Thursday, February 10, 2005

"Latin For the Illiterati"

We went to Barnes and Noble the other day so I could get a Latin/English dictionary. While there, I found a great book called Latin For the Illiterati, and Bob was kind enough to buy it for my birthday. It is filled with thousands of words, expressions, phrases, and abbreviations that are Latin. Many of them are common medical or legal expressions, and a lot of the phrases are from Virgil and Homer. It's been a lot of fun to read through, and I like being able to add some key phrases to my Latin repetoire around the house--ones such as "Ohe! Jam satis est!" which means "Hey there! That is enough!" Or how about "Quid nunc?" which means "What now?" Even Nathan could interpret that one! Another one that will be particularily useful, especially with easily-distracted Nathan, is "Age quod agis", which means "Do what you are doing". Another good one: "Apage!" or "Be off!" Some of them are kind of funny. For example, "ab ovo usque ad mala" literally means "from the egg to the apples", but what they are actually saying is "from beginning to end", because the eggs were appetizers, and the apples were dessert. Sometimes I will just sound like a wise old sage as I deliver such quotes as "Multa pententibus desunt multa", which means "To those who seek many things, many things are lacking", and was said by the great Horace (not really sure who he was, but he must have been wise, since he has many such Confusius-like quotes in the book). I'm also trying to use the book to come up with a new name for our homeschool. I've always just used our last name, but I'd rather have some cool Latin name. A lot of the good ones are taken--Logos (Word) and Veritas (Truth) being two that immediately spring to mind. So give me some input-- ___________ Classical Academy: Imago Dei (Image of God) Libertas (Liberty) Magnum Opus (Great Work) Lumen Gratiae (Light of Grace)? I'll keep looking too. In the meantime, I leave you with this wisdom: In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas (In things essential unity, in things doubtful liberty, in all things love--motto of the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ).

3 comments:

Pilot Mom said...

Wow! What fun! I'll need to check out this book for sure! And, I see you have a new "Leave your comment" format. What made you decide to change? Are you still basking in the after glow of your birthday? :) Love, AC

Bob and Claire said...

Umm, I haven't changed anything--maybe yours is different now too! What a surprise!

Anonymous said...

The best Latin motto is in my opinion that of St. College (Annapolis/Santa Fe):
"facio liberos ex liberis libris libraque"
which means
"I make free men from children through the use of books and a balance"
It's the only school motto I've seen that actually betrays a sense of delight in learning.