Interrogative Adjectives and Pronouns

Here is an excellent explanation of the Interrogative Adjectives and Pronouns:
Interrogative Adjectives and Pronouns
At the end of the entry, it also includes three links to other helpful resources.  Unfortunately, the second link no longer seems to work.

Latin and the Common Core Curriculum

Here is a link to an editorial written by a high-school senior about Latin and the Common Core curriculum.  It is from a recent issue of Education Weekly, a periodical for educators of all levels and subject areas.

Pater Noster

Here is a link to the Our Father (Pater Noster) sung in Latin with the words and chant notation.
Pater Noster - Gregorian Chant

Chariot Racing

In Chapter 27, we learn about chariot racing.  Here is a famous video clip of a chariot race from the movie Ben Hur.
Ben Hur Chariot Race scene


I encourage you to watch the full clip.  It gets pretty interesting as it goes along.

What do you see at about 1:45 in the clip? (Latin word, please)

What symbol is used to count the laps?

Here is a link to a full description of the film.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben-Hur_(1959_film)

Read the plot summary, especially the part about the CHARIOT RACE scene.

Who played Ben Hur?

Who played Messala?

How big was the film set for the Chariot racing scene?

How many extras were used?

Below is a link to an interesting article about the Pope's LATIN Twitter account.
I encourage all Latin students to sign up for it.
Pope's Latin Twitter Feed

More on Roman Baths & Bathing

The following link has answers to many of the questions we discussed regarding Roman Baths and Bathing during our study of Chapter 43.

Roman Baths and Bathing

Corpus Christi

On Sunday, June 2, we celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (the Body of Christ).  This feast commemorates the Eucharist.

A little grammar: Corpus, corporis is a third declension neuter noun.  Christi is a second declension noun in the genitive singular.  In the text below, notice how corpus  is modified by meum, a possessive adjective in the neuter nominative singular.

Here is an image of the Last Supper with Jesus' words in Greek, Latin, and English.

Roman Baths

Here is a good link to information about Roman baths that we are learning about in Chapter 43.
Roman Baths

Ave Maria - Gregorian Chant

Here is the Ave Maria taken from the Liber Usualis (1961), p. 1861. Latin lyrics sung by the Benedictine Monks of the Abbey of Saint Maurice et Saint Maur de Clervaux.

AVE MARIA

Finnish Radio Station Broadcasts News in Latin!

On April 8, 2013, the New York Times carried a piece describing a popular, daily, five-minute news program in Latin.
Here is a link to the article:
Latin on Finnish Radio.

Pope Benedict XVI - Declaration regarding Latin

Back in November 2012, Pope Benedict XVI published a "motu proprio" on the Latin language.

[From Wikipedia: A motu proprio (Latin "on his own impulse") is a document issued by the Pope (or by a monarch) on his own initiative and personally signed by him.  When issued by the Pope, a motu proprio may be addressed to the whole Church, to part of it, or to some individuals.]

With this document, the Pope announced the beginning of a new Pontifical Academy for Latin.
Here is the link to the document:
Benedict XVI on Latin - November 12, 2012 


Here are some excerpts:

"...in today’s culture, the danger of an increasingly superficial knowledge of Latin may be noted in the context of the widespread weakening of humanistic studies. This is also a risk in the context of the philosophical and theological studies of future priests. Moreover in our own world, in which science and technology play such an important role, there is a renewed interest in the Latin culture and language and not only on those continents whose culture is rooted in the Greco-Roman heritage....
...It therefore appears urgently necessary to support the commitment to a greater knowledge and more competent use of Latin, both in the ecclesial context and in the broader world of culture. In order to give relevance and resonance to this undertaking the use of didactic methods in keeping with the new conditions and the promotion of a network of relations between academic institutions and scholars is particularly appropriate so as to make the most of the rich and multiform patrimony of the Latin civilization.
To contribute to attaining these goals following in the footsteps of my venerable Predecessors, today, with this Motu Proprio, I establish the Pontifical Academy for Latin, under the Pontifical Council for Culture.

Perhaps one of you will study there one day!!
  

Regina Caeli

We have begun learning to sing the Regina Caeli.
Here is the Gregorian notation:

Here is a link to a beautiful recording by the Benedictine monks of Santo Domingo de Silos Monastery in Spain.
Regina Caeli sung by Benedictine monks

Drinking Age in Rome?

In Chapter 37 of Ecce Romani, Marcus and Sextus buy "scriblitas" while Eucleides buys some bread and wine.  This caused a student to wonder whether there was a drinking age in the time of our story (80 a.d.).  Could the boys have bought/drunk wine?
Follow this link to learn the answer...and a little bit more about Roman Restaurants.
Roman Restaurants

The letter "K" in Latin

While discussing the "Kalends" in chapter 36 in class, we wondered why the word began with "K," since we thought that the Roman alphabet did not include a "K."

Follow this link to learn more about the letter "K." 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K
The two paragraphs below are most relevant:

"In the earliest Latin inscriptions, the letters C, K and Q were all used to represent the sounds /k/ and /g/ (which were not differentiated in writing). Of these, Q was used to represent /k/ or /g/ before a rounded vowel, K before /a/, and C elsewhere. Later, the use of C (and its variant G) replaced most usages of K and Q. K survived only in a few fossilized forms such as Kalendae, "the calends".^[5]
When Greek words were taken into Latin, the Kappa was changed to C, with a few exceptions such as the praenomen 'Kaeso'.^[2] Some words from other alphabets were also transliterated with C. Hence, the Romance languages have 'K' only in words from other language groups. The Celtic languages also chose 'C' over 'K', and this influence carried over into Old English. Today, English is the only Germanic language to productively use hard C in addition to K (although Dutch uses it in learned words of Latin origin and follows the same hard/soft distinction in such words)."

You may also wish to follow this link to learn more about the "Kalends."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calends

Adjectives and Adverbs - Proper Uses

We have been discussing Adjectives and Adverbs quite a bit in class.  Recently, we wondered whether it is okay to use "quicker" as an adverb.  i.e. "Joe ran quicker than Bill."

The following link provides several excellent guidelines about adjectives and adverbs.  Rule #6 applies directly to our discussion, indicating that it is NOT okay to use "quicker" as an adverb.

http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/adjAdv.asp

Farther and Further

We recently discussed "farther" vs. "further" in class.  Follow this link for a nice, concise description of when to use which one.
http://grammarist.com/usage/farther-further/