Latin for Beginners, Benjamin Leonard D'Ooge [easy novels to read .TXT] 📗
- Author: Benjamin Leonard D'Ooge
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[Footnote 5: Enclitic means leaning back, and that is, as you see, just what these little words do. They cannot stand alone and so they lean back for support upon the preceding word.]
HOW TO READ LATIN«17.» To read Latin well is not so difficult, if you begin right. Correct habits of reading should be formed now. Notice the quantities carefully, especially the quantity of the penult, to insure your getting the accent on the right syllable. (Cf. §15.) Give every vowel its proper sound and every syllable its proper length. Then bear in mind that we should read Latin as we read English, in phrases rather than in separate words. Group together words that are closely connected in thought. No good reader halts at the end of each word.
«18.» Read the stanzas of the following poem by Longfellow, one at a time, first the English and then the Latin version. The syllables inclosed in parentheses are to be slurred or omitted to secure smoothness of meter.
EXCELSIOR [[HIGHER]]! [6] The shades of night were falling fast,
As through an Alpine village passed
A youth, who bore, ’mid snow and ice,
A banner with the strange device,
Excelsior!
Cadēbant noctis umbrae, dum
Ibat per vīcum Alpicum
Gelū nivequ(e) adolēscēns,
Vēxillum cum signō ferēns,
Excelsior!
His brow was sad; his eye beneath,
Flashed like a falchion from its sheath,
And like a silver clarion rung
The accents of that unknown tongue,
Excelsior!
Frōns trīstis, micat oculus
Velut ē vāgīnā gladius;
Sonantque similēs tubae
Accentūs lingu(ae) incognitae,
Excelsior!
In happy homes he saw the light
Of household fires gleam warm and bright;
Above, the spectral glaciers shone,
And from his lips escaped a groan,
Excelsior!
In domibus videt clārās
Focōrum lūcēs calidās;
Relucet glaciēs ācris,
Et rumpit gemitūs labrīs,
Excelsior!
“Try not the Pass!” the old man said;
“Dark lowers the tempest overhead,
The roaring torrent is deep and wide!”
And loud that clarion voice replied,
Excelsior!
Dīcit senex, “Nē trānseās!
Suprā nigrēscit tempestās;
Lātus et altus est torrēns.”
Clāra vēnit vōx respondēns,
Excelsior!
At break of day, as heavenward
The pious monks of Saint Bernard
Uttered the oft-repeated prayer,
A voice cried through the startled air,
Excelsior!
Iam lūcēscēbat, et frātrēs
Sānctī Bernardī vigilēs
Ōrābant precēs solitās,
Cum vōx clāmāvit per aurās,
Excelsior!
A traveler, by the faithful hound,
Half-buried in the snow was found,
Still grasping in his hand of ice
That banner with the strange device,
Excelsior!
Sēmi-sepultus viātor
Can(e) ā fīdō reperītur,
Comprēndēns pugnō gelidō
Illud vēxillum cum signō,
Excelsior!
There in the twilight cold and gray,
Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay,
And from the sky, serene and far,
A voice fell, like a falling star,
Excelsior!
Iacet corpus exanimum
Sed lūce frīgidā pulchrum;
Et caelō procul exiēns
Cadit vōx, ut Stella cadēns,
Excelsior!
[Footnote 6: Translation by C. W. Goodchild in Praeco Latinus,
October, 1898.]
«19.» «Subject and Predicate.» 1. Latin, like English, expresses thoughts by means of sentences. A sentence is a combination of words that expresses a thought, and in its simplest form is the statement of a single fact. Thus,
Galba is a farmer
«Galba est agricola»
The sailor fights
«Nauta pugnat»
In each of these sentences there are two parts:
SUBJECT PREDICATE
Galba is a farmer
«Galba»
The sailor fights
«Nauta» «pugnat»
2. The subject is that person, place, or thing about which something is said, and is therefore a noun or some word which can serve the same purpose.
a. Pronouns, as their name implies (pro, “instead of,” and noun), often take the place of nouns, usually to save repeating the same noun, as, Galba is a farmer; «he» is a sturdy fellow.
3. The predicate is that which is said about the subject, and consists of a verb with or without modifiers.
a. A verb is a word which asserts something (usually an act) concerning a person, place, or thing.
«20.» «The Object.» In the two sentences, The boy hit the ball and The ball hit the boy, the same words are used, but the meaning is different, and depends upon the order of the words. The «doer» of the act, that about which something is said, is, as we have seen above, the «subject». «That to which something is done» is the «direct object» of the verb. The boy hit the ball is therefore analyzed as follows:
SUBJECT PREDICATE
/—————-
The boy hit the ball
(verb) (direct object)
a. A verb whose action passes over to the object directly, as in the sentence above, is called a «transitive verb». A verb which does not admit of a direct object is called «intransitive», as, I walk, he comes.
«21.» «The Copula.» The verb to be in its different forms—are, is, was, etc.—does not tell us anything about the subject; neither does it govern an object. It simply connects the subject with the word or words in the predicate that possess a distinct meaning. Hence it is called the «copula», that is, the joiner or link.
«22.» In the following sentences pronounce the Latin and name the nouns, verbs, subjects, objects, predicates, copulas:
1. «America est patria mea»
America is fatherland my
2. «Agricola fīliam amat»
(The) farmer (his) daughter loves
3. «Fīlia est Iūlia»
(His) daughter is Julia
4. «Iūlia et agricola sunt in īnsulā»
Julia and (the) farmer are on (the) island
5. «Iūlia aquam portat»
Julia water carries
6. «Rosam in comīs habet»
(A) rose in (her) hair (she) has
7. «Iūlia est puella pulchra»
Julia is (a) girl pretty
8. «Domina fīliam pulchram habet»
(The) lady (a) daughter beautiful has
a. The sentences above show that Latin does not express some words which are necessary in English. First of all, Latin has no article «the» or «a»; thus «agricola» may mean the farmer, a farmer, or simply farmer. Then, too, the personal pronouns, I, you, he, she, etc., and the possessive pronouns, my, your, his, her, etc., are not expressed if the meaning of the sentence is clear without them.
LESSON IIFIRST PRINCIPLES (Continued)
«23.» «Inflection.» Words may change their forms to indicate some change in sense or use, as, is, are; was, were; who, whose, whom; farmer, farmer’s; woman, women. This is called «inflection». The inflection of a noun, adjective, or pronoun is called its «declension», that of a verb its «conjugation».
«24.» «Number.» Latin, like English, has two numbers, singular and plural. In English we usually form the plural by adding -s or -es to the singular. So Latin changes the singular to the plural by changing the ending of the word. Compare
«Naut-a pugnat»
The sailor fights
«Naut-ae pugnant»
The sailors fight
«25.» RULE. Nouns that end in «-a» in the singular end in «-ae» in the plural.
«26.» Learn the following nouns so that you can give the English for the Latin or the Latin for the English. Write the plural of each.
«agri´cola», farmer (agriculture)[1] «aqua», water (aquarium) «causa», cause, reason «do´mina», lady of the house, mistress (dominate) «filia», daughter (filial) «fortū´na», fortune «fuga», flight (fugitive) «iniū´ria», wrong, injury «lūna», moon (lunar) «nauta», sailor (nautical) «puel´la», girl «silva», forest (silvan) «terra», land (terrace)
[Footnote 1: The words in parentheses are English words related to the Latin. When the words are practically identical, as «causa», cause, no comparison is needed.]
«27.» Compare again the sentences
«Nauta pugna-t»
The sailor fights
«Nautae pugna-nt»
The sailors fight
In the first sentence the verb «pugna-t» is in the third person singular, in the second sentence «pugna-nt» is in the third person plural.
«28.» RULE. «Agreement of Verb.» A finite verb must always be in the same person and number as its subject.
«29.» RULE. In the conjugation of the Latin verb the third person singular active ends in «-t», the third person plural in «-nt». The endings which show the person and number of the verb are called «personal endings».
«30.» Learn the following verbs and write the plural of each. The personal pronouns he, she, it, etc., which are necessary in the inflection of the English verb, are not needed in the Latin, because the personal endings take their place. Of course, if the verb’s subject is expressed we do not translate the personal ending by a pronoun; thus «nauta pugnat» is translated the sailor fights, not the sailor he fights.
«ama-t» he (she, it) loves, is loving, does love (amity, amiable) «labō´ra-t» “ “ “ labors, is laboring, does labor «nūntia-t»[2] “ “ “ announces, is announcing, does announce «porta-t» “ “ “ carries, is carrying, does carry (porter) «pugna-t» “ “ “ fights, is fighting, does fight (pugnacious)
[Footnote 2: The u in «nūntiō» is long by exception.
(Cf. §12.2.)]
I. 1. The daughter loves, the daughters love. 2. The sailor is carrying, the sailors carry. 3. The farmer does labor, the farmers labor. 4. The girl is announcing, the girls do announce. 5. The ladies are carrying, the lady carries.
II. 1. Nauta pugnat, nautae pugnant. 2. Puella amat, puellae amant. 3. Agricola portat, agricolae portant. 4. Fīlia labōrat, fīliae labōrant. 5. Nauta nūntiat, nautae nūntiant. 6. Dominae amant, domina amat.
[Illustration: DOMINA]
LESSON IIIFIRST PRINCIPLES (Continued)
«32.» «Declension of Nouns.» We learned above (§§19, 20) the difference between the subject and object, and that in English they may be distinguished by the order of the words. Sometimes, however, the order is such that we are left in doubt. For example, the sentence The lady her daughter loves might mean either that the lady loves her daughter, or that the daughter loves the lady.
1. If the sentence were in Latin, no doubt could arise, because the subject and the object are distinguished, not by the order of the words, but by the endings of the words themselves. Compare the following sentences:
«Domina fīliam amat»
«Fīliam domina amat»
«Amat fīliam domina»
«Domina amat fīliam»
The lady loves her daughter
«Fīlia dominam amat»
«Dominam fīlia amat»
«Amat dominam fīlia»
«Fīlia amat dominam»
The daughter loves the lady
a. Observe that in each case the subject of the sentence ends in «-a» and the object in «-am». The form of the noun shows how it is used in the sentence, and the order of the words has no effect on the essential meaning.
2. As stated above (§23), this change of ending is called «declension», and each different ending produces what is called a «case». When we decline a noun, we give all its different cases, or changes of endings. In English we have three cases,—nominative, possessive, and objective; but, in nouns, the nominative and objective have the same form, and only the possessive case shows a change of ending, by adding ’s or the apostrophe. The interrogative pronoun, however, has the fuller declension, who? whose? whom?
«33.» The following table shows a comparison between English and Latin declension forms, and should be thoroughly memorized:
ENGLISH CASES
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