How many here actually know Latin?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Amateur_Soul
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Well, if you learn Latin, Spanish and Italian should come to you much easier.

I can recognize some Latin from the Castillian Spanish that I know.

English speakers use more Latin in everyday conversation than they will ever know. Because of the Norman invasion of England in 1066, thousands of Latin words were brought into the English language.
 
JW10631 said:
English speakers use more Latin in everyday conversation than they will ever know. Because of the Norman invasion of England in 1066, thousands of Latin words were brought into the English language.
Click to expand...
In English we have a bizarre rule that the standard way of forming an adjective is to go to the Latin or Greek.

Let’s say that a fashion develops for painting pictures on table tops. We need an adjective for “of the table” for this … art. The form is “mensal art”, from the Latin “mensa” for table.
 
BobP123 said:
As with any language, study, and other disciplines, the lack of use leads to forgetfulness. Stoppage of playing the piano, studying anatomy, and even riding a bike, are some examples of this. Muscles atrophy unless you use them all the time.
Click to expand...
Sorry, BobP, but no. I can’t wrap my head around the latin roots and conjugation/declension patterns. I can’t get latin to make sense past the word level.

Russian and Slavonic, those I can grasp.

I can pronounce written latin with little difficulty. I can see related words, but I can’t decode them into intellectual constructs. Same problem with Japanese.
 
tee_eff_em said:
What he’s saying is that even those who profess to know no Latin really do know some. It is the status quo. 😛

tee
Click to expand...
Oh very funny.

I bet y’all know more ecclesiastical Latin phrases too:

sic transit gloria mundi
lumen christi deo gratias
verbum dei
sacramentum caritatis
humanae vitae
and
motu proprio!
 
Titus said:
Oh very funny.

I bet y’all know more ecclesiastical Latin phrases too:

sic transit gloria mundi
lumen christi deo gratias
verbum dei
sacramentum caritatis
humanae vitae
and
motu proprio!
Click to expand...
Ok, you got me on that last one. What’s a motu proprio? 😃
 
BobP123 said:
How about:

etc - et cetera
A.D. - anno Domino
P.M. - post meridiem
ps - post scriptum
pax
per se
de facto
gratias
ad hoc
ad lib
ad nauseam
re
alma mater
alter
alumni
caveat emptor
vice versa
Dominus vobiscum
…

Point is, you may know more Latin that you think.🙂
Click to expand...
Don’t forget habeas corpus 😉
 
I_Believe said:
Don’t forget habeas corpus 😉
Click to expand...
Yes, there are a lot of Latin terms in law and biological anatomy is full of Latin names everyone in the world can understand.

My one cat had an infection in his oculus sinister. That’s what the vet wrote down.
 
I’m somewhere between “E Plurbus Who?” and “has memorized all the prayers.”

I know the meaning of about half the terms on your list of common Latin terms - the rest are gibberish to me.

But I can sing "O Salutaris, Hostia,"only getting the lines mixed up between the verses about half the time. Although I’m never sure whether it’s “panis” or “pandis,” unless I’ve got the book right in front of me. And I know that the correct response to “Dominus vobiscum” is “Et cum spiritu tuo.”

I had to look up “Sola lingua bona est lingua mortua,” but I know what it means, and I think it suits this thread. 😃
 
I understand basic Latin. I studied it when we started going to the TLM.
 
I’ve been a professional chorister for nearly 30 years, so I have sung many, many psalms, Masses, and prayer settings in Latin. I’ve picked up a lot of vocabulary that way, although I’m not very proficient with the grammar. And I do know the basic prayers.

And I’ve been a medical secretary and transcriptionist at times, so there’s another bunch of Latin words.

And of course, ig-Pay atin-Lay.

Betsy
 
40.png
BobP123:
I know, it should be UNUS, but who’d know the difference?
Click to expand...
Why should it be unus? Obviously here unum is modifying a word that’s understood. If it were res (thing) or patria, then it would be feminine. So whatever unum is modifying is understood and neuter.

Took four years of Latin in high school and had the same Latin teacher as Kareem, although Bro. Phillips referred to him as Mr. Alcindor. (We thought Bro. Phillps taught Latin to Caesar as well—tee hee!)

John
 
BobP123 said:
How about:

etc - et cetera
A.D. - anno Domino
P.M. - post meridiem
ps - post scriptum
pax
per se
de facto
gratias
ad hoc
ad lib
ad nauseam
re
alma mater
alter
alumni
caveat emptor
vice versa
Dominus vobiscum
…

Point is, you may know more Latin that you think.🙂
Click to expand...
Modern English is derivitive, referential and decendant of many languages,

Mainly Latin, German and French…Restaurant, Cafe which is the french word for Coffee, “Bistro” french for “Fast Restaurant”, Cafeteria, appetite, Zoologie, Menagerie, many other words, but mostly stuff to do with food!
 
Took four years in high school. I’ve been known to substitute Latin classes at the local high school (public… there IS hope, people!) and my daughters take it. I’m somewhere between fluent and paraphrasing.

And the grammatical structure of Latin is almost identical to Russian. Learn one, the other comes very easily.

Reminds me of a story about Pope JPII in a meeting of Catholic bishops. They were using Latin texts. Many of the bishops had a sad ignorance of the language. But God bless him, the Bishop of Riga, Latvia gave his address in perfect Latin. The Holy Father said something to the effect of “Paupera lingua Latina, sola habet ultimum refugium in Rige.” Or words to that effect. Translation: Poor Latin Language, which alone finds its last refuge in Riga.

I told the students in the Latin III/IV class that they knew more Latin than most of the Catholic hierarchy by now.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top