Latin Language and Literature

© 2016 Claude Pavur: prefatory note, and the bilingual presentation of this selection of texts from the traditional Vulgate of Saint Jerome (c.400) and the revised Douay-Rheims translation (Baltimore: John Murphy Company, 1899). Number of total passages cited: over 530. Word count: Over 30,000 words.

"Latijnse morfologie" bevat een volledige bespreking van de verbuigingen en vervoegingen van het klassieke Latijn. Ook talrijke relevante uitzonderingen en bijzonderheden die in vele schoolboeken onvermeld blijven, komen aan bod. Bijzondere aandacht wordt besteed aan de ontwikkelingen in het postklassieke Latijn.

Seine Verdienste um die Erforschung vor allem der nachklassischen und mittelalterlichen Latinität, der medizinischen Fachsprache und um die editorische Erschließung zahlreicher lateinischer Texte aus Antike und Mittelalter wurden bereits 1974 mit der Wahl zum ordentlichen Mitglied der Nordrhein-Westfälischen Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Künste gewürdigt, der er nach seiner Rückkehr nach Schweden 1997 weiterhin als korrespondierendes Mitglied angehörte. In seinen Forschungen nahmen Arbeiten zur Sprache der Naturalis historia des älteren Plinius und zu ihren spätantiken und frühmittelalterlichen Ableitungen wie der Medicina Plinii und der Physica Plinii breiten Raum ein. Ihre Ergebnisse wurden in den maßgeblichen Handbüchern zur lateinischen Sprache in Antike und Mittelalter breit rezipiert. Von seinen Editionen seien exemplarisch diejenigen des Vegetius (1995) und der Hystoria Tartarorum (1957 / 2019) genannt. Chronologisch reichte das Spektrum seiner Arbeiten bis in das 16. Jh. In der in den 1970er Jahren mitunter hitzig geführten Debatte um die historische Situierung des Waltharius-Epos trat er entschieden für eine Datierung in das frühe 9. Jh. ein, ein Standpunkt, der in der jüngeren Forschung, wenn auch mit anderen Argumenten, wieder vertreten wird. Ein besonderes Anliegen war Alf Önnerfors der aktive Gebrauch des Lateini-schen in Wort und Schrift: so wurden beide Qualifikationsschriften lateinisch publiziert. Im historischen Gedächtnis der Universität zu Köln wird er vielleicht auch deshalb bleiben, weil er 1977 das bis zum heutigen Tage letzte Rigorosum in lateinischer Sprache abgehalten hat. Die Mittellateinische Abteilung wird Professor Önnerfors ein ehrendes Andenken bewahren.

"Praxis Grammatica : Showing the true and authentic use of declensions and conjugations, nicely organized for solid and rapid acquisition of a knowledge of the essential grammatical components of meaning.  There are also attached a substantial number of both famous sayings and rather well-chosen witticisms.  For the use of the students of Magdalene at Oxford."

By courtesy of Editions Delga (Paris), I am pleased to offer  to the public two chapters of a French partial translation that is actually in process, from "I classici nella storia della letteratura latina" (1994), by Luciano Canfora and Renata Roncali. The whole French volume's title will be "Politique et littérature dans la Rome ancienne depuis les origines jusqu'à Augustin" and will include several chapters by Luciano Canfora. The present file includes the introductory chapter of the book, "Rome, cité grecque", and the chapter on "Ennius et son entourage", introducing Ennius life and works.

In 1997 maakte de Nederlandse schrijfster Marion Bloem het gedicht ‘Vrijheid’ op verzoek van het Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei.
Meer dan tien jaar later, in maart 2011, riep ze via Facebook op om het gedicht in zo veel mogelijk talen te vertalen. Isabelle Buhre maakte de Latijnse vertaling van ‘Vrijheid’.

During the Roman empire many Greek speakers learned Latin. Their books and exercises, which survive in medieval manuscripts and in papyri from Egypt, show that some of their language-learning techniques were similar to ours and others very different. Some students, interested only in oral proficiency, learned Latin using materials in Greek transliteration. Others learned the Roman alphabet and then read not isolated sentences but complete texts, in a special bilingual format, while learning grammar and syntax from materials composed entirely in Latin. At more advanced levels students used monolingual Latin literary texts, which they read aloud and translated into Greek ; they also translated Greek literature into Latin.

Epigraphy is, in its essence, an act of writing, which implies the use of a specific alphabet and a codified language. The language of Latin inscriptions is often expressed in standard formulas, but it also shows different registers and variations owing to the communication goals of different epigraphic categories as well as to chronological and sociological variables Most of these aspects of the Latin Language do not emerge from the corpus of literary texts. Epigraphy thus represents an invaluable source for our knowledge of the evolutionary history, internal diversifications and the spoken dimension of Latin, an ancient corpus-based language. At the same time, philological knowledge plays a fundamental role in the editing of epigraphic texts This International Summer School aims to develop an awareness of the potential of the epigraphical evidence for philological and linguistic studies, without disregarding the archaeological and historical dimensions of inscriptions in light of sociolinguistic investigations. It provides participants with a basic knowledge in Latin Epigraphy and the main theoretical, methodological and practical tools for linguistic and philological research through epigraphic materials

This is the last catalogue of the Gandophiana collection and library. More then one hundred 18th and 19th Centuries novels have been added since then, all in the original language and, if not in first edition, just published few years after.
We'll publish soon other thematic catalogues, focusing also on the other shelves of our library: Italian, French and latin Literature from 16th to Early 20th Century.

The theme that unites the first four papers in this collection (counting the two elements of the second paper as two separate papers for the purposes of this summary only) is the view of Geta as very much the nexus-figure for three different aspects of the play: he is by turns the willing and unwilling trickster of Demipho (with Phormio as his principal ally); he is also a devotee of the goddess Fortuna (his piety sits comfortably alongside that of Demipho: they may profitably be viewed as a composite character) to whom good luck deservedly accrues (in contrast to Phormio and Chremes, who personify those who either enjoy unmerited success – Phormio – or like Chremes get found out); and, finally, Geta is co-principal architect of the resolution of the two cousins' love entanglements (although he once more needs the assistance – this time unsought - of another character: Nausistrata). All four papers, looking at the play from the varied perspectives of plot, structure and linguistic choices, present mutually-supportive evidence for this interpretation.
The fifth (summarising) paper gathers together the specific evidence to substantiate the claim that the intention of Terence was to create a play to showcase the comedic potential of a parasite let loose in a plot dominated by chance and where all intrigues are ultimately confounded. It further develops the idea that the prologue and last scene of the play were tailored to one another so as to draw direct parallels between the alleged behaviour of Luscius Lanuvinus and Phormio. The sixth paper speculatively explores an obscure element of Terence's attack upon Luscius that continues to puzzle modern commentators. The seventh paper expands the examination of pietas beyond the religious aspect analysed in the third paper (the second part to the second paper listed above) to encompass familial and wider social pietas. It seeks to demonstrate that Terence handled this theme in a wholly consistent manner, with the parasite unequivocally depicted as a vir impius - rendering it implausible that Terence, apparently so dependent himself upon patronage, should have cast Phormio as anything other than a comic rogue who got lucky.
The principal conclusions from my analysis of Phormio can be summarised thus:
1. Terence employs ring-composition as a fundamental organising technique, founded upon the stage entrances at regular intervals of four of the characters: Demipho, Phormio, Chremes and Sophrona (see the summarising table at the end of the collection).
2. Terence uses word-tags to link connected themes/ideas. These include: postilla, ire pergam, ipse (with the specific meaning of dominus), heia, eu, attat & (when used by a male) pol. Also (integrating the prologue with the remainder of the play-text): lacesso and aequo animo.
3. The theme of pietas (or its lack) leading to both deserved and undeserved felicitas is another organising principle of the play: references to the gods and to religious observance are most certainly not just incidental add-ons.
4. There are several plausible explanations for the parasite Phormio getting star-billing in the prologue. He need not be - and in this play is not - the master of intrigue portrayed by some (most?) other commentators.
5. This play provides an excellent example of how the translation choices for just a few lines can transform the overall interpretation. And why translators need to situate their decisions within the wider academic debate, failing which they run the risk of misleading their audience.
6. It is a valid approach to interpret each of Terence's plays on an individual basis, given the small number he wrote and the insistence in the prologues upon originality. To focus on elements common to his corpus - or common to the even wider concept of a comoedia palliata - can lead to unwarranted (or at least unduly restrictive) conclusions.
7. In this specific play the prologue does form an integral part of the overall play-text (both in terms of the fundamental architecture of the play and as regards important thematic elements).
8. The structuring of this play raises fundamental questions as to the basis upon which Terence selected, and the degree to which he subsequently modified, his Greek original in this specific instance and, more generally, as regards his wider approach to his Greek source material. Terence did more than merely translate: he seems actively to have sought out plays, and (where appropriate) specific scenes from other Greek works where he deemed it appropriate, so as to develop various stock-characters from play to play and thereby to put his own stamp on a particular comedy. Modern scholarship generally supports the idea that Shakespeare adopted a somewhat similar approach to his source material in a number of plays.

A bilingual pari-passu reader for medievalists and other adult learners beginning their Latin studies. Twenty-one stories have been extracted from the Gesta Romanorum. Full text available at http://www.amazon.com/Selected-Stories-Deeds-Romans-English-ebook/dp/B01C1YS08G/.

Il più rilevante e noto trattato rinascimentale sulle qualità morali, fisiche e divine dell'uomo fu redatto da uno fra i più poliedrici e dotti umanisti del Quattrocento. Il ''De dignitate et excellentia hominis'' è l'opera capitale di Giannozzo Manetti (Firenze, 1396 - Napoli, 1459), ricco mercante, politico, autore di numerosi scritti in latino, e traduttore di Aristotele dal greco e dei Salmi dall'ebraico. Fu per un ventennio ambasciatore della repubblica fiorentina, quindi segretario pontificio e, infine, cortigiano presso la corte dei re d'Aragona a Napoli. Proprio su committenza di Alfonso il Magnanimo, Manetti portò a compimento nel 1452 la sua summa enciclopedica di quanto scritto dagli autori classici e cristiani sul miracolo del corpo umano e dello spirito divino che vi alberga. L'opera rappresenta un imperituro monumento alla più perfetta tra le creature divine, posta al centro delle meravigliose bellezze dell'Universo e dotata di un corpo e di un'anima che sono riflesso del macrocosmo. L'esaltazione dei prodotti dell'ingegno umano e delle arti figurative, la contestazione della tradizionale posizione medievale che individuava nella morte l'unica via d'uscita dalle sofferenze terrene, la glorificazione delle virtù e delle prerogative dell'uomo, e soprattutto la riflessione sui privilegi e gli oneri della ''dignitas hominis'' fanno di questo scritto il manifesto del Rinascimento italiano. Il volume offre per la prima volta al lettore italiano una traduzione integrale dell'opera a cura di Giuseppe Marcellino, specialista della letteratura latina umanistica, preceduta da un saggio introduttivo di Stefano U. Baldassarri, Direttore dell'ISI Florence e studioso del Rinascimento di fama internazionale.

Interpretation of Latin texts demands a certain degree of acquaintance with the phonology of Latin language. The present essay based on lectures read by the author over many years at the St.Petersburg State University, aims to introduce the reader to this complex topic.
The book includes following chapters:
1. Phonetic system of Latin and sources of data on Latin phonology.
2. Consonantal system and its reflection in written sources (occlusives, nasals and liquid sonants, spirants, semivowels).
3. Vocalic system (vowels, diphthongs).

52 short fables by Aesop, with translations, now upgraded and accompanied by the 70 anecdotes of ancient celebrities, once available as Learn Latin with Celebrities.

Learn Latin with Aesop’s Fables and Ancient Celebrities: An Easy Latin Reader with Translations. April 8, 2024. Paperback pending approval.

Latin words for major body parts are given here and illustrated by Latin and English labeling on images. It is a visual vocabulary aid for Latin learners. Last adjustments made on May 16, 2021. For fuller vocabulary lists see Key Latin Vocabularies (Ahn / Henn / Pavur).

Las lenguas indoeuropeas son lenguas flexivas: esto significa que tienen declinaciones y conjugaciones. Los casos caracterizan la
flexión nominal en griego y en latín, de manera que declinando un nombre y, por tanto, cambiando sus terminaciones podemos
expresar diferentes funciones sintácticas. A la sintaxis casual se añade la sintaxis preposicional: las preposiciones completan las
nociones expresadas por los casos. En nuestro trabajo (que se dividirá en cuatro partes) estudiamos preposición por preposición,
comparando las dos lenguas para ayudar a los alumnos y profesores de secundaria en la enseñanza y aprendizaje del griego y el
latín.

The Corpus Priapeorum is a Latin collection of 80 epigrams, in the majority of which the protagonist (either as a speaker or as receiver of offerings) is the phallic god, Priapus. Priapus with his enormous member and his unbridled lust is the vigilant watch and protector of his (literary) garden against any potential intruders. This is the first systematic study of the CP in Modern Greek, which is also complemented by the first Modern Greek translation of the text.
The book comprises seven chapters as follows: 1. The Corpus Priapeorum, 2. Myth and humor, 3. Wordplays, 4. Catalogues, 5. Penelope’s feminine speech, 6. Corpus Priapeorum: Text ‒Translation, 7. Bibliography.

Dalla mia esperienza personale, dai frequenti contatti con i docenti di liceo del Piemonte, dalla riflessione con i ragazzi e le ragazze usciti dalla Prova d’ingresso, a me pare chiaro che in diverse realtà si sia abbandonata o si stia abbandonando nel Triennio liceale la pratica della traduzione, ancora in auge al Biennio (anche con funzione di mero “filtro” delle competenze), ma poi di fatto sostituita da una lettura solo in traduzione, spesso camuffata come “letteratura” in opposizione a “lingua”. In molti casi questa è la soluzione “disperata” di docenti motivati, alle prese con classi refrattarie ad ogni discorso di questo genere e interessate a ben altro, ma non posso escludere che in altri casi (come già successo all'università con il “latino senza latino”) vi siano motivazioni “democratiche” nobilitanti, che facciano passare la riduzione del lavoro di traduzione come un elemento di brillante innovazione.

The first part of this paper argues that Orpheus' telling of Hyacinth's story in Ov. Met. 10, 162-219 is a reworking of his own personal grief for Eurydice, narrated by Ovid shortly before. The second part analyses the extant Hellenistic models for the Ovidian version of the myth.