Level 3+ (review); correlatives [7] making comparisons (4) quō … eō; quantō … tantō; quālis … tālis …

[xii] quō … eō … [or: eō … quō …]

[xiii] quantō … tantō … [or: tantō … quantō …]

Both used in combination with a comparative adjective or adverb:

the more (the … er) ….  the more (the … er) e.g. the bigger the better

hominēs quō plūra habent eō cupiunt ampliōra

• The more men have, the more they desire.

quō minus cupiditātis, eō plūs auctōritātis (Livy)

• the less greed, the more weight

quae eō frūctuōsiōrēs fīunt, quō caldiōre terrā arātur (Varro)

• and they become more fruitful the warmer the ground in which ploughing takes place

quantō pulchrior tempestās erat, tantō fēlīciōrēs erāmus

• The nicer the weather was, the happier we were.

quantō erat gravior oppūgnātiō, tantō crēbriōrēs litterae mittēbantur (Caesar)

• The more severe the siege was, the more frequently letters were sent.

atque quantō, nox, fuistī longior hāc proximā, tantō brevior diēs ut fīat faciam (Plautus)

• and, Night, the longer you were than the last one, I’ll make the day so much the shorter.

quantō in pectore hanc rem meō magis volātō, tantō mī aegritūdō auctior est in animō (Plautus)

The more I keep this matter flying about in my heart [ = the more I think it over], the more my distress is increased [ = grows] in my mind.

[xiv] tālis … quālis … [or: quālis … tālis …] | of such a sort … as …

cum esset tālis quālem tē esse videō (Cicero)

• since he was such a man as I see you are

Ac sī quis est tālis quālis esse omnis oportēbat … (Cicero)

• And if there is anyone such as everybody ought to be … 

et tālis est quaeque rēs pūblica, quālis eius aut nātūra aut voluntās, quī illam regit (Cicero)

• And each state is of such a kind as either the nature or the will of the person who rules it.

A number of proverbs illustrate not only the use of this correlative but also the way in which English often does not translate them using a restricted dictionary definition as it literally occurs in Latin:

[1]

Quālis pater, tālis fīlius.

Like father, like son.

Nōn semper homō tālis est, quālis (esse) dīcitur. [Lit: He’s not always the sort of man as he’s said to be.]

• A man is not always as he is said to be.

[2]

Quālia dīxerīs, tālia audiēs. [Lit: Such things you might say, so you will hear.]

• Whatever you say, you will hear the same, i.e. If you speak good (or bad) things about other people, you will hear the same about yourself.

Tālia dicentur tibi, quālia dīxerīs ipse. [Lit: Such things will be said to you as you will say yourself.]

• Whatever you say will be said to you.

[3]

Quālis homō, tālis sermō. [Lit: As is the man, so is his speech.]

Quālia verba virī, tālis et ipse vir est. [Lit: As are the words of the man, so too is the man himself.]

Both convey the same idea:

• A man is what he says / a man is determined by his words.

Tālīs hominum ōrātiō, quālis vīta. [Lit: Such is the speech of men, so is their life.]

• Men’s words show the life they lead.

[4]

Quālīs vīs vidērī, tālis estō. [Lit: As you wish to be seen, be such]

• Be the way you want to appear.

Quālēs sumus, tālēs esse videāmur. [Lit: Let us be seen to be such as we are.]

• Let’s not pretend to be something that we’re not.

Topic / Level 4; animals at work (1)

NOTE: the topic can be used simply to make a list of vocabulary and the basic translations. However, to illustrate the vocabulary a large number of excerpts from original literature are used.

Here, and in the next posts, we look at animals as a means of transporting either goods or people, pulling some form of vehicle or farming equipment, as well as their use in war.

[1] One of the first words you would encounter when learning Latin is equus and it is by far the most common. There are, however, some other terms which should be noted even if they rarely occur.

[i] equus, -ī [2/m]: horse

Note: vehō, -ere, vēxī, vectus [3]: convey; commonly used when referring to how somebody was transported:

Alexander equō [ablative] vehebātur  (Quintus Curtius Rufus)

literally: Alexander was conveyed by a horse, i.e. Alexander travelled by horse / rode on horseback

[ii] equa, -ae [1/f]: mare

[iii] caballus, -ī [2/m]: pack-horse; nag; workhorse

The term refers to an inferior horse; in CL caballus is found in poetic works, but its use is evident in prose from the Late Latin period, hence the derivatives cheval in French and caballo in Spanish.

Old English already had firmly established vocabulary for domestic animals: hors; mīere. However, the Latin words are evident in English derivatives e.g. equine and, via French, cavalier and chevalier < Late Latin: caballārius, -ī [2/m]: horseman; rider

[iv] canthērius, -ī [2/m]: a gelding i.e. a castrated horse;  in a transferred sense, it can refer to an impotent old man

Three quotations from Plautus, none of which present the horse (or its human equivalent!) in a positive light:

(1) This first quotation from Plautus emphasises their low value:

ego faxim mūlī, pretiō quī superant equōs, sint vīliōrēs Gallicīs canthēriīs

• I’d see to it that the mules that cost more than horses, would be cheaper than Gallic geldings.

(2) Likewise, the horses are associated with the negative portrayal of fish-sellers:

Tum piscātōrēs quī praebent populō piscēs foetidōs, quī advehuntur quadrupedantī cruciantī canthēriō,  …

• Then the fishermen that offer the people stinking fish, that are carried around on a trotting, jolting [lit: torturing] gelding, …

(3) He may be an old lecher, but he still thinks he’s in with a chance …

quamquam vetus canthērius sum, etiam nunc, ut ego opīnor, adhinnīre equolam* possum ego hanc, …

• Although I’m an old gelding, even now, I think, I can still whinny at this little mare / little filly, …

*Plautine spelling: equulus, -ī [2/m]: foal; equula, -ae [1/f]: a little mare / filly

[v] verēdus, -ī [2/m]: a fast or light breed of horse; courier’s horse; hunting-horse

From Martial:

l1: Pārcius ūtārīs, moneō, rapiente verēdō, | You should use more sparingly, I advise you, the rushing hunting-horse,

l2: Prīsce, nec in leporēs tām violentus eās. | and you should not, Priscus, go so furiously after the hares,

ll3-4: Saepe satisfēcit praedae vēnātor, et ācrī / Dēcidit excussus, nec reditūrus, equō. | The hunter has often made amends to the prey, and, shaken off, has fallen – never to return - from the fierce horse.

[2]

[i] asinus, -ī [2/m]: donkey; ass

[ii] asellus, -ī [2/m]: small donkey

[iii] asina, -ae [1/f]: female donkey; she-ass

[iv] mūlus, -ī [2/m]: mule

[v] pullus, -ī [2/m]: although the noun can refer to a chicken or any young fowl, its meaning encompasses any young animal e.g. a foal

(1) Īte in castellum, quod contrā vōs est, et statim introeuntēs illūc, inveniētis pullum ligātum, super quem nēmō adhūc hominum sēdit: solvite illum, et addūcite. (Vulgate)

• “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.” 

(2) ecce rēx tuus veniet tibi iūstus et salvātor ipse pauper et ascendēns super asinum et super pullum fīlium asinae (Vulgate)

• Behold, your king comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; Lowly, and riding on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Level 3+ (review); correlatives [6] making comparisons (3); totiēns … quotiēns …

[xi] totiēns … quotiēns … [or: totiēs … quotiēs …] | as often … as …

Unlike most other correlatives which can be ‘neatly’ conveyed, you cannot always mechanically translate but need to consider the most fluent rendering while retaining the underlying meaning: with totiēns … quotiēns … two actions take place with the same frequency.

The first two quotations do conform to dictionary translations of the correlative:

[A] cum tū eī contumēliōsissimē totiēns male dicās [B] quotiēns tē illī adfīnem esse dīcis (Cicero)

• since [A] you abuse him in the most insulting manner as many times [B] as you say that he is associated with you

[A] totiēns, [B] quotiēns praescrībitur, … [A] hymnum recitārimus (Cicero)

• [A] we shall recite … a hymn as often [B] as is prescribed

The order of the correlative construction may be reversed and variations in form can occur:

quotiēnscumque dīcō, totiēns mihi videor in iūdicium venīre (Cicero)

• As often as / however often I speak, I seem just as often to be brought into judgment …

At this level of Latin, you will encounter more flexible and fluent translations which will avoid awkwardness and still convey the sense of the correlative in context without rendering it so literally:

quotiēns ībis, totiēns magis placēbit quod bonum erit

[Lit: However often you go, what will be good will just as often please you more.]

In context, the quotation is from Cato’s Dē Agricultūrā:

• However often you go, a good piece of land will please you more at each visit.

Likewise, in this example, you encounter Cicero’s style of the tricolon i.e three statements which, here, are structurally identical:

(1) quotiēns coniugem, (2) quotiēns domum, (3) quotiēns patriam vidēret, totiēns sē beneficium meum vidēre (Cicero)

[Lit: [A] As often as he saw his wife, as often as his home, as often as his country, [B] so often he saw my kindness. ]

A fluent translation needs to retain the emphatic idea that both [A] and [B] happened with the same frequency. At the same time the translation should avoid clumsiness:

Every time he saw his wife, or his home, or his native land, he always recognised my kindness.

• He never saw his wife’s face, or his home, or his native land, without recognizing the debt he owed to me. [transl. Winstedt]

There is no “answer” and this correlative is only an example to show that, when translating Latin, you need to be flexible and not always use verbatim definitions from a dictionary.

In other words, dictionary definitions are a starting point, but not necessarily a solution.

Level 4; literature; Mediaeval; Tacuinum Sānitātis (6): the benefits of garlic

Alleum │ Garlic

Using the previous text as a guide, and the vocabulary which has been given in previous posts on this topic, try to answer the questions about the benefits or otherwise of garlic. The text together with its translation is attached.

Alleum 

Complēctiō calida in 4° sicca in 3°

Ēlēctiō meliōrā ex eō est quī modicē acuitātis est

Iuuāmentum contrā uenēna frīgida et morsus scorpiōnum et uīperārum et interficit uermēs

Nocumentum nocet oculīs et cerebrō

Remōtiō nocumentī cum acētō et oleō

Quid generat hūmōrem grossum et acūtum

Conuenit frīgidīs dēcrepitīs et senibus hyēme* et montānīs et septentriōnālibus.

*alternative spelling of hieme

acuitās, acuitātis [3/f]: (Mediaeval); sharpness; intensity

The translation gives this as ‘juiciness’ which is also possible since there is a rare word – aqueitās – which means ‘wateriness’ or ‘moisture’, but the manuscript is clear in its use of acuitātis

acūtus, -a, -um: sharp

cerebrum, -ī [2/n]: brain

grossus, -a, -um: (Mediaeval) thick

hiems, hiemis [3/f]: winter

modicē: moderately < modicus, -a, -um: moderate

montānus, -a, -um: (adjective) mountain; mountainous

morsus, -ūs [4/m]: bite; sting

septentriōnālis, -e: northern

venēnum, -ī [2/n]: poison

vermis, -is [3/m]: worm

____________________

[i] Is garlic [a] cold [b] hot [c] dry [d] wet?

[ii] The best type is moderately __________.

[iii] True or false? You can use garlic to treat poisons.

[iv] Garlic is good if you are bitten by __________ and __________.

[v] What can garlic kill?

[vi] Garlic damages the __________ and the __________.

[vii] Damage can be remedied with __________ and __________.

[viii] The text refers to the humours i.e. bodily fluids, in particular the four "cardinal humours" - blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm – believed to control the health and mood of the human body.

What two effects does garlic have on the humour?

[ix] Garlic is advisable:

[a] for what kind of conditions?

[b] for what kind of people?

[c] in what season?

[d] in what regions?

Level 4; literature; Mediaeval; Tacuinum Sānitātis (5): vocabulary

Sparagus

Complēctiō calida et hūmida in prīmō Ēlēctiō recentēs cuius summitātēs dēclīnant ad terram Iuuāmentum addunt in coitū et aperiunt opilatiōnēs Nocumentum nocent uillīs stomachī Remōtiō nocumentī postquam elisātī sunt comedantur cum mūri(ā) aut acētō Quid generant nūtrīmentum bonum Conueniunt frīgidīs et siccīs senibus et dēcrepitīs in vēre et in regiōnibus in quibus reperiuntur.

That little text comprises just over 50 words, despite which a great deal can be learned from it. Not only does it give us an insight into the content of a Mediaeval medical handbook, but, by picking and choosing, we can review common vocabulary. Match the Latin with the English in the word cloud:

1. acētum, -ī  [2/n]
2. addō, -ere, addidī, additus [3]
3. calidus, -a, -um
4. coitus, -ūs [4/m]
5. comedō, -ere, comēdī, comēsus [3]
6. conveniō, -īre, -vēnī. conventus [4]
7. dēclīnō, -āre, -āvī, -ātus [1]
8. dēcrepitus, -a, -um
9. frīgidus, -a, -um
10. hūmidus, -a, -um
11. noceō, -ēre, -uī, nocitus [3]
12. nūtrīmentum, -ī [2/n]
13. recēns, recentis
14. regiō, regiōnis [3/f]
15. reperiō, -īre, repperī, repertus [4]
16. senex, senis [3 m/f]
17. siccus, -a, -um
18. stomachus, -ī [2/m]
19. terra, -ae [1/f]
20. vēr, -is [3/n]

add; be suitable; bend; cold; discover; dry; eat; fresh / recent; harm; hot; joining; land; nourishment; old person; region; spring; stomach; very old; vinegar; wet / moist

Level 4; literature; Mediaeval; Tacuinum Sānitātis (4): reading Mediaeval Manuscripts [2]: superscript letters; u/v; long s

Image Set #4

[i] Abbreviation by superscript letters can simply indicate the ending of the word; we use superscript in ordinal numbers e.g. 1^st 2^nd but is used far more widely in the manuscripts:

ī p^o│ in p[rim]o

iuua^tū  │ iuua[men]tum

nocu^tū │ nocu[men]tum

nocu^ti _│ nocu[men]ti

ſtoⁱ•│sto[machi]; in another section of the manuscript he writes the same superscript i alone for nocumenti i.e. nocⁱ• with identical formation of i

[ii] superscript i: above q, it denotes the superscript letter itself and the vowel u. 

Qⁱd │ quid

[iii] superscript bȝ: [ȝ] this sign is very often used to represent the dative and ablative plural endings of the third, fourth and fifth declension i.e. bus

ī regio^bȝ │ in regio[ni]bus

As mentioned above, scribes do not always adhere to the rules; the same /bȝ/ is also found in the manuscript but not as superscript, and, elsewhere, it can have different meanings.

ſeībȝ │ se[n]ibus

[iv] As we still do today, a dot (period) can be placed after the word to indicate truncation. In this manuscript, the writer places most of these below the superscript letters. 

Image Set #5

[v] Classical Latin had no /v/ sound as in very; in inscriptions V = u (CIRCVS MAXIMVS [kirkoos maksimoos]

The sound can be:

[1] as a separate vowel either short or long (the latter in edited texts marked by a macron: ū): sum, tū

[2] as a semi-vocalic sound similar to English w before another vowel: uideō [wideo], amāuī [amawi]

Ecclesiastical Latin distinguishes these two both in writing and in pronunciation, the semi-vocalic of [2] being pronounced as Modern English v  i.e. [1] sum [soom]; [2] videō [video]

In most edited texts (including textbooks) for Classical Latin that distinction is maintained in writing i.e. sum / videō, but the original pronunciation of [2] as w is retained. Some textbooks, however, e.g. Jones and Sidwell’s Reading Latin, retain u for both.

In the manuscript there is no distinction in:

Iuua^tū • │ Iuua-; cōuēiūt │ conueniunt

Using our most common means of distinguishing between these two iuvamentum and conveniunt would appear in a dictionary or textbook, but the scribe did not distinguish them and the transcription should reflect what he wrote. He does, however, write v at the beginning of vere.

This variation of /v/ and /u/ is evident in the first folio of Shakespeare’s works (1623), the initial letter of the word regardless written as /v/, in all other instances written as /u/ regardless of pronunciation.

From Macbeth (Act I, scenes 1 and 2):

[i] Valours; Victorie; Villainies: reflect the pronunciation of /v/, but:

the Victorie felt on vs [us]

Vpon the Heath; vpon the Foe [upon]

to our generall vse [use]

[ii] Below are examples where /u/ represents both sounds:

thunder / houer through the fog and filthy air [hover]

I must report / ouer-charg’d [over]

braue [brave]; deſerues [deserves]; lauiſ [lavish]; leaue [leave]; Reuolt [revolt];

A bit of “gentle” Shakespeare shows both these letters in action:

“Till he vnseam’d [unseamed] him from the Naue [Nave] toth’ Chops, And fix’d his head vpon [upon] our Battlements” │ Until he split him from belly to jaw and stuck his head upon our castle walls.

Image Set #6

Look out for the long s: ſ, not to be confused with f:

ſic │ sic[cis]

ſunt │ sunt

ſeībȝ │ se[n]ib[u]s

Both the long s and the ‘round’ s we have now are used in the manuscripts. You can learn the “rules” from a vegetable. Long s is not used:

[i] for upper case letters: Sparagus (but small case ſunt)

[ii] at the end of the word: Sparagus, ſūmitates │ su[m]mitates

It needs to be emphasised that, despite there being common abbreviations which can be identified by “a few simple rules”, there are some very peculiar forms with meanings that are not always consistent. Below is my attempt to transcribe this text using the abbreviations as they are used in the manuscript; I can’t vouch 100% for its accuracy but the group is entitled “Latin for Learners” – and I’m learning about this too! Any comments or amendments are welcome.

Sparagus Complc̄ cal + hm¯ ī p^o• Elec̄ recentes cuiꝰ  ſūmitates declināt ad terrā  Iuua^tū • addūt in coitu, et aperiūt opilatioēs¯ Nocu^tū • nocēt uillis ſtoⁱ•  Remō nocu^ti • poſtꝗ̃ eliſati ſunt comedātur cū muri aut aceto Quⁱd gnant nutrimentū bonū Cōuēiūt frīs et ſic ſeībȝ + decrepitis in vere et ī regio^bȝ • in quibus reꝑiūtur.

Level 3+ (review); correlatives [5] making comparisons (2) tantum … quantum …

[x] tantum … quantum … | as much … as …

The first three examples from Adler show tantum … quantum with a noun in the genitive case:

tantum panis [genitive] quantum lactis [genitive] emit

• She buys as much (of) bread as (of) milk

dā mihi tantum aquae quantum vīnī

• Give me as much (of) water as (of) wine

Habēsne tantum aurī quantum argentī?

• Do you have as much gold as silver?

These quotations from Plautus use the same construction:

quīn ex occlūsō atque obsignātō armāriō dēcutiō ¦ argentī tantum ¦ quantum mihi lubet (Plautus)

• why, though his chest is shut up and sealed, yet I shake ¦ as much money ¦ out of it as I like

cui bonī tantum afferō quantum ipsus [ = ipse] ā dīs optat, atque etiam amplius (Plautus)

• I'm bringing him as much good fortune as he desires from the gods, and even more.

But you should expect variations:

… mihique ¦ ex agrō tuō tantum ¦ adsignēs, quantum meō corpore occupārī potest (Cicero)

• and allot me ¦ as much of your land ¦ as can be occupied by my body

The use of the correlative is not only with nouns and often functions purely as an adverb:

amāta tantum quantum amābitur nūlla (Catullus)

• loved as much as no other will (ever) be loved

nōn queō tantum, quantum vereor, scrībere (Cicero)

• I cannot write as much as I fear [ = I cannot write all my fears]

meam āmentiam accūsō, quod mē ā tē tantum amārī, quantum ego vellem, putāvī (Cicero)

• I blame my foolishness, because I thought I was loved by you as much as I would wish.

The construction reversed:

Domum mē rūrsum quantum poterō tantum recipiam (Plautus)

• I'll come back home as much as I can [less literally: … just as fast as I can]

Two correlatives in the same extract:

mōtum in rē pūblicā nōn tantum ego impendēre videō, quantum tū aut vidēs aut ad mē cōnsōlandum adfers (Cicero)

I do not see the change in the state as so imminent as you either see it or bring to me for consolation.

The three quotations below – all from Cicero’s letters to Atticus – well illustrate the need to be flexible in translation. At this higher level of Latin, a dictionary translation of a construction may act as a starting point, but it is not necessarily the solution. The Latin original may need to be reworked to achieve greater fluency. The translations given are from the Loeb edition (translator: Winstedt).

(1) … sī mē amās tantum, quantum profectō amās … (Cicero)

[Lit: … if you love me as much as you surely love …]

• if your affection for me is as real as I know it to be (transl. Winstedt)

(2) ‘tantum’ as an independent adverb means ‘only’, and that sense can be conveyed in the correlative construction:

ita sum ab omnibus dēstitūtus, ut tantum requiētis [genitive] habeam, quantum cum uxōre et fīliolā et mellītō Cicerōne cōnsūmitur. 

[Lit: I am so deprived of everything, that I have only as much rest as is spent with my wife, my little daughter and darling little Cicero.]

• So utterly am I deserted, that the only moments of repose I have are those which are spent with my wife, my little daughter and darling boy. (transl. Winstedt)

(3) Two correlative constructions in the same sentence

nec tantum intellegēbam eī esse offēnsiōnis, quantum litterae tuae dēclārārant, nec tantum prōficiēbam, quantum volēbam (Cicero)

[Lit: And I neither understood that he had as much offence as your letter had declared, nor did I make as much progress as I wanted.]

• I could neither find that he was as much annoyed as your letter makes out, nor yet make as much headway with him as I wished. (transl. Winstedt)