Indirect Speech /  by Anthony Gibbins

There are three types of Indirect Speech; Indirect Statements, Questions and Commands. This page includes an example of the first two.

Direct Statement:       ego Augustum visitare cupio. I want to visit Augustus.

Indirect Statement:    Marcellus dicit se Augustum visitare cupere. Marcellus says that he wants to visit Augustus.

Direct Question:          cur argentariam visitas? Why are you visiting the bank?

Indirect Question:       femina Marcellum rogat cur argentariam visitet. The woman asks Marcellus why he is visiting the bank.

For the sake of completing the set, let’s add an example with a Command.

Direct Command:        ascende scalas! Climb the stairs!

Indirect Command:     femina Marcello imperat ut scalas ascendat. The woman tells Marcellus to climb the stairs.

The woman asks Marcellus why he is visiting the bank. Marcellus says that he wants to visit Augustus. The woman, smiling, points out the stairs to Marcellus.

atrium argentariae /  by Anthony Gibbins

The interior of the bank is pretty impressive. There is a glass fronted counter and behind that a picture of a bridge (which Marcellus may very well have painted). The floor is tiled in grey, white and two fancy colours called sand-blue and sand-green. The shield shaped tiles are brand new – they were created for the recently released Nexo Knights range. Against one of the stained glass windows is a bench for filling out deposit and withdrawal slips. What you cannot see is the large chandelier that hangs from the ceiling. Nor the bank vault with the huge lockable door.

There is a set of stairs that leads up to the second floor, on which is situated a clerk (complete with his or her own coffee machine) and the office of Augustus. You may remember seeing this office – and Augustus – in Legonium episode two. Most of the second floor, however, is a great void, that allows you to look down into the atrium. Another set of stairs leads from the second floor up onto the roof. You may remember seeing the bank roof at the end of Legonium episode one.

Marcellus at last enters the atrium of the bank and approaches the woman standing behind the counter. Do you like the very large and ornate atrium?

 

on the threshold /  by Anthony Gibbins

Marcellus, who owes a good deal of money to the bank, is intimidated by its imposing structure. He stands frozen on the threshold for a short moment, unwilling or unable to enter. He seems anxious.

The limen threshold plays an important part in Latin literature. In erotic elegy, the shut-out-lover spends a good deal of time on the wrong side of the threshold wishing to be let in. So much time, in fact, that there is a ancient literary term (Greek) for the genre: paraclausithyron (παρακλαυσίθυρον). Here is an example from Ovid. The translation is by Peter Green.

          Who but a soldier or lover would put up with freezing

          Nights – rain, snow, sleet? The first

          Goes out on patrol to observe the enemy’s movements,

           The other watches his rival, an equal foe.

          A soldier lays siege to cities, a lover to girls’ houses,

          The one assaults city gates, the other front doors.

The idea of love as conquest is all too familiar.

The bank has large glass double-doors (fores). Our Marcellus, the doors having been opened, waits on the threshold for-a-short-time (paulisper). He seems anxious.

birota /  by Anthony Gibbins

 

birota is an example of one way in which modern Latin handles concepts that the Romans had no word for. bi- is a prefix meaning consisting of, having, measuring, etc two of the things named.

Here are some cool examples from classical Latin; biceps two-headed, biclinium a dining-couch on which two persons can recline, bicodulus having two tails, bicornis two horned, bidens having two permanent teeth, biduum a period of two days, biennium a period of two years, bifer bearing fruit or flowers twice a year, biformatus (of a monster) consisting of two parts of different creatures, such as the minotaur, bigae a chariot drawn by two horses, bigarius, a driver of said chariot.

rota means wheel. Now, the Oxford Latin Dictionary has no entry for the word birota, but according to other (admittedly less reliable) sources it was used by the Romans to mean a two-wheeled cart, usually drawn by three mules, used for transporting commercial goods and one or two passengers. Which certainly makes sense. Today it is the generally agreed upon word for bicycle.

Riding a bicycle is a Passive activity in Latin. The Verb veho, vehere, vexi, vectum means to carry or convey. vehit means he, she or it carries or conveys. vehitur means he, she or it is carried or is conveyed. birota is in the Ablative Case and means by a bicycle.

Marcellus now at last walks straight to the bank. Do you see the young man who is riding a bicycle (literally, who is conveyed by a bicycle)? He is taking food someplace.

thank you /  by Anthony Gibbins

When learning a language, thank you is one of the first things you learn. But when learning a so-called Dead Language – like Latin – these niceties are too often ignored.

I once had a German friend staying with me who asked to be taught some Latin. I lent her the Oxford Latin Course and she turned out to be a very quick learner – not surprising, as she had already mastered German, English and a good deal of French. After completing Chapter 7 she lamented that she had not yet learnt to say thank you but could easily form tuum amicum mortuum e casa in hortum tecum portare possum. I am able to carry your dead friend out of the house and into the garden with you. Fortunately, that never became necessary.

Thank you, in its standard form, is gratias tibi ago. Literally, something like I drive-forth thanks for the benefit of you. Hence in today’s story Marcellus multas gratias Alano agit. Marcellus drives-forth much thanks for the benefit of Alan.

The appropriate response, by the way, is libenter. This is an Adverb meaning with pleasure, willingly, gladly.

Soon, the hair having been cut, Marcellus gives much thanks to Alan and exits (from out of) the barber shop. Alan meanwhile sweeps the pavement with his broom.

quid est pellicula? /  by Anthony Gibbins

Today’s page defines theatrum cinematographeum as aedificium quod homines visitant ut pelliculas spectent. But what is a pellicula?

Well, first of all, the word pellicula is an example of a Diminutive. A Diminutive is a form of a Noun (or occasionally Adjective) implying smallness, either actual or imagined to convey affection, scorn or some other feeling. The word duckling is a Diminutive of duck, booklet of book, novelette of novel, Tommy of Thomas, hanky of handkerchief and rivulet of river.

The Latin poet Catullus loves a good Diminutive. In the dedication of his poetry he refers to his own work as his libellus, a Diminutive of liber book. In my favourite Catullus poem – XIII – he refers to his money pouch as his sacculus, a Diminutive of saccus. When the passer sparrow of his girlfriend dies, he refers to her eyes, swollen with tears, as turgiduli ocelli. ocellus is a Diminutive of oculus eye and turgidulus a Diminutive of turgidus swollen. How very cute(sy)!

pellicula is a Diminutive of pellis skin or hide. pellis refers primarily to the skin of an animal, and when used to refer to human skin implies that it is unkempt in condition. Skin removed from the animal’s body for human use, as a blanket or tent, can also be called a pellis. You will have heard of the pellis aurea Golden Fleece. Someone who changes form, such as a werewolf, is a versipellis, from verto I turn.

In classical Latin, the Diminutive pellicula also meant skin, but not just of an animal. pellicula could also refer to the (much finer) skin of fruit. In modern Latin the word began to be used for photographic film, and thence, as in English, pellicula began to mean movie.

Perhaps you do not know what a theatrum cinematographeum is. It is a building which people visit to watch films. Do you like to watch films?

hey, it's him! /  by Anthony Gibbins

ecce! Scipio is that small boy with the awesome t-shirt who saw Pico walking through the restaurant way back in episode 3.

But, more importantly, how great is it that heus is a Latin word! The Oxford Latin Dictionary, which usually has plenty to say about everything, defines it thus;

heus, interjection (used to attract a person’s attention).

When the Trojan hero Aeneas meets his mother, the goddess Venus, in Book I of the Aeneid she greets him and his friend with a cheery heus, iuvenes! Hey, young men! If that seems a little casual for the goddess of love and desire, know that she was in disguise at the time, hoping to convince her son that she was a young Spartan woman out hunting.

‘Hey,’ Scipio responds to his father as he exits. ‘I should like to visit the theatrum cinematographeum, but I have no money. The kind father gives money to his son.

Scipio (et quo it Claudia?) /  by Anthony Gibbins

There is a good reason why Alan’s son is called Scipio. I plan to jump the shark one day with a full episode of Legonium that is a kid’s dream. It will give me an excuse to throw into Legonium the whole gambit of Lego – werewolves, dragons, Doctor Who, Ghostbusters, Harry Potter, and an AT-AT walker.

The episode will be called somnium Scipionis.

And do you like Claudia’s backpack? It belongs to Finn the Human and came in the Lego Dimensions Adventure Time Level Pack. I’ve only ever watched about three episodes of Adventure Time, but I’ve heard it's very good – especially for teenagers. You are probably wondering where Claudia is going. I cannot wait to show you!

Marcellus sits in the seat. While Alan is cutting Marcellus’ hair, Scipio, Alan’s son, lightly knocks on the window. ‘Hello!’ Alan happily shouts to his son as he exits.