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"Miserando atque eligendo"
There seem to be two schools of thought about the meaning of the motto on Pope Francis's coat of arms:
miserando atque eligendo
These words are taken from the 21st homily of the Venerable Bede, describing Jesus's first meeting with…
Ben Kovitz
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Non-typographical evidence of V being pronounced as [w]
According to a consensus of Latin scholars, the letter V in ancient Latin was pronounced as [w]. This seems to make sense, because there was no distinguishing between V and U, so the letter V could mark either the vowel [u] or its semivocalic…
zefciu
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Latin word for "code" or "program" (the verb)
As part of a(nother) assignment for my Latin class, we have to write a description of how we spend our free time. I'm trying to translate this:
After my homework is done, I like to program.
So far, I have
opere facto, fruor [programming]
But I…
anon
20
votes
2 answers
How often were medieval scribal abbreviations used?
In the preface to The elements of abbreviation in medieval Latin paleography, Adriano Cappelli writes
Take a foreign language, write it in an unfamiliar script, abbreviating every third word, and you have the compound puzzle that is the medieval…
HDE 226868
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What does "Vivamus vel libero perit Americae" on Hannity's new book mean?
Sean Hannity is coming out with a new book called Live Free or Die: America (and the World) on the Brink. At the bottom is a perplexing subtitle in Latin:
VIVAMUS VEL LIBERO PERIT AMERICAE
Here's the title page:
My question is simple: What does…
brianpck
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Why do we learn the genitive singular of each Latin noun?
When Latin nouns are listed for memorisation they are listed with the nom. sg., the gen. sg. and their gender. E.g. agricola, agricolae, masculine. Why are each of these forms necessary for memorisation? Can they not be worked out from each other?
Owl
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How did Roman babies talk?
Following a chat discussion, I want to know if we have any written record or general indication of how Latin was spoken by young children.
Most languages that I know have several distinct characteristics associated with baby talk: French children…
brianpck
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Is Nietzsche's proposed etymology of "bonus" (good) correct?
In the first treatise of On the Genealogy of Morality, §5, Nietzsche proposes the following derivation of bonus (good):
I believe I may interpret the Latin bonus as "the warrior": assuing that I am correct in tracing bonus back to an older duonus…
brianpck
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Did the Romans derive verbs from names?
I know the Romans did derive verbs from nouns (laudare, finire, lucere…), but did they ever derive verbs from names?
The Greeks did, for example forming homerizein (ὁμηρίζειν) from Homeros.
My understanding is that -izare, borrowed from Greek, was…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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What are the moon phases in Latin?
Here is a list of phases that we distinguish in English (taken from here):
Full Moon
Waning Gibbous Moon
Last Quarter Moon
Waning Crescent Moon
New Moon
Waxing Crescent Moon
First Quarter Moon
Waxing Gibbous Moon
Does Latin distinguish the same…
brianpck
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Where did the Romans think Latin comes from?
Did the Romans have a theory for the origin of their language?
I assume there were several ideas, and it would be great to see a summary of them.
No need to go very deep on any individual theory; a reference and a brief description of each would…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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What was a draco?
The Latin dictionaries I checked suggest that the word draco is attested in classical literature and it is often translated as "dragon".
However, it is my impression — which may well be wrong! — that the current dragon imagery in popular culture…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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Examples of species whose Latin and scientific names are different
Biologists have given scientific names to many species, and these names are in Latin.
A fraction of all named species was also known in ancient Rome (and medieval Europe), and they had a Latin name as well.
By a Latin name I mean a word that would…
Joonas Ilmavirta
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When did the latin alphabet become bicameral?
The simultaneous use of uppercase and lowercase letters is a feature of the Latin alphabet used today. The uppercase and lowercase letterforms evolve from different styles of writing. Originally, the difference was a only a difference of style.
When…
Sir Cornflakes
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Examples of "homo" used for a woman
Any beginning Latin learner discovers that English "man" has two translations: homo, when referring to a man as opposed to another species, and vir, when referring to a man as opposed to a woman.
I am curious about how well this distinction works,…
brianpck
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