Long time visitor, but never commented.

I feel ready to speak more Latin, and found out there is a Latin conversation club in New York City, the NYC Latin Language Circle - Circulus Latīnus Noveborācēnsis.

This is great, but I don't live full time in New York, so where can I find in-person Latin conversation clubs? They're pretty easy to locate for modern languages, but not Latin, let alone Greek.

If anyone's interested in the New York Latin Circle, here's the link. They have a meeting this Friday:

https://www.meetup.com/circulus-latinus-noveboracensis/events/304869730/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=event-new-comments

Let me know if there are others. Mods could add a section listing them?

Does the Latin word "Iterum" mean only to do a second time or can it also be used for a third and fourth time?

I would like to have information about basic mathematics texts written in Latin. It so happens that I only find Euler (who is supreme, who is magnificent!) and Gauss; but none that are relatively elementary or simple, whether ancient, medieval, or modern.

Could you recommend any? Vale!

What is the oldest known, or at least earliest sound change, or other change in Latin that still shows up as different outcomes in living romance languages?

Did these sound changes already begin in the imperial period?

When doing cross translations I hate spending time consulting the Latin dictionary and the greek one, spending 5 minutes for a word. Does such a thing exist?

I have a question about the expression “quo fata ferunt” which is apparently from Virgil’s Aeneid. The context of the phrase is: “Quo fata trahunt (or ferunt) retrahuntque sequamur; Quidquid erit, superanda omnis fortuna”

Which apparently translates into:

“ ... let us follow where the Fates take us or take us back; Whatever will be, every fortune/misfortune can be overcome through perseverance.”

It apparently comes from the part where Aeneas is stranded on Sicily and trying to decide whether to stay or continue on to Rome.

The phrase “quo fata ferunt” appears on the official crest of Bermuda and is translated there as “whither the fates carry us.”

The translation of the 3-word phrase seems to mean something like “the fates are in charge - wherever they put you, go with it” but then within the broader quote that doesn’t makes sense since it shifts to talking about overcoming misfortunes through perseverance. It seems internally conflicted… “go with where the fates put you but fight against any obstacle.”

So I’m curious if anyone has any insight into this. I like the idea of using the phrase in a “the universe put you here for a reason” way, but think I may be way off…

Thank you!

1. Ask and answer questions about mottos, tattoos, names, book titles, lines for your poem, slogans for your bowling club’s t-shirt, etc. in the comments of this thread. Separate posts for these types of requests will be removed.
2. Here are some examples of what types of requests this thread is for: Example #1, Example #2, Example #3, Example #4, Example #5.
3. This thread is not for correcting longer translations and student assignments. If you have some facility with the Latin language and have made an honest attempt to translate that is NOT from Google Translate, Yandex, or any other machine translator, create a separate thread requesting to check and correct your translation: Separate thread example. Make sure to take a look at Rule 4.
4. Previous iterations of this thread.
5. This is not a professional translation service. The answers you get might be incorrect.

e.g., Mundī flōrentem fīnxisset tunc fore flōrem ("it had then shaped it to be the flowering flower of the world')

The meaning is very clear, I am just not sure how to describe this grammatically.

I've just bought part 2 of LTRL and reading it, all of the grammar is just the last half of part 1.

Does anyone know why they did this?

And would anyone know of a good Latin textbook to progress from LTRL?

Found the phrase written on a whiteboard at the gym. From Google I can see ‘temet nosce’ = know thyself And ‘Ex tenebris lux’ = out of darkness, light / light out of darkness

But do all those words together make a more cohesive phrase than ‘know thyself out of darkness,light / light out of darkness.’

What does it mean?

Salvete Omnes!

After lurking on this great subreddit for over a year, I come to ask a question about Latin style as it was recognized in the classical and post-classical world.

I have been studying Latin in and out of university for just over two years and would say I am familiar with the basic tenets of grammar and am able to translate sentences. I am (slowly) working through Lingua Latina and The New Testament in my spare time. My background is in medieval history, hence the Latin. This does mean that I am less familiar with the culture of Ancient Rome and have had to reconstruct the history of Latin ‘backwards’ so to speak.

My question is: when reading Latin literature, poetry, prose etc., how does one determine its style? It is a word I’ve heard used a lot whilst studying both classical and medieval Latin to comment on particular texts and authors, but cannot find a suitable book to explain how determine the style, register, etc of a Latin text. Some works are called dry in tone, others lyrical, some more eloquent than others. How can you tell? Are there books that explain the differences of ‘style’ in classical and medieval Latin and how they can be distinguished?

I grant a lot of this is due to my still quite limited knowledge of Latin vocabulary and classical literature more generally. But any help on this would be much appreciated.

Vobis gratias!

A while ago, Cristiano Castelletti discovered that the first verses of Virgil's Aeneid contains a secret message (more in this reddit post). I always thought: Oh, that is interesting, but perhaps it's just a coincidence.

But then I discovered this from Book 7:

Mos erat Hesperio in Latio, quem protinus urbes

Albanae coluere sacrum, nunc maxima rerum

Roma colit, cum prima movent in proelia Martem,

Sive Getis inferre manu lacrimabile bellum

This is clearly intentional and ingenious. I love puns like that. It honestly almost feels like those people who look for secret messages in biblical passages, but I have a feeling that at least some of them are real. I would like to see more. Do you know more passages like this? Do you know if they are collected somewhere? I can't find anything like this in most commentaries and text-critical editions.

Why is this sentence written this way. I am a beginner of Latin and want to learn its structure. Thank you

“pro partia mori”

I know mori is in plural, or I believe it to be, but why partia mori?

I'm a total beginner when it comes to the Latin language, but I'm not a complete amateur either, so if there is any linguistic terminology involved, don't be afraid to use them!

The text is from a Greenlandic-Danish-Latin dictionary from 1750, in which the author talks about what his experience was like learning the Greenlandic language.

These are the exact words and letters and punctuation of the text:

"Viginti novem anni sunt, ex qvo anno 1721. singulari Dei providentia una cum Domino Patre meo summè jam Venerabili Episcopo Johanne Egede in horridam & ipsi & earum, qvæ ad Septentriones ab hominibus incoluntur regionum omnium polo proximam terram Grönlandiam appuli.

Hic nihil prius in votis aut desideriis habui, nec aliud mihi negotii à Domino Patre æqve commendatum est, qvam ut lingvam non exteræ tantum sed & extremæ huic & ab omni politiorum nationum commercio tum temporis remotissimæ genti vernaculam & propriam familiarem mihi redderem.

In hoc intentus nullum laborem subterfugi, nullas molestias sustinere abnui sed integras simul hebdimades, imo mensees in fordidis & sqvalore obsitis Barbarorum tentoriis non sine gravibus satis vitæ periculis commoratus sum, contentus sœpenumero eodem, qvo illi utuntur, qvotidiano victu, delicatiorum gulæ facile nauseam moturo.

Ut sic consvetudine magistra, horrido huic sermonis generi, ab omnibus Europæis diversissimo, lingvam asvefacerem, indolemque ejus & ingenium sensim pedetentimque perdiscerem."

Nōn poterant tē dē poenā amicōrum tuōrum monēre.
Should this be translated as
Your friends were not able to think of your punishment

Good night from Spain, I just want to know the difficulty of the fables of Phaedrus. Right now I'm reading Orberg's "Lingua latina per se illustrata"

Hi guys!

I'm currently doing classics at A Level, and my teacher showed us this self-teaching course for latin. He explicity said its better to start latin at uni than try now, and I wanted to ask a bit about it :)

I plan to go into archiving (Preservation of artifacts, texts, anything really) and I have a love for Ancient Rome. Would it be worth taking Latin at university level? The course i need for a career is a postgraduate degree, the main requirement being a 2.1 honours in any degree. My current top choices are Classics, Ancient History, Archaeology or Latin. A joint honours is an option, but I don't know much about it.

While I know Latin will be helpful in some capacity, I just wanted to see if anyone here had any further insight.

Any and all advice is welcome!!

Hello,

I'm in Latin 101 and have been given an extra-credit assignment to translate a passage from Latin to English.

I'm struggling with the first sentence: Graeci cum Troianis bellum gerebant.

Bellum gerebant means they way waged war, and gerebant is 3rd plural imperfect indicative active.

However, I'm struggling to identify the subject and direct object, which is more complicated because of 'cum'. Is it 'Greece waged war with Troy' or is it understood to mean 'Greece waged war against Troy'? Not really sure how to move forward.

Recently I watched Galdiator 2 and noticed one of the things Acacius, a Roman general, kept saying before he fought was "Fe Victus" (or at least this is what it sounded like to me). I've been trying to figure out what it means but with no background in Latin, it's been less than productive and I have yet to find an answer. Any ideas ?

What resources would help me study Latin on my own to do the exam?

I'm trying to capture the most accurate* English translation of a palindrome. *(or not completely nonsensical)

The Latin text is “Signa te, Signa: temere me tangis et angis: Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor.”

I've seen a few different English translations, for example: •“Cross, cross thyself — thou plaguest and vexest me without necessity” •“Cross yourself, cross yourself, recklessly you touch me and you torment” •“Cross yourself, cross, needlessly you strike and torment me”

I was hoping you guys could give me a few pointers, thank you!

For our recent GRWM Latine video (https://youtu.be/YQwcqLCNUDM?si=XNEb5_dH_8NpEFAy), one of our dear followers, Jim “Jacobulus” Bryan has made a transcript! Quam emolumentum! Here is a link to the transcript for your learning pleasure! Gratias, Iacobule, tibi summas agimus!!

https://docs.google.com/file/d/1Fs98Z2Fj-eR8K71iG_Z9U_JPzmk-5Q_f/edit?usp=docslist_api&filetype=msword

Hi guys! Just saw on FB that Legentibus is having a Black Friday offer. Thought this might interest a few (I'm not sponsored or anything). Here is the post: This Black Friday, our Latin learning app Legentibus invites you to deepen your Latin journey with a ❗️50%❗️ discount on yearly subscriptions for new users. The offer is valid until Sunday. Unfortunately, existing subscriptions cannot be replaced. Learn more about the offer here: https://demo.legentibus.app/black-friday-2024