford.

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Lower Level Vocab! Week 18!

Exclamations!

Post by: Licinia!

Approved by: Lana

vah!ugh!

euge! hurrah!

eheu! alas!

ecce! look! behold!

ēn! look!

dī immortālēs! by the immortal gods! heavens above!

age! come on!

floccī nōn faciō! I don’t give a hoot!

heus! hey!

ēn iūstitia! so this is justice!

ēn Rōmānī! so these are the Romans!

iō! hurrah!

estō! be!

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Etymology: The Latin Suffix -tus (September 30th)

Post by: Diaphanus

Approved by: Lana

A verb’s perfect participle arose when the suffix -tus (-a, -um) or -sus (-a, -um) interacted with that verb’s present stem or root:

amāre: amā- + -tus = amātus;

findere: FIND + -tus + fissus;

regere: REG + -tus = rēctus;

fīgere: FIG + -sus = fīxus;

fīnīre: fīnī- + -tus = fīnītus.

Thus we have participle forms that can be translated as “loved,” “cleaved,” “guided,” “fixed,” and “finished,” where the -tus/-sus/-xus is much like our English suffix “-ed.” But fīnītus can mean “bounded” or “limited” as in “provided with a boundary or limit.” This form looks as if the suffix -tus was just added to the stem of the noun fīnis, “limit,” to make “limited” much like how we ourselves added “-ed” to “limit.”

Interpretations of this kind contributed to the practice of adding the suffix -tus to nominal stems to form adjectives that mean “provided with” or “having” that which the original noun or adjective signifies. These adjectives can also be translated “[whatever]-ed.”

barbā- (barba, “beard”) + -tus = barbātus, “bearded,” “having a beard”;

turri- (turris, “tower”) + -tus = turrītus, “turreted”;

oner- (onus, “burden”) + -tus = onustus, “burdened”;

cornu- (cornū, “horn”) + -tus = cornūtus, “horned.”

From words of this kind arose the compound suffixes -ātus, -ītus, -ūtus:

manu- (manus, “hand”) + -ātus = manuātus, “furnished with hands”;

mell- (mel, “honey”) + -ītus = mellītus, “sweetened with honey”;

nāso- (nāsus, “nose”) + -ūtus = nāsūtus, “with a large nose.”

Adjectives ending in -ātus, -ītus, -ūtus imply reference to a real or imaginary verb: e.g. barbātus, implying a *barbō, *barbāre. The adjectives with only -tus do not make such a reference.

These suffixes can even form adjectives implying things that are worn. Thus, we have togātus, (literally) “wearing a toga,” and candidātus, (literally) “wearing white clothes.”

Not too long ago, I suggested the word roseātus, “dressed in pink,” from roseus, “pink.” It turned out that the word roseātus already existed!

Sources

Latin Suffixes, John Tahourdin White;

New Latin Grammar, Allen and Greenough.

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Upper Level Grammar: Expressing Necessity in Latin (September 27th)

Post by: Diaphanus

Approved by: Beniaminus

The ideas of possibility, permission, duty, necessity, are expressed in English by auxiliary verbs, “can,” “may,” “ought,” “should,” “must,” etc. I have already explained ways to express possibility and permission in Latin. Now I plan to show how Latin handles the idea of necessity.

There are two general ways to express necessity in Latin. One way is the use of the gerundive, which implies both duty and necessity.

Tibi moriendum est (erit). “You must die (will have to die).”

Tibi moriendum fuit (erat). “You had to die.”

Nōbīs Carthāgo delenda est. “We must destroy Carthage.”

Cīvibus ā tē consulendum est. “You ought to take heed for your fellow citizens.”

Notice that the person for whom something is necessary or on whom duty lies is normally in the dative. However, when an intransitive verb is itself constructed with the dative, the person is indicated by the ablative with the preposition ab (ā).

Another way to express necessity is to use necesse est with the infinitive or a subjunctive clause as its subject. This construction is not as widely used as the one using the gerundive.

Tibi morī necesse est./Moriāre necesse est. “You must die.”

Tibi morī necesse erat./Morerēre necesse erat. “You had to die.”

Nōbīs dēlēre Carthāginem necesse est./Dēleāmus Carthāginem necesse est. “We must destroy Carthage.”

Necesse est takes a dative of the person for whom something is necessary, and so when it has as its subject the infinitive of a copulative verb which is accompanied by a predicative noun or adjective, the case of that noun or adjective is also dative.

Vōbīs necesse est virīs fortibus esse. “You must be brave men.”

Notice that both virīs and fortibus are dative.

Source

  Bradley’s Arnold Latin Prose Composition, edited by J. F. Mountford.

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Lit- Justinian's Digest (September 29th)

Post by: Varinia

Approved by: Lana

In the 6th century AD, Emperor Justinian I decided to codify Roman legal texts and resolve the numerous conflicts within the laws. The result is Justinian’s Digest, a compilation of writings by Roman jurists in 50 books. The Digest is our largest source of Roman law (this is in part because the full texts that the Digest pulls from were for the most part destroyed), so if you’re interested in the subject, the Digest is a must-read.

It’s not an easy text to translate, given that the original cases have been altered and that legal texts are generally not easy reads anyway. The Romans had their own legal jargon, which can be difficult to understand without knowing exactly what the terms refer to. Because the text is so large and hard to get through, I’d suggest beginning with a casebook designed for classes, so that you can get a feel for the legal terms and read some of the more interesting cases.

Difficulty: Advanced

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Etymology: The Latin Suffix -tas (September 23rd)

Post by: Diaphanus

Approved by: Lana

The English suffix -ty derives from the Latin suffix -tās, which appears at the ends of Latin abstract nouns. Adjective stems, rarely noun stems, take this -tās. The vowel i often appears before the suffix, and yet it may disappear or become e when the stem ends in -io-. And so:

bonitās, “goodness,” from bonus (bono-);

pietās, “sense of duty,” from pius (pio-);

lībertās, “liberty,” from līber (lībero-);

loquācitās, “loquacious,” from loquāx (loquāc-);

maiestās, “majesty,” from maior (maiōr-, older maies-);

auctōritās, “authority,” from auctor (auctōr-).

Cicero formed some jocular words in -tās:

appietās, “the nobility of the Appian family,” from Appius;

lentulitās, “the nobility of a Lentulus,” from Lentulus.

Many philosophical words in -tās appear in Medieval Latin that were created by adding the suffix to other parts of speech and even to entire phrases. So:

quidditās, “quiddity,” “what-ness,” from quid;

entitās, “entity,” from ēns, a participle form of esse;

haecceitās, “this-ness,” from haec;

perseitās, “per-se-ity,” “by-itself-ness,” from per sē.

The suffix may denote relationship, hence the word frāternitās, “brotherhood,” from frāternus. That word inspired writers of Medieval Latin to add the suffix to the word soror to get sorōritās, “sisterhood.” We members of Tumblr’s Latin fandom had that same “relationship” idea in mind when we came up with the word fautōritās, from fautor, to translate the English word “fandom.” Thus, we are the sodālēs Fautōritātis Linguae Latīnae Tumblrēnsis.

O, Eheu, who recently celebrated his second year here on Tumblr, invented the great word Eheuitās!

Sources

Cicero’s Style, Michael von. Albrecht;

Geschichte der philosophischen Terminologie, Rudolf Eucken;

New Latin Grammar, Allen and Greenough.

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Lower Level Vocab Week 18: Words with great mnemonics!

Post by: Licinia

Approved by: Lana

(a mnemonic is a way of remembering something -- the more outlandish and obscene, the better!)

Latin -- English -- Mnemonic

conor, conari, conatus sum

to try (deponent)

Conor tries!

paulisper

for a short time

Paul is a pear for a short time

igitur

therefore

it’s an iguana, therefore

diu

for a long time

if you get a DUI you’ll be in jail for a long time

patior, pati, passus sum

to suffer (deponent)

Pati suffers!

mensis

month

menstruation is monthly. enough said.

sibilare

to hiss

you hiss at your siblings

ille, illa, illud

that

that makes me ill!

blanditiae

flatteries

most flatteries are bland

praeda

loot, booty

take pride in your booty!

polliceor, polliceri, politus sum

to promise (deponent)

The police promise to protect.

alae

wings

if you said you have wings that would be a lie

miror, mirari, miratus sum

to admire (deponent)

you admire yourself in the mirror

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Lit- Apicius/De Re Coquinaria (September 22nd)

Post by: Varinia

Approved by: Lana

A Pompeian fresco featuring a Roman dining room (source)

There’s not much to say on the author of this particular work, considering that the Apicius is compiled from the works of several different people. However, of note is the man it is named after, M. Gabius Apicius. We know of a few different men by this name, most famously one who lived from about 80 BCE to 40 CE. He was a gastronomer with an expensive appetite; as a result, his name became associated with luxurious foods. This is likely why the De Re Coquinaria, which includes a number of exotic recipes for the aristocratic Roman to enjoy, is attributed to him.

The cookbook itself is an interesting read, giving us a look into a variety of Roman meals (granted, most of these recipes would be reserved for the rich). It’s not terribly difficult to translate, although the vocabulary and the sometimes condensed sentences would make it better for an intermediate student to read, especially considering that one may have to do some outside research to make sense of some of the cooking terms. Just a warning that it can be a little difficult to find a Latin text, considering that it’s not very widely-read, but if you just want a look at the recipes, there are full English translations online.

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Imperfect Tense (September 20- Late Post)

Post by: Lana

Approved by: Varinia

Like the perfect tense, the imperfect tense shows an action in the past. But unlike the perfect tense, the action is not completed. The imperfect tense shows an incomplete action, or an action that is still happening. In English, the imperfect tense would be translate to “was ____ing” or “used to ____”. An example would be “I was running”; it’s not completed like “I ran”, but it’s not present like “I am running” or “I run”.

------------------------------------------------------------

Imperfect Tense endings:

  To form the imperfect tense- 1st, 2nd and 3rd Conjugations (-ō)

1. use infinitive (2nd principal part)

2. remove -re

3. for the third conjugation, change e to ē

4. add imperfect tense endings

portō, portāre, portāvī, portātus (carry, 1st conj.)

terreō, terrēre, terruī, territus (frighten, 2nd conj.)

trahō, trahere, trāxī, tractus (drag, 3rd conj.)

The third conjugation has verbs that end in -ō in the first principal part, and verbs that end in -iō in the first principal part.

To form the imperfect tense- 3rd Conjugation (-iō) and 4th Conjugation

1. use infinitive (2nd principal part)

2. remove -re

3. for the third conjugation, change e to iē; for the fourth conjugation, change ī to iē

4. add imperfect tense endings

capiō, capere, cēpī, captus (drag, 3rd conj.)

audiō, audīre, audīvī, audītus (listen, 4th conj.) 

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Upper Level Grammar: Expressing Permission in Latin (September 20th)

Post by: Diaphanus

Approved by: Lana

Last week, after explaining how to express possibility in Latin, I mentioned that the language expresses permission differently from how it expresses possibility. While we can use “can” to express both permission and possibility in English, the Latin word possum does not have the freedom to express both.

Permission in Latin is expressed by the impersonal verb licet, which is either constructed with the dative and the infinitive or used with the subjunctive.

Hōc mihi facere licet (licēbit). “I may do this.” [applicable now or hereafter]

Hōc mihi facere licet (licuit). “I might have done this.” [applicable in the past]

Hōc faciās licet. “You may do this.”

Hōc facerēs licuit. “You might have done this.”

A very common construction uses the preposition per to express the person whose permission has been granted:

Hōc tibi per mē facere licuit. “You might have done this, so far as I was concerned” or “I should have allowed you to do this.”

Hōc per mē faciās licebit. I shall leave you free to do this.

We should translate “may,” “might,” by possum (or queō) or licet according to the meaning that we have in mind: “I can” as in “I have the power” (possum or queō) or “I can” as in “I have permission” (licet). Thus, when we are working with Classical Latin, we need to remember that it is very much the case that if someone asks…

Nuncne domum īre possum? “Can I go home now?” [when the speaker is seeking permission]

a person has some justification in responding with the words…

Nēsciō. Potes? “I don’t know. Can you?”

Source

  Bradley’s Arnold Latin Prose Composition, edited by J. F. Mountford.

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iam discite meeting on Friday, September 19th!

unfortunately, i wasn't able to hold a meeting on thursday

if you can go to the meeting, go, but if you can't, just send me your lesson plans

-Lana

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Topics for Lower Level Vocab lists!

I'm running out of topics for my vocabulary lists! Does anyone know of a good topic (e.g. military) or category (e.g. common verbs) that I can get at least 15 words and phrases from? 

You don't have to give me any words. Just suggest a topic with which I can find Latin words that can be found in a high school level Latin textbook (like the CLC or Ecce Romani), not anything from Roman law or literature (that's more of an upper level vocab list).

Grātiās,

-Lana