- ISBN: 9781119874799 | 1119874793
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 5/3/2022
Master the basics of a lyrical and useful language
Even though most people don’t use Latin anymore, it used to be spoken by millions of people from across the ancient world. It later morphed into new languages we still use today!
In Latin For Dummies, you’ll take a tour through the language of ancient Rome. Beginning with Latin you may already know, like “carpe diem” and “quid pro quo,” the book walks you through essential Latin grammar and everyday Latin phrases. It also explores how Latin shaped and molded modern languages, including English.
In this book, you’ll find:
- Lessons to learn Latin grammar and vocabulary
- Practices for reading, translating, and composing Latin
- Tips to recognize commonly confused Latin words
Latin For Dummies proves that learning Latin, while challenging, can be fun and exciting too! It’s perfect for first timers interested in the ancient language and anyone who wants to learn more about ancient Roman history and culture.
Clifford A. Hull MA in Classical Studies, MA in Classical Architecture, and MLS, teaches Latin, history, and social science at The Harker School in California.
Steven R. Perkins MA in Classics, is an award-winning teacher who has taught Latin and Classics for more than 30 years at secondary and undergraduate levels.
Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Conventions Used in This Book 2
Foolish Assumptions 3
How This Book Is Organized 3
Part 1: Getting Started with Latin 4
Part 2: Latin in Action 4
Part 3: Latin in the Modern World 4
Part 4: The Part of Tens 4
Part 5: Appendices 4
Icons Used in This Book 5
Beyond the Book 5
Where to Go from Here 6
Part 1: Getting Started With Latin 7
Chapter 1: You Already Know a Little Latin 9
Latin: Not as Dead as You May Have Hoped 10
Familiarity Breeds Comfort: Latin You Already Know 10
English in a toga: Latin derivatives 11
In the debit column: Latin loanwords 13
From A to Z: The Latin Alphabet 15
Soundin’ Like a Roman: Pronunciation 15
Classical pronunciation 17
Ecclesiastical pronunciation 19
Don’t stress out: Accenting syllables 20
Chapter 2: The Nitty Gritty: Basic Latin Grammar 23
Bending the Rules: All about an Inflected Language 24
Latin Nouns (Or Why You Should Love Your English Teacher) 25
Talking about the birds and the bees: Gender 25
Casing a Latin noun 26
Declining a Latin noun 27
Lights! Camera! Action! Introducing Verbs 34
Joining the ranks of verb conjugation 34
Taking it personally — personal endings 36
Relax! It’s just the verbs that are tense 37
Making Connections through Conjunctions 43
Chapter 3: Salve! (Hello!): Greetings and Introductions 47
Hello, Goodbye: Roman Salutations and Farewells 48
The boys ’n the ’hood: Addressing males 49
Olivia, where are you?: Addressing females 50
Do It – Now!!!!! 50
Being There: Esse (To Be) 53
Saying Where You’re From 54
Identifying Yourself 55
Asking Questions 57
Using –ne 57
Common question words 58
The Preposition Proposition 59
Playing the Numbers 61
Counting it down: Cardinal numbers 62
Putting things in order: Ordinal numbers 63
The “I’s” have it: Roman numerals 64
Part 2: Latin In Action 67
Chapter 4: The Roman Family and Social Structure 69
Keeping It All in the Family 69
Familiarizing yourself with the familia 72
Gushy stuff: Love and marriage 75
Throwing on Meaning with Adjectives 75
Understanding 1st- and 2nd-declension adjectives 76
Using 3rd-declension adjectives 78
Perfecting the Past and the Future 81
Attaining perfection: Perfect tense 81
Going beyond perfect: Pluperfect tense 82
Finishing someday: Future perfect tense 84
Chapter 5: Food and Housing in Roman Life 87
Living to Eat and Eating to Live 88
Living by bread alone 88
Feeding veggies to an empire 89
Going whole hog with meat 89
Having your fruit and eating it, too! 90
Please pass the ketchup! 91
Potent potables 91
Dining Practices 93
Three squares a day 94
Minding your manners around the mensa 95
Weapons of attack, or fun with forks 96
To Be or To Eat: That’s the Real Question 97
Volo (to want) 98
Nolo (not to wish) 98
Malo (to prefer) 99
Fero (to bring or carry) 99
Eo (to go) 100
Welcome Home! 101
Living downtown 101
Venturing out to your villa 102
Chapter 6: The Roman Calendar 105
Planning Ahead with the Roman Calendar 106
Biding the hours and days 106
Naming months 106
Flying by with the years 107
Playing the dating game 109
Having a Roman holiday 110
Oh, That Able Ablative! 111
What time is it? 111
Quo vadis? (Where are you going?) 112
Everything but the kitchen sink 112
Expressing Subjunctive Moodiness 116
Understanding the present subjunctive 117
Understanding the perfect and not-so-perfect subjunctive tenses 119
Pleading Insanity: The Insanity Clause 120
Purpose clause 120
Result clause 121
Characteristic clause 121
Clauses for indirect questions 121
Introducing clauses with cum 122
He Seems Like a God! Roman Deities 123
The big twelve 123
Housecleaning with the gods 124
Knocking on wood: Superstitions 125
Chapter 7: The Roman Army 129
You’re in the Army Now 129
Exercising the right to fight 130
Saluting men of rank 132
The tools of the trade: Arma and tela 133
4th- and 5th-Declension Nouns 135
Understanding 4th-declension nouns 135
Understanding 5th-declension nouns 138
Proceeding with Pronouns 139
I, I, I! — using personal pronouns 139
This or that? Demonstrative pronouns 140
Who’s who? Relative pronouns 142
Chapter 8: Roman Entertainment and Sports 145
Let the Games Begin! 146
Sacred games 146
Not for the squeamish: Gladiatorial games 146
Round and round we go: Chariot racing 149
Good, Better, Best: Never Let It Rest! 152
Comparative-degree adjectives (–er) 152
Superlative-degree adjectives (–est) 153
Irregular comparisons 154
Standing Room Only: Roman Plays 155
A tragic story 156
Laughing ’til it hurts 157
Chapter 9: Roman Government 161
Ruling the World 161
King for a day: The kingdom 163
By the people, for the people: The Republic 165
Rendering unto Caesar: The Empire 167
Getting Out of the Verbal Trap 168
Presenting present participles 169
Looking back with perfect participles 171
Voicing concerns about participles 172
Running with gerunds 175
Passive (Aggressive) Voice 178
Present, imperfect, and future passive 178
Perfect, pluperfect, future perfect passive 179
Chapter 10: More Lasting Than Bronze: Latin Literature 185
The Written Word 186
Before the days of copyrights 186
Who’s who of Latin authors 187
Measuring Latin poetry 188
Getting Grammar into Proper Condition 189
Future, less vivid 190
Future, more vivid 190
Present, contrary to fact 191
Past, contrary to fact 191
Telling It Secondhand — Indirect Statements 191
Understanding Latin infinitives 192
Handling indirect statements 193
Writing for the Rest of Us 195
Letter writing 196
Etched in stone: Inscriptions 197
The writing on the wall: Graffiti 197
Part 3: Latin In The Modern World 201
Chapter 11: Keeping It Simple, Silly 203
Finding the Subject in the Case 204
Filling in the Details 206
Where Were You on the Night of the 15th? 207
Listening to Latin Litigation: Words Used in Roman Courts 208
Legal beagles: The cast and crew 209
Can you describe what you saw? 209
Latin legal lingo 211
Summation and Closing Arguments 213
Latin Words Used in English-Language Courts 214
Common courtroom Latin 215
Less common Latin phrases 218
Chapter 12: The Decline and Fall of Roman Declensions 223
A Rose Is a Rose Is a Rose — But Not in Latin 224
Sending It Off to the Lab (or the Dictionary) 225
Getting a Second Opinion through Context 228
Completing Your Residency 229
Flexing those muscles 229
Interior design 230
Getting In Shape with Verbs 231
This Doesn’t Seem Right, Doc 233
Understanding Common Medical Terms 236
Using Latin at the Drugstore 238
Chapter 13: We All Live In a Yellow Subordinate Clause 243
Finding Your Purpose 244
Seeing the Results of All This 245
I’ll Help You on One Condition 247
The Early Church and Its Adopted Language 248
Help me, oh Lord! (and others, too) 249
Invoking the name of God 250
Keeping on God’s good side 252
Words for the universe 252
Reciting the Lord’s Prayer in Latin 257
A final list of (and a few stories behind) Latin expressions 259
Chapter 14: Latin in Zoology and Botany 265
Classifying Basics 266
You don’t have to be a genius to understand genus 267
Getting specific with species 268
Naming Fauna and Flora 271
Common plant genus and species names 271
A rose is a rose is a rose — or is it? 273
Chapter 15: Translating and Reading Latin 275
Word Order, or Where in the Heck Is the Subject? 276
Making Sense of a Translation 276
Who’s doing what? 277
Translating simple sentences 278
Translating longer sentences 279
Real live Latin: Messin’ with Martialis 282
Translating complex sentences 284
More live Latin: Catullus’s catch 285
Translating subjunctive mood 287
Once More unto the Breach 290
More Martial wit 291
Catullus hearts Lesbia 292
Caesar, you’re a real pain in the back! 294
Will the real Hannibal please stand up? 295
Chapter 16: Mottoes, Sayings, and Quotes: Cocktail Party Latin 299
The Quotable Roman 300
Romans on love 300
Romans on war 302
From the mouth of Julius Caesar 303
I’ll have another: Romans on drink 304
Latin quotes from other famous people 304
Advice in Latin: Words to Live By 307
Mottoes in Latin 309
Mottoes of famous organizations and institutions 310
Mottoes of cities and countries 310
Part 4: The Part of Tens 313
Chapter 17: More than Ten Loanwords from Latin 315
Forum 316
Spectator 316
Senator 316
Radio 316
Atrium 317
Via 317
Veto 317
Focus 317
Onus 318
Sinister 318
Circus 318
Umbrella 318
Referendum 319
Memorandum 319
Agenda 319
Chapter 18: Ten (or So) False Friends: Common Mistakes in Latin 321
Audere and Audire: Audaciously Audible! 322
Crimen: Guilty or Not Guilty? 322
Ad or Ab: To or Fro? 322
Invitus (by Force) 322
Saepe and Semper: Do You Come Here Often or Always? 323
Servare and Servire: Are You Being Served or Saved? 323
Tandem and Tamen: I’d Like to Go Cycling, But 323
Fugere and Fugare: Follow Me, I’m Right Behind You! 324
Dicere and Ducere: Do As I Say 324
Vir and Vires: Strength Isn’t Just For Men 324
Morior and Moror: Being Late to Your Own Funeral 325
Aestas and Aetas: When I Was Your Age in the Summer 325
Cado and Caedo: Be Careful, It’s the Fall that Will Kill You! 325
Os and Os: The Mouth Bone? 326
Quidam and Quidem: A Certain Man, Indeed 326
Consilium and Concilium: Do You Have Counsel for the Council? 326
Part 5: Appendices 327
Appendix A: Noun, Adjective, and Verb Tables 329
Appendix B: Latin-English Mini-Dictionary 353
Appendix C: Answer Key 381
Index 395
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