mea pictura

Finally, a picture I took myself. argentaria is a bank. The Brick Bank was released on the 1st of January of this year, and it's a great kit. Not as colourful as other recent modulars, but it adds a sense of gravitas to the street. perplacet is stronger than placet. Marcellus really likes walking. fortasse is a handy word - it means perhaps. Like, mea sententia, it can soften your more outlandish exclamations.

Today Marcellus is walking in the street near the bank. Marcellus really likes to walk in the street. Perhaps you are asking to where Marcellus is walking.

mihi placet fabulam Latinam scribere

Remember The Sims? I only ever played the first of The Sims games, so I'm not sure how different it is now. But I remember that the way Sims would make friends (or not) was by walking up to complete strangers and talking to them about whatever was on their mind. If they liked the same things (tennis racket, judge's wig, video game) they became friends. If not, they did't.

One of the easiest way to make friends in Latin, then, must be mihi placet - it pleases me. Throw on an infinite verb and you have just declared one of your favourite things to do. mihi placet in horto ambulare - It pleases me to walk in the garden.

This picture was painted by Marcellus.* It pleases Marcellus to paint.

*It wasn't. Again, I don't know who made this, but I think its awesome.

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qui quae quod

Did you know that the most common word in Latin classical literature is the relative pronoun qui, quae, quod (in all its various forms)? I have to admit to being surprised by this, as I thought it would be et. But, the existence of -que splits the vote (so to speak) and so et and -que come in second and third respectively.

I didn't make this picture, but I think its awesome. I found it online by googling 'lego painter'. A better man than I would track down the original creator and ask for permission, but I have to confess to not even trying. Full disclosure.

Do you know what a painter is. I will tell you. Literally, I will make you more certain. A painter is a man or a women who paints pictures. 

By the way, the direct question would be quid est pictor? est becomes sit in an indirect question.

mea sententia

This is such a handy little expression, I thought I'd highlight it in this post. mea sententia - it is in the ablative case, so both final a's are long - means in my opinion (IMHO). If you are speaking Latin and you don't want it to sound like everything you say is a declaration of truth, then mea sententia is a godsend. Moreover, it doesn't even muck up the grammar, by beginning an indirect statement or anything of that sort. Go ahead - use it!

Marcus is holding such instruments because he is a painter. Marcellus, in my opinion, is an excellent painter.

Indirect Questions

One of the things I like about having a narrator, is that she can ask questions of the reader, or make assumptions about the things that they might like to know. This allows for quite a few indirect questions, such as the one below. First, lets begin with a translation. There are two words here that I needed to look up. peniculus - paintbrush - wasn't hard to find. I found discus pigmentarius - palette - in a Latin/German dictionary of modern vocabulary.

The page reads; Firstly, perhaps you are asking why Marcellus is holding a paintbrush and palette.

If this was a direct question - Why is Marcus holding... - the Latin would be cur Marcus tenet? But when that question is imbedded into a longer sentence as an indirect question, the verb changes ever so slightly - quaeris cur Marcellus teneat. 

Marcellus

Say hello to Marcellus. He is the first citizen of Legonium whom we meet. Like our narrator, he is a ready made minifigure from the Lego collectable series. He appeared way back in Series 4. I bought a copy off eBay after I'd built the restaurant which you'll see in this story. The little attic room at the top came with artist's equipment, so I thought he would make the perfect occupant. I just hope he gets to stay there!

For those of you who want a translation, here it is; My first story is about this man. This man is Marcellus. If you wish, I will tell you (the) story about Marcellus now.

narrator

Here is our narrator. She will be telling the stories in the Legonium series (although I think we may get a guest narrator from time to time). I've had some requests for a translation from a couple of Twitter users, so here goes. Hello reader. I hope that you are well. I am the narrator. I know many stories about many people. Do you like to hear stories? This more literally means, Is it pleasing to you to hear stories? I am able to tell stories to you. 

This minifigure photo comes straight from Lego. She was a collectable in Series 10. I don't own a copy of the actual figure, but it wasn't hard to find a photo online. Her book had an English title, so I covered it with a green rectangle. My photo-shop skills know no bounds...

Legonium

salve lector. Welcome to Legonium. Legonium is an imaginary town based on the Modular Buildings of the Lego Group. I own three of these sets and hope to buy two more in the near future to expand the town. 

I based the name of the town, Legonium, on the real-world ancient city, Londinium, now of course known as London.

The first part (pars prima) of the story is called Marcellus. Marcellus is a citizen of the town whom you will meet shortly.