The Highlander /  by Anthony Gibbins

I've mentioned Rusticatio a few times now, the week long full Latin emersion held annually in Virginia. One thing I may not have mentioned is the incredible warmth of the participants. One way that this warmth manifests is through the use of noster/nostra, 'our'. I still remember the first time, sitting in the ula scholastica, that a more experienced Latin speaker referred to me as Antonius noster. I wanted to create that feeling around Miranda.

Miranda is on her way to the pub. And what a gorgeous pub it is. You can see that it has its name, The Highlander, printed on its windows. montanus is Latin for mountain dweller, which seems a fair translation of Highlander. A female mountain dweller would be a montana, but apparently the name of the state Montana comes from a Spanish word meaning 'mountainous country'.

By the way, I think this page might have the first purpose clause in Legonium. 

Our Miranda is walking to the pub to meet with her good friend there. This small pub is called 'The Highlander'.

frequens vs occupatus /  by Anthony Gibbins

The restaurant, as you can see, is busy. frequens was a word that I met relatively late in my Latin learning. Before that I guess I would have said caupona est occupata, which I don't believe would be wrong, but somewhat ambiguous. For occupatus means 'busy' when referring to a person, but 'occupied' when referring to a place. This could be by a crowd of diners, sine dubio, but it could also be by a single soul - think of the 'occupied' sign of a public bathroom stall.

frequens, on the other hand, means, among other things, 'a place in which many people are present, crowded, thronged, busy'. This was the sense that I wanted to give of the caupona. I'm not sure of the wisdom of having two Lego celebrities dining in Legonium, but the students I read with seem to get a kick out of it - well, a few do. So, I'll leave them in there for now.

She immediately descends the stairs to the street. The restaurant, as you can see, is busy, but Miranda is not going to-there. Perhaps you are asking to-where she is walking?

The Epitoma Festi of Paul the Deacon /  by Anthony Gibbins

Now that she is up, Miranda wastes no time in getting her day started. The ablative absolute aliis vestimentis indutis (literally, other clothes having been put on) creates for me a sense of her pace. This is the page that tells us where the conclave of Miranda is situated, above the restaurant and below Marcellus' attic. Speaking of whom, isn't that Macellus noster sitting on the maenianum enjoying a pizza?

conclave is defined in the Epitoma Festi of Paulus Diaconus in this way; conclavia dicuntur loca, quae una clave clauduntur (conclavia are called locations, which are closed up with a single key). The work of Paulus Diaconus is an example of a Latin lexicon, of which there are several. If you are interested, Paulus Diaconus wrote his epitoma (abridgement) of Festus' de verborum significatu during the reign of Charlemagne. Festus had written his lexicon during the 2nd century AD, but nothing of it today remains. The work of Festus was itself an abridgement of an even earlier lexicon by Verrius Flaccus (also lost) compiled during the reign of Augustus (the Roman emperor, not the Legonium bank manager). Anyway, I'll be translating conclave here as apartment.

Miranda, having changed into other clothes, exits straight onto the balcony. Her apartment is situated between the restaurant and the attic of Marcellus.

 

Awake! /  by Anthony Gibbins

On this page we learn that Miranda is sleeping through a large part of the day because she has to work throughout the night. Why might that be...?

Miranda sleeps through a large part of the day because it is necessary for her to work through the night. Soon she wakes up (expergiscitur) and rises.

Or rather... /  by Anthony Gibbins

immo is another interesting word. It is a particle that may begin a sentence to indicate that the sentence corrects something that has come before. It may be used to completely negate what was previously said, to correct one part of a previous claim, or to supply a more precise version of a stated fact (among other things). Here immo corrects the idea that everyone is awake with the more precise 'everyone except Miranda'.

There are two other interesting expressions. The first is multum in diem which means late into the day. I've only seen it as multam in noctem, such as in Cicero's Dream of Scipio, where Scipio stays up late chatting with an old family friend. But I see no reason for not using it here. Speaking of Cicero, he also supplied somno se dare, 'to give one's self to sleep'. More poetic than simply repeating Miranda dormit.

Miranda, our title character, is seen here for the first time. I wanted to show off the fold-out bed that comes built-in to this apartment. The pyjamas and sleeping face come from a minifigure in the series 6 collection called Sleepyhead. He is quite expensive to buy on eBay, but I found one in Germany going cheap because he had no hair. I didn't need the hair, so problem solved. It does mean, however, that everyone in Legonium probably owns the same pyjamas.

Or rather, everyone except Miranda. Miranda is still seeping in her bed. Perhaps you are asking why Miranda gives herself to sleep so late into the day.

quota hora est? /  by Anthony Gibbins

English does not have an equivalent of the word quotus, quota, quotum, which means 'having what position in a numerical series'. In Latin we use it with the noun hora to ask the time; quota hora est? The answer to which is not three o'clock, but the third hour; hora tertia est. 3:15 is hora tertia et quadrans. 3:30 is hora tertia et dimidia and 3:45 is hora tertia et dodrans. Three o'clock on the dot is hora tertia in puncto.

While we are talking about Latin and time, do you know the origins of the word minute and second? There is a Latin verb minuere which means 'to make smaller, to chop up'. So, the words hora minuta mean 'a chopped up hour'. The words hora minuta secunda mean 'an hour chopped up for the second time'.

A clock is an instrument that announces what time (hour) it is. Soon it will be the third hour after midday. All people therefore are awake.

Augustus, administrator argentarius /  by Anthony Gibbins

The image of a bank employee up a ladder comes straight from the box art for this set. While a man scrubs away at the bank's clock, the bank manager is standing on the pavement trying to hand him an envelope. Very strange. In this image, it is the administrator argentarius himself doing the heavy lifting. For whatever reason, our Augustus, whom I assume to be a very busy man, can be found in the middle of the afternoon up a high ladder ensuring that the town's timepiece sparkles in the sun.

argentarius is an adjective meaning 'of or concerned with silver; monetary, financial, pecuniary, concerned with banking'. It is also used as a noun in the masculine meaning 'banker'. It comes, of course, from the Latin word for silver, argentum, which gives us both its chemical symbol - Ag - and the name Argentina, from the belief that the region was rich with that metal. I will translate administrator argentarius as the rather prosaic 'bank manager'.

Do you see Augustus? Augustus is the bank manager. At this time (ablative of time when) Augustus is standing on a high ladder, washing the clock.

 

aedificium magnificum /  by Anthony Gibbins

I have already had quite a bit to say about the Brick Bank, but here you can see the building in all its Lego glory. If you look closely, you can see the little laundrette in the bottom right hand corner. I struggled for a bit as to what to call the laundrette, and I'm still open to suggestions. So far I've settled, as you can see, on lavatrina vestimentorum. There is a little pun on the word 'launder' built into the Brick Bank modular. Within the bank itself is a safe with a series of safety deposit boxes and withIn the laundry are four washing machines. One of the washing machines is marked out of order, and if you throw any gold, coins or notes into the broken machine, it appears (through an ingeniously hidden Lego slide) in one of the safety deposit boxed, successfully laundered. A physical pun.

On the corner, where two streets meet, stands this magnificent building. This building contains a bank and a small laundry.