The discovery of America in Latin

Posted by leire No Comments
Feb 7 2012

Here is a selection of short texts from the Latin translation of Columbus’ letter to Gabriel Sanchez, treasurer of the kingdom of Aragon, on March 14, 1493, giving news of his first voyage to the Indies. The Castilian text was soon translated into Latin by Leandro de Cosco for spreading rapidly the news of the discovery of new islands throughout Europe, as Latin was like the English of our time.

 

Heading:

Epistola Christofori Colom, cui aetas nostra multum debet, missa ad magnificum dominum Gabrielem Sanchis, serenissimorum regum tesaurarium, de insulis Indiae super ganger nuper inventis; ad quas perquirendas octavo antea mense auspiciis et aere invictissimorum Fernandi et Helisabet, Hispaniarum Regum, missus fuerat; quam nobilis ac litteratus vir, Leander de Cosco, ab hispano idiomate in latinum convertit tertio kalendas Maii MCCCCXCIII, pontificatus Alexandri Sexti Anno Primo.

 

Columbus discovers new islands in the Indies, takes possession of them and gives them names:

In this first piece they give the news of the discovery and the taking, with the imposition of new names to the discovered islands. Note that Columbus states that he reached the Mare Indicum, the Indian Ocean. The new names are religious or personal names of the royal family.

Tricesimo tertio die postquam Gadibus discessi, in Mare Indicum perveni, ubi plurimas insulas habitatas innumeris hominibus repperi. Quarum omnium possessionem accepi pro felicissimo rege nostro, praeconio celebrato et vexillis extensis, contradicente nemine; primae earum “Divi Salvatoris” nomen imposui; cuius auxilio fretus, tam ad hanc quam ad ceteras pervenimus. Eam vero Indi “Guanahanin” vocant. Aliarum etiam unamquamque novo nomine nuncupavi: quippe aliam insulam “Sanctae Mariae Conceptionis”, aliam “Fernandinam”, aliam “Hysabellam”, aliam “Ioanam”, et sic de reliquis appellari iussi.

Gadibus: Cadiz, but should refer to Palos de la Frontera.
Divi Salvatoris: San Salvador Island in the Bahamas.
Sancta Conceptio, Fernandina, Hysabella: names identified with some of the islands of the Bahamas.
Iona: Cuba.

 

Description of the island of Ioana (Cuba) and adjacents:

Cuba is described in all its exuberance. The description reveals admiration for the place, but also the potential resources that justify the exploitation of it.

Dicta Ioana et aliae insulae ibidem quam fertilissime existunt. Haec multis atque tutissimis et latis, nec aliis quos unquam viderim comparandis, portibus est circumdata. Multi maximi et salubres hanc interfluunt fluvii; multi quoque et eminentissimi in ea sunt montes. (…) Garriebat philomela et alli passeres, varii ac innumeri, mense Novembris, quo ipse per eas deambulabam. Sunt praeterea in dicta insula Ioana septem vel octo palmarum genera, quae proceritate et pulchritudine (quemadmodum ceterae omnes arbores, herbae, fructusque) nostras facile exsuperant. Sunt et mirabiles pinus, agri, et prata vastissima, variae aves, varia mella, variaque metalla, ferro excepto.

 

On the island of Hispaniola (Haiti-Santo Domingo) Colom and his men were taken as beings coming from the sky:

Immo firmissi credunt omnem vim, omnem potentiam, omniaque denique bona esse in caelo et me inde cum his navibus et nautis descendisse.

 

Cannibals and Amazons in the West Indies:

This text reveals the classical culture of the men of the discovery with the appearance of  possible Amazons. Columbus described what he saw in accordance with what he had learned and interpreted the new place with the eyes of a man educated in the classics.

Itaque monstra aliqua non vidi neque eorum cognitionem alicubi habui, excepta quadam insula “Charis” nuncupata; (…) Quam gens quaedam, a finitimis habita ferocior, incolit. Hi carne humana vescuntur. Praedicti habent biremium genera plurima, quibus in ominis Indicas Insulas traiiciunt, depraedant, surripiuntque quaecumque possunt. Nihil ab aliis diferunt, nisi quod gerunt more femineo crines. Utuntur arcubus et spiculis arundineis (…). Hi sunt qui coeunt cum quibusdam feminis, quae solae insulam “Mateunin” habitant. Hae autem feminae nullum sui sexus opus exercent: utuntur enim arcubus et spiculis, sicut de earum coniugibus dixi. Muniunt sese laminis aeneis, quarum maxima copia apud eas existit. Aliam insulam mihi affirmant, supradicta Hispaniola maiorem. Eius incolae carent pilis auroque inter alias potissium exuberat. Homines huius insulae et aliarum, quas vidi, mecum porto, qui testimonium horum quae dixi perhibent.

Charis: Dominica island in the Caribbean.
Mateunin: island of Martinique in the Antilles.

 

Letter from Columbus

 

XVIII International Botanical Congress and the end of the use of Latin

Posted by leire No Comments
Jan 31 2012

The title of this post is not completely faithful to reality. Recently, during the XVIII International Botanical Congress, it was decided that from January 1st 2012 it would not be compulsory to use Latin for botanical description of species. Now you can use either Latin or English. The names of the plants, though, will remain in Latin (or something similar, any name with a Latin termination is valid).

The obligation to write plants’ description in Latin was established in 1935 and it lasted until last December. They justify the change as it follows: “to describe the new species in Latin was an anachronism and an impediment to catalog the Earth’s biodiversity at a time in which the species may be extinct faster than scientists can describe. One impediment because today most botanists do not know Latin well enough to write a description in that language.”

Anyways, it is important to mention that the “botanical Latin” lately was getting very poor. Latin in this area had fallen to a simplified and impoverished Latin. They use a very basic Latin and if a classical scholar read it he would certainly be “horrified”. The change simplifies the job for scientists, they do not have to find a friend with knowledge of Latin. Anyways, it will be still necessary to understand descriptions written during the last century, and of course, before, when Latin was the language used for science writings.

An example: Orthotrichum pilosissimum, a species of moss from Nevada (USA) described in 2010 by a group of Spanish scientists, has this description in Latin:

“Species insignis axillaribus trichomatibus suis longissimis (ad 1.8 mm longis) basi ramificantibus, super caulibus tomentum formantibus. Filidia in sicco adpressa, linearlanceolata, apicibus acuminatis vel subulatis; lamina monostrata partimve bistrata, saepe propagulis munita; marginibus recurvatis vel revolutis, sed ad apicem planis vel incurvatis, longum fragilemque canaliculum formantibus. Vaginula nuda. Capsula immersa vel emergens, valde constricta infra orem post sporosim. Stomata cryptopora in capsulae dimidio inferiore locata. Peristoma duplex, exostoma octo dentium paribus recurvatis, endostoma octo segmentis tenuibus”.

 

For more information about this topic here you can read the scientific article from the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society where the changes in the use of Latin are described.

 

Roman calendar

Posted by leire No Comments
Jan 29 2012

The calendar we use nowadays corresponds with very light variations, to the one that Julius Caesar used. However, in the history of the Roman calendar we can distinguish three stages: initial, Numa Pompilius’ reform, and the reform of Julius Caesar.

In the initial phase, which was a lunar calendar, the year was made ​​up of ten months, each of which consisted of 29 days and a half. With the reform of Numa Pompilius the year started to be 355 days. The months of March, May, July and October had 31 days, February 28, and the remaining 29. In the year 153 BC. January became the first month of the year.

In 46 BC. Julius Caesar asked to an Egyptian astronomer, Sosigenes, the calendar reform. The months of January, March, May, July, August, October and December had 31 days. April, June, September and November, 30 days and February 28 days. To accommodate the current year to the sun, Caesar ordered that every four years an extra day should be added: they are leap years, this day was added between 24 and 25 February.

On the death of Julius Caesar, it was given in his honor the name of July to the month before called Quintilis, later Augustus gave his name to Sextilis.

 

DATES:

Of all the days of the month, only three had their own name: Kalendae, Nonae and Idus.

Kalendae corresponded to the 1st day of each month.
The Nonaecould correspond, depending on the month, to day 5 or 7:

  •  Day 5: Ianuarius, Februarius, Aprilis, Iunius, Augustus, September, November, December.
  •  Day 7: Martius, Maius, Iulius, October.

The Idus corresponded to day 13 or day 15, following the same distribution as Nonae.

The term used to express the date depended on the relationship the day had with one of these special-dates.
The Kalendae, Nonae and Idus days were expressed by that word in ablative followed by the adjective of the corresponding month: Kalendis Aprilibus (April 1), Nonis Iuliis (7th of July), Idibus Martiis (15th of March) . The days immediately before or after of any of these key-dates was expressed with the adverbs pridie (previous day) or postridie (subsequent day)  followed by the corresponding name in accusative: pridie Idus Octobres (14th of October), postridie Kalendas Februarias (2nd of February) . For the rest of the dates they used the phrase ante diem followed by the ordinal number of days left to get to the immediate subsequent key-date, considering that the Romans used inclusive counting, adding the starting day (which is not made nowadays) and the final day: ante diem XVII Kalendas Februarias (16th of January).
Dates were usually expressed by abbreviations.

YEARS:

The most common way to indicate the years was to appoint the consuls of the year they talked about:
M. Messala (et) M. Pisone consulibus…
Another way to indicate the year was to take as reference the year of the founding of Rome (753 BC), counting the years since then. The acronyms A.U.C. (Ab urbe condita) were generally added:
CCXLI A.U.C. = year 512 BC.
Roman calendar

Education in Ancient Rome

Posted by leire No Comments
Jan 25 2012

OLD PERIOD (until the second century BC):

At this time in the history of Ancient Rome, the education of children was limited to the preparation that their father could give. It was an education of farmers, based fundamentally on respect for the customs of the ancestors (mos maiorum). From early childhood they were taught that the family they belonged to was a genuine social and religious unit, whose powers were all concentrated in the head, the paterfamilias, who was the owner of everything, with the right of life and death on all family members.

Up to seven years old the mother was responsible for the education of children. The mother was a teacher at home. She had therefore a very important role, not limited only to give birth to the child, but then she continued her work taking care of children physically and morally. Hence its influence on the child was important throughout his or her life.

From the seventh year it was the father who took responsibility for the education of children. A father taught his son (puer) to read, write, use arms and cultivate lands, while he taught also the basics of good manners, religion, morality and knowledge of the law. The boy accompanied his father everywhere: to the field, treats, forum, etc.

For its part, the girl (puella) continued under the direction and care of her mother, who teaches at the loom and housework.

The final refinement to his education was given by military training, which was entered at the age of 16 or 17 years old. The Roman army’s strength laid in their discipline: the coward was beaten to death, a General could decapitate anyone for the slightest disobedience, the deserters were cut off their right hand, and the food consisted of bread and vegetables.

Roman abacur or "calculator"

FROM THE SECOND CENTURY BC ON
From the third and second centuries BC Rome came into contact with Greek culture after conquering the Magna Graecia (southern Italy). Since then, the Greek cultural superiority marked the Roman culture and education. Teachers and rhetoricians arrived to Rome as slaves and they taught in the homes of their owners and even open schools after obtaining freedom.
Soon the implementation of the Greek educational system happened. Thus, the rustic Rome became a transmitter of the Greek humanistic flow. From that moment on a large numbers of teachers, grammarians, rhetoricians and philosophers invaded the streets of Rome and the Romans accepted their teachings (though not without some reluctance).
Schematically, the organization of the educational system was as follows:
Level of education Age of pupils Teacher’s name Curricula Places Methodology
Elementary education  7-11(In the Empire they had free schools for poor children) Ludi magister or Litterator
Reading, writing, calculations and simple memorization. The Law of Twelve Tables.Objective: basic culture and civic attitude.
 Pergulae= roofsTabernae = shops Memorization and corporal punishment (splint)
Middle education 12-16(rich or privileged) Grammaticus Explanations of Greek and Roman poets.The aim is the perfect mastery of language. Tabernae throughout the forum, open to the public Full text analysis: grammar, metrics.History, mythology and geography by memorization
Higher education 17-20(students who aspire to political career / cursus honorum). Rhetor Speaking: rules, formulas, speeches, declamations.Aim: eloquence. Porches on the forum. From the Empire on, the state provided them with beautiful classrooms. Practical exercises: suasoriae, controversiae.

The Latin Passive Voice

Posted by leire No Comments
Jan 22 2012

In Latin, as in other languages, the verb has two voices: active and passive. For crating the passive voice, Latin language  uses two different systems: one for the present tense, and another for the perfect tense.

 

PASSIVE VOICE IN PRESENT TENSE:

To form the passive voice of present tense, both for the indicative and the subjunctive, personal endings of the passive voice must be used. It is simple, you should change the active voice endings for the passive voice endings:

Singular Plural
1st person  -or / -r  -mur
2nd person  -ris / -re  -mini
3rd person  -tur  -ntur

 

PASSIVE VOICE IN PERFECT TENSE:

It is formed with the perfect participle of the verb conjugated + SUM in the corresponding tense (present or perfect):

TIEMPOS DE PERFECTO DE LA
VOZ PASIVA

INDICATIVE

 

SUBJUNCTIVE

 

PAST PERFECT

 

amatus,
-a, -um

 

sum (fui)

 

es (fuisti)

 

est (fuit)

 

amatus,
-a, -um

 

sim (fuerim)

 

sis (fueris)

 

sit (fuerit)

 

amati,
-ae, -a

 

 

sumus (fuimus)

 

estis (fuistis)

 

sunt
(fuerunt)

 

amati,
-ae, -a

 

 

simus (fuerimus)

 

sitis (fueritis)

 

sint
(fuerint)

 

PAST PERFECT

 

amatus,
-a, -um

 

eram (fueram)

 

eras (fueras)

 

erat (fuerat)

 

amatus,
-a, -um

 

essem (fuissem)

 

esses (fuisses)

 

esset (fuisset)

 

amati,
-ae, -a

 

 

 

eramus (fueramus)

 

eratis (fueratis)

 

erant
(fuerant)

 


 

amati,
-ae, -a

 

 

essemus (fuissemus)

 

essetis (fuissetis)

 

essent
(fuissent)

 

FUTURE PERFECT

 

amatus,
-a, -um

 

ero (fuero)

 

eris (fueris)

 

erit (fuerit)

 

amati,
-ae, -a

 

 

erimus (fuerimus)

 

eritis (fueritis)

 

erunt
(fuerint)

 

The matching rules are the same that we use with nouns / verbs and adjectives / subjects, a verb form such as DICTUS EST will have singular masculine subject.

PASSIVE SENTENCES:

In the sentence “The girl loves the Queen” (expressed in the active voice) we have a subject (the girl), a transitive verb (loves) and a direct object (the Queen). This idea can be expressed in the passive voice: “The Queen is loved by the girl”. In the second sentence we find the following: a patient subject (the queen), an agent subject, that performs the action (by the girl), and the verb in the passive voice (is loved):

Puella reginam amat > A puella regina amatur

In Latin, the patient subject is in nominative, the verb, in passive voice, coincides with the patient subject and the agent subject is in ablative case (with a or ab prepositions if it is a person or a personified thing, and in ablative without a preposition when it comes to a name of a thing). It is called agent ablative:

Pater amatur a filio (The father is loved by his son) /  Arbor movebatur vento (The tree is moved by the wind)

When the verb is not referred to any particular subject you can use the 3rd singular person, even with intransitive verbs. In the perfect tenses, perfect participle takes the neutral form. This construction is called “impersonal passive”:

Pugnatur (they fight -impersonal subject-)
Pugnatum est (they fought -impersonal subject-)
Tibi nocetur (It is detrimental to you -impersonal subject-)
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