Archive for March, 2009
From Latin to English Posted by kunthra on Mar 30, 2009
I think people take Latin for granted. Most people don’t realize how many English words have roots that derive from Latin words. Take for example the English word verbatim. The English word for verbatim means to quote someone word for word or to copy something word for word. In Latin, verbum means word, while ātim is the adverbial…
The Dining Experience Posted by kunthra on Mar 28, 2009
Whenever I see Hollywood movies like Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, I’m always fascinated by the dining scene. The Ancient Romans are usually portrayed as reclining while eating. It’s always the same scene in other films as well. The truth is, the Ancient Romans only dined and wined for formal events. For routine meals, they just sat…
The Ides of March Posted by kunthra on Mar 24, 2009
Have you ever heard the phrase, Beware of the Ides of March? It’s a phrase uttered by a soothsayer to Julius Caesar before his eventual death. The Ancient Romans considered the Ides of March as a lucky day. The Ides of March falls on the 15th of March, which is considered a day of the…
Ancient Roman Festivals Dedicated to Cybele Posted by kunthra on Mar 21, 2009
The 22nd of March is the festival of Die Sanguinas. Die Sanguinas is The Day of Blood in Latin. This festival honors Cybele, the goddess of fertility and rebirth. The priests serve Cybele by slashing their wrists and splattering the blood against a stone likeness of Cybele. Ahh, how nice! The priests back then were…
March (Martius) Posted by kunthra on Mar 18, 2009
March (Martius) is the month devoted to Mars, the god of war. If you know anything about the Ancient Romans, you’ll know that they revered Mars and held month long celebrations to honor Mars. Mars was the epitome of valor and courage. He’s one of the more macho gods. He’s known as the god who was…
Latin Sentence Structure Posted by kunthra on Mar 16, 2009
We’re going to take a look at some subjects and verbs. I’ll try to make this as painless as possible 🙂 Let’s take a look at the sentence: Cicero is a farmer. In Latin this sentence would look like this: Cicerō est agricola. In Latin, articles like the and a are omitted. That’s why in…
More Pronunciation Rules: Vowel/Syllable Length Posted by kunthra on Mar 14, 2009
A vowel is short before another vowel or h. An example of this is in the word po – ē – ma, which means poem in Latin. Another example of this is in the word ni – hil, which means nothing in Latin. A vowel is pronounced with a short sound before nt and nd…