Yes, We Can! /  by Anthony Gibbins

There is something empowering about recognising what you can do. And nothing says I’m capable quite like saying I’m capable in Latin.

The word for I can or I am able is possum. Its Principal Parts (it doesn’t get the usual four) are possum, posse, potui. I am able, to be able, I was able.

Let’s look at how we Conjugate possum in the Present Tense. Two of these Forms are used in today’s page.

possum           I am able                                         possumus        we are able

potes               You are able                                   potestis           you (all) are able

potest            he or she or it is able                       possunt           they are able

If you take another look at today’s page, you will see that this Verb works with the Infinitive. emere potes. You are able to buy. tradere possum. I can hand over.

What can you do? If you have a dictionary with an English to Latin section, you can do this. Look up a word, say dance. It will tell you that the Verb that means dance is salto saltare saltavi saltatum. The Infinitive will always be the Second Principal Part. saltare possum! I can dance!

Try it, and leave a Comment declaring what you can do! If you don’t have a dictionary (or even if you do), here are a few ideas to get you started.;

aedificare build clamare shout ambulare walk docere teach ridere laugh videre see canere sing currere run fugere flee loqui speak audire listen legere read scribere write dormire sleep fulgere shine bibere drink discere learn edere eat fremere roar ludere play niti strive quiescere rest sapere be wise natare swim ascendere climb cogitare think amare love pingere paint ire go

Oh, and by the way. How great is Claudia? That is really thoughtful.

Claudia knows that Marcellus wants to sell the picture. ‘If you wish,’ she says, ‘you can buy the picture. I am able to hand over your money to the artist.’

The Legonium Like-a-Matic (TM) /  by Anthony Gibbins

'pictura mihi placet!', says the sailor. 'naves mihi placent!', he may have said too. What pleases you? What do you like?

With the Legonium Like-a-Matic (TM), stating your likes has never been easier. Simply choose from our long list of Likeable Things (TM) and add mihi placent! It’s that simple! And useful!

plaustra siphonaria fire trucks, chartulae creditoriae credit cards, arcae cursuales letter boxes, cellae telephocicae phone booths, armariola potionum minibars, carrula emptionis shopping trolleys, venditores actorum diurnorum newsagents, tabellae socolatae chocolate bars, capsica acerrima chillies, fiscinae pomorum fruit baskets, casei molles soft cheeses, placentae nuptiales wedding cakes, sacculi theae tea bags, thermopolia mobilia food trucks, ova elixa boiled eggs, thecae calamariae pencil cases, perspicilla protectoria safety goggles, retinacula taeniae adhaesivae sticky tape dispensers, terebrae pneumaticae jackhammers, hauritoria pulveris vacuum cleaners, obturationes viae traffic jams, birotae automatae motor bikes, stationes ferriviariae train stations, clavae alsulegiae hockey sticks, citharae graves bass guitars, culcitae inflabiles inflatable mattresses, machinae sutoria sewing machines, hippocampi seahorses

mihi placent casei molles et retinacula taeniae adhaesivae! quae tibi placent?

'Do you like the picture?' Claudia asks. 'I like it very much,' the sailor responds. 'For I very much admire ships.'

de Marcello /  by Anthony Gibbins

Marcellus est pictor qui Legonii habitat. Marcellus est pictor optimus cui placet picturas pingere. saepe picturas pingit. Marcellus habitat in parvo cubiculo, nomine cenaculo, sito in summo tabulato pulchri aedificii.

Marcellus multam pecuniam argentariae debet. sed Marcellus illam pecuniam non habet. necesse est ei centum dollares celeriter invenire. sperat picturam navis quae in taberna pendet vendere ut nonnullam pecuniam capiat.

Marcellus is a painter who lives in Legonium. Marcellus is an excellent painter whom it pleases (who likes) to paint pictures. He often paints pictures. Marcellus lives in a small room, called a cenaculum, situated on the top story of a beautiful building.

Marcellus owes much money to the bank. But Marcellus does not have that money. It is necessary for him to quickly find one hundred dollars. He hopes to sell the picture of a ship which hangs in the tavern to get some (not none) money.

Claudia meanwhile enters the tavern called The Highlander. She sees the sailor looking closely at the painting painted by Marcellus. The picture seems to please the sailor.

looking at specto /  by Anthony Gibbins

In celebration of Pico’s watching, let’s take a closer look at the Verb specto. specto has a broad meaning, that requires it to be understood in numerous ways; (I look at carefully, contemplate, observe, watch, look on, examine, bear in mind, have a regard to, am inclined toward, face and consider critically). The full Dictionary Form is specto, spectare, spectavi, spectatum.

There are a number of Compound Verbs, formed by adding prefixes to specto or to its close cousin specio. Here are a few, along with a meaning; aspicio (I behold), conspicio (I catch sigh of), despicio (I look down on, despise), exspecto (I wait for), inspicio (I look into), perspicio (I see through), prospicio (I exercise foresight), respicio (I look back), suspicio (I mistrust).

There are some closely related Nouns too. As is common in Latin, by replacing the –um of the Supine with –or we get the person who performs the act. Therefore, spectatum becomes spectator ‘a person who watches’. There is even a specifically Female Form, spectatrix. Then there is spectaculum (a show – think gladiators and chariot races), and we have already seen speculum in the barber store (a mirror). There is species (appearance), suspicio (suspicion), aspectus (a sight), conspectus (a view) and auspicium (divination by means of birds). spectio is the right of certain magistrates to observe the observing of birds, while being done for the purpose of divination. Jackpot!

Finally, here are some Adjectives; spectatus (approved), perspicuus (transparent), speciosus (beautiful or showy), specialis (particular in appearance) and spectabilis (worth seeing).

Alan carries the sack full of hair to the rubbish bin and throws it in the bin. Pico watches him doing it.

foreshadowing /  by Anthony Gibbins

You might wonder, reader, why so much of this story is taking place in Alan's barber store. All I can say is that it is of great importance for understanding events to come. This page, in particular, holds essential secrets below its seemingly mundane surface. It is not to be taken lightly.

Her hair having been cut, Claudia gets up. Alan carefully sweeps (verrit) the floor with a broom (scopis). He places all the hair in a sack. Claudia happily looks at herself in the mirror.

together /  by Anthony Gibbins

Writing the English translation for today’s page, I noticed that it included the word ‘together’ twice, yet each time representing a very different Latin usage. I thought this worthy of comment, especially as it involves two of my favourite Latin words.

The first use was in the third sentence, ‘they speak together’. The Verb ‘they speak’ is loquuntur. It is a Deponent Verb (it looks Passive but has an Active meaning) and it is beautiful to say aloud. Try it. Make sure the second and third u’s are pronounced more like put than cup. lo-kwuntur. Roll the r, if you are able.

The prefix col- can be added to loquuntur to make colloquuntur. The col- prefix is a form of the preposition cum, meaning with. Indeed, the word even has an alternate spelling, conloquuntur. It means ‘they speak together’. One excellent use of the con/col- prefix is found in conspirare, ‘to blow or breathe together, to agree, to harmonise, to conspire, to form a plot’. English has borrowed the co- prefix, even attaching it where it is already found; for example, co-conspirator.

The other word translated as ‘together’ is una. una is an Adverb formed from the number one; unus, una, unum (to give the Masculine, Feminine and Neuter forms). una has the properties of a grammatical construction known as the Ablative of Manner. So, to do something una is literally to do it ‘as though you are one’. How cool is that? And what makes it even better; this is the standard Latin way to say ‘together’.

Now Claudia is sitting in the seat. Alan is carefully cutting her hair. They speak together happily.  Soon they are laughing together about the verse of the sailor. In truth (re vera), it was delightful (iucundus). 

divergence /  by Anthony Gibbins

Here is the final part of tonsor, from the Cambridge Latin Course.

‘furcifer! furcifer!’ clamat Pantagathus. senex est perteritus. tonsor barbam non tondet. tonsor senem secat. multus sanguis fluit.

Caecilius surgit et e taberna exit.

As you can see, the Legonium story diverges a little from the Cambridge. I admire the latter for how much it does with so few words. And I did consider including the immortal multus sanguis fluit, with a few red studs trailing as the old man walked from the tonsorina. But for various reasons, I decided to cut the blood and to expand a little on what was happening.

Alan is commotus, a Latin word meaning ‘moved’, that just like the English can indicate physical or emotion relocation. In this state, he does not cut the beard. immo is an adverb that means ‘on the contrary’, ‘no indeed’, ‘yes indeed’, or ‘by all means’. Or, to put it another way, ‘it contradicts or essentially qualifies what precedes’. incaute is another adverb that describes how the tonsor works in his worked-up state. Incautiously, heedlessly, improvidently, inconsiderately. The ipsum, ‘himself’, stresses the difference between cutting the old man’s beard and cutting HIM. Lastly, instead of having Caecilius/Claudia rise and exit, it is the old man, iratissimus, who leaves.

And just in case you thought that Latin was a foreign language, here is the opening of the Wikipedia entry for divergence;

In vector calculus, divergence is a vector operator that produces a signed scalar field giving the quantity of a vector field's source at each point. More technically, the divergence represents the volume density of the outward flux of a vector field from an infinitesimal volume around a given point.

The old man DOES look angry.

The old man is terrified. Why? Alan, worked-up, does not trim the beard. On the contrary, he incautiously cuts the old man himself. The old man, very angry, rises and exits from the barber store.

non poeta sed nauta scurrilis /  by Anthony Gibbins

Once again, here is the original Latin of the Cambridge Latin Course.

poeta tabernam intrat. poeta in taberna stat et versum recitat. versus est scurrilis. Caecilius ridet. sed tonsor non ridet. tonsor est iratus.

The Cambridge Latin Course translates scurrilis as ‘rude’ but the full story is far more interesting. (By the way, when pronouncing scurrilis, put the stress on the ri – scurrilis.)

The mighty Oxford Latin Dictionary declines to translate, instead saying that something scurrilis (such as a joke or abuse) is ‘characteristic of a scurra’. And what is a scurra? Again, according to the OLD, a scurra is ‘a fashionable city idler, a man about town’. How quaint; that doesn’t seem so bad, does it? But the quality of a scurra, what makes a scurra a scurra, is their scurrilitas (again, stress the ‘ri’). And that quality? Untimely or offensive humour. There is an adverb too, which allows something to be done scurriliter, or with untimely jests. We’ve all been there. And there is even a cute little diminutive, scurrula, which the OLD defines as ‘a joker' or 'a wag’.

But I have left the best till last. Horace gives us the verb scurror, scurrari, scurratus sum (Ep I.17.19), which basically means ‘to use your reputation for telling untimely and offensive jokes to get yourself invited regularly to dinner parties’. Awesome.

The sailor enters the barber shop. The sailor stands in the barber shop and recites a verse. Claudia laughs. But Alan does not laugh. The verse is the kind of rude joke that one might tell to get themselves invited to a dinner party.