Arbores Latinae

It seemed as if we would never see another tree -- green ones, let along Latin ones. After an unscheduled Snowcation, Calvert Latin Scholars returned to school to plant their own harbingers of spring. Here are some sample trees -- real from winter break, and then derivative for Latin.

How Many Days Make a Year?

Latin Scholars began the New Year by learning about the calendar in ancient Rome. Did you know that there were originally 305 days in the year and that the 61 days of deep winter -- January and February -- were not even named? That while they were on the lunar calendar September could happen in March? Or that at one point during the Empire there were 220 days of holidays? Julius Caesar and Pope Gregory fixed that!

Felix Dies Nativitatis

In the midst of preparing for midterms, some fall Latin scholars had an opportunity to share the story Quomodo Invidiosulus Nomine Grinchus Christi Natalem Abrogaverit.

Best of the Season!

Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts

Odysseus' trick is the inciting moment for the hagiographic epic Augustus commissioned from Virgil to replace the tale of Romulus and Remus. Students learned the origin of the expression which titles this posting while becoming familiar with the story of the Aeneid. They also learned that Troy is, in fact, a real place.

Eugapae! Latina Vivit!

There was no punctuation in ancient Rome, but exclamation points are in order for the first properly submitted Living Latin of the 2009-2010 school year! See if you get it. Congratulations to Latin Scholar James Banta.

Living Latin

Latin scholars should be reminded to wear their sandals! Spectate -- Audite -- Nunc dicite -- Agite -- Legite -- Scribite.

Living Latin is an opportunity to earn extra credit. Students need to find an example of Latin used in an English and/or stand alone context which can be readily understood by "the man (or woman) in the street." Once the phrase has been found, e.g. "Carpe wi-fi," they need to bring in the example, translate the example, use the living Latin in their own phrase, AND, most importantly put their name on it. Agite discupuli, carpete extra credit!

Latin Syllabus

Salvete parentes! You can read a synopsis of the syllabus hand-out here.

Prima Probatio

After learning some urbanitas, and deducing some rules for how verbs work, the Latin Scholars weathered their Prima Probatio, first quiz, this week. Valete!

Venite discipuli ad forum romanum

With a small detour through the thickets of grammar and the wilds of wonderland, soon the Latin Scholars of 2010 will visit this ancient and wonderful place.

Salvete discipuli!

Inventiones Mirabiles

Venture capitalists looking for the next best thing and a place for their denarii need look no farther than Room 319. This year's inventors have outdone themselves from ceruloratulae (crayons) to remdormium (a sleep aid) to water parks, nightlights, traffic signals, training equipment for out-of-condition gladiators and more.

Eugapae!

Translation: Yay! Thirty-eight Latin scholars took the National Latin Exam. Quinque (V) earned perfect scores. Of the thirty-eight who took the exam, twenty four will get an automatic A on the final they will not have to take.

Invenite!

Invent! That's what the ancient Romans did, and that's what Calvert Latin scholars will be doing during the month of April. Students are asked to come up with a product for the Roman market which could have been made with their technology. Then, after research has demonstrated a lack and need, they will name their product, devise a slogan for their product, and write an explanatory advertisement for their product -- all in Latin. Finally, they will create a drawing or model of their product and pitch it to their classmates.

Romans gave us the first stadium with a retractable dome, quick drying cement, scissors, platform shoes, the magnifying glass -- and more! Let's see what this year's 8th graders come up with.

National Latin Exam

On March 11 the eighth graders will take the National Latin Exam. The exam consists of forty multiple choice questions covering grammar, the classical world and translation. This year almost 150,000 students from middle through high school will take some level of the exam. At Calvert those students who earn high honors on the exam will not have to take the final on which they will get an "automatic" A! While it is not possible to study explicitly for the exam, students can visit the website http://www.nle.org/exams.html#exams_previous to take additional practice exams.

Living Latin

We all know Latina Vivit! (Latin Lives!) Sixty percent of the English language comes either directly from Latin or from Latin through other languages to English. Calvert's Latin scholars are given the opportunity to earn extra credit by finding examples of living Latin. Some are in Latin only, but make such a clear reference to 21st century American culture that they are understood, others are bi-lingual. Once students find an example of what they believe to be living Latin, they must translate it, use it in a sentence and submit their example. A rule of thumb is that if a student asked five people who had not studied Latin what was meant they could explain it back. Enjoy these samples and come up with some of your own.

A Tree Grows in Latin

Students were asked to create a derivative tree with roots in the four principal parts of a verb, particularly the fourth principal part, of a verb of their choosing. Requirements were: a minimum of ten derivatives that were not just slight alterations of the same word, a minimum of three parts of speech, a clear method for how the tree was constructed or the derivatives found, and aesthetics. Spelling counted, too! One student came up with thirty-eight different words, a few came up with connections of which their Magistra was unaware, one sorted his derivatives by language of occurrence, and so on. Finally, since they had completed the strike of their set, the seventh grade drama class created the veritable forest of arbores which decorates Room 319.

Renuntiatio Octava

Did you know that some Roman beach houses had more than 60,000 square feet? (The average American house today has 2,000 square feet.) We will begin the year exploring the Roman house and creating crossword puzzles in Latin. After looking at the picture, what is different about the entryway of this domus romana?Felix Annus Novus!

Septima Renuntiatio

Latin scholars have a second special visitor. Their first, Lisa Simeone of NPR, spoke to them a short time ago about why she decided to start studying Latin over fifty, and her career in radio. The week before mid-terms, as a break from review, Mrs. Lawrence, as a companion piece to the memorization and discussion they are doing in English, spoke to the students about Shakespeare and Latin. Did you know that even though he probably only went to school through what was sixth grade he had several years of Greek and Latin?! After a short discussion, students went on to translate the sonnet which begins: An similem aestivae pingam te, cara, diei? Why not try your hand at it? Visit http://www.slu.edu/colleges/AS/languages/classical/latin/tchmat/pedagogy/latinitas/dv/dv.html to to find all of Shakespeare's sonnets in Latin.

Sexta Renuntiatio

Is the story of Aeneas a myth or history? Actually, it's hagiography. [A worshipful or idealizing biography.] Imperator Augustus hired the poet Virgil to retell the story of the founding of Rome, and asked that he refer to Homer's works. Virgil worked on the epic poem from 30 bce until he died in 19 bce before he was able to visit all the places Aeneas stopped on his journey. Augustus not only left Rome a city of marble, he also left it with a poetic history. Arma virumque cano! Listen to the poem at http://www.rhapsodes.fll.vt.edu/aeneid1.htm .

Quinta Renuntiatio

Salvete Amici --

For the past few weeks we have been learning how to translate Latin sentences. So far we have learned eight (!) steps of the process.

Let's see how it works with a sentence from chapter four of our textbook: Tum Marcus ad arborem currit. Translation begins with finding the verb, and identifying it by person, number and tense; here it is currit -- third person singular present, he/she/it runs. Second identify the subject(s) -- a noun in the nominative case (subject form) which agrees with the verb; here it is the proper noun, Marcus. Then look for complements, additional nouns in the same case and number as the subject, without a conjunction, when the verb is a verb of being; or, direct objects, nouns that do not follow a preposition, which are in the accusative case in sentences with a transitive (action) verb. In the example, there is no complement or direct object. Next, pick out any adjectives; adjectives agree with the nouns they modify and most of the time follow the nouns they modify. Step five is "other" words. These are just vocabulary words that for now will be translated in step eight. In our example sentences, other words are: tum, ad, and arborem. In step six the sentence is translated literally, or word-for-word in the oorder in which it appears: Then Marcus towards tree runs. In the next step, the sentence is translated into good English: Then Marcus runs towards the (there are no articles in Latin)tree. The final step is to identify derivatives, e.g. arborem/arbol (Sp.)/arbor (Eng.), currit/correr (Sp.)/current (Eng.), etc.

Valete --

Funicula

Quarta Renuntiatio

We are learning the details of Latin vocabulary and our Vocab Notebooks. Nouns belong to declensions and have four characteristics: gender, number, case and declension. Verbs belong to conjugations and also have four characteristics: person, number, tense and conjugation. Of course, as in any language, some of the verbs are irregular which makes them harder to learn. Did you know that "sic" is another way to say "yes"?!

Discipuli -- remember to post for extra credit!