haven’t I seen this photo before? /  by Anthony Gibbins

Yes! Well spotted! This is the same photo as appeared previously in episode 5, as Marcellus walked from his home to the barber shop.  It is my attempt to represent that the two episodes – 5 and 6 – occur in the same temporal space. You may remember that as Scipio knocked on the barber shop window and asked his father for money, that Claudia walked past wearing a backpack. Soon, all of that will make sense.

For on that day, a few hours before Marcellus found the suitcase, Miranda and Claudia were having a conversation about a journey.

ientaculum in terra mirabili /  by Anthony Gibbins

What a great word is ientaculum. Say it out loud. The i sounds like the y is yes. And the stress should be placed on the ta. yenTAculum. It means breakfast, although the Oxford Latin Dictionary supplies the rather charming a light early-morning refreshment.

Perhaps you are familiar with the following iconic lines from Alice Through the Look Glass;

Alice laughed. ‘There’s no use trying,’ she said: ‘one can’t believe impossible things.’

‘I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

Here are those same lines from Clive Harcourt Carruthers’ 1966 translation, Aliciae Per Speculum Transitus.

Alicia ridens dixit: ‘id conari non usui est. eis rebus quae fieri non possint nullo modo credi potest.’

‘hoc fortasse te non multum exercuisti,’ regina inquit. ‘cum tot annos haberem quot tu nunc habes, cotidie semihoram me exercebam. aliquando etiam non minus sex rebus impossibilibus ante ientaculum credidi.’

That, without a doubt, I will soon do. First, however, I want to speak briefly about the breakfast of Miranda and Claudia.

quo modo (dicitur) (.com) /  by Anthony Gibbins

quo modo or quomodo is often translated as how, and that is a fair and reasonable translation. Still, it is nice to have a deeper understanding of the word(s). quo is a form of the Interrogative Pronoun and so on its own means what? modus means measure, size, way or method, among other things. Here we will take it as method. Now, you may remember recently reading a post on the Ablative of Manner. quo modo is an example of such a thing. So, taken together, the words mean by what method? Hence, how?

A very common expression in the Latin classroom is quomodo dicitur…? As in quomodo dicitur ‘cat’? Literally, By what method is ‘cat’ said? The answer to which would be ‘cat’ ‘feles’ dicitur.

There is an excellent Podcast called Quomodo Dicitur? that I cannot recommend highly enough. Here is the description lifted straight from their website quomododicitur.com;

Quomodo Dicitur? is a weekly Latin podcast about anything. In each episode Augustus, Iustus, and Iason chat about a particular topic, from life in the desert, to our favorite sports, to the kinds of hijinks we get up to on the weekends. Our goal is to provide meaningful, contextualized Latin input. It might get messy. Sometimes we’ll make mistakes. But we do hope it will be fun.

Hello reader. Recently I promised that I would narrate to you how that suitcase full of money was placed in the dumpster.

the end of episode 5 /  by Anthony Gibbins

Thank you for reading (and hopefully enjoying) another episode of Legonium. This has been an exciting month for me. I have been working very closely with the Nicholson museum at Sydney University, the fruits of which will be evident on February 1st, when episode 7 is released upon the world. Episode 6, meanwhile, is ready to go, and has a different feel – I think – to what has come before. Not to mention a tribute to Banksy! And the plot of episode 8 is currently spinning around in my head. If all goes to plan, it will introduce a new character – Monas Brickvir, investigator privatus. On another note, Legonium reached 1000 followers on Twitter this week, and I’ve had some lovely feedback from teachers using Legonium in their classrooms. I am looking forward to seeing where life will take Claudia, Marcellus, Miranda and the gang in 2017.

Whose is this money? And how was it placed in the dumpster? If you return soon, I will tell you everything.

faciat vs faciet /  by Anthony Gibbins

The Latin Verb facio, facere, feci, factum means to make or do. As you can probably imagine, it is one of the most commonly used Verbs in Latin. The Verb appears twice on this page.

faciat is in the Subjunctive Mood. The Subjunctive Mood has all kinds of uses, one of which is called the Deliberative Subjunctive*. It is used, as its name suggests, to deliberate. For example, quid facio? – in the Indicative Mood – means What am I doing? quid faciam? – in the Subjunctive Mood – means What should I do? quid faciat noster Marcellus? means What should our Marcellus do?

*That, of course, is the name given to it by grammarians. The average Roman didn’t think ‘Hey, I’m using a Deliberative Subjunctive!’ any more than you or I do when speaking our own native tongue.

faciet is in the Indicative Mood – the Mood of straight up fact. It is also in the Future Tense. So, quid faciet noster Marcellus? means What will our Marcellus do?

I have recently read some predictions written by students after reading this episode of Legonium. They were fantastic! If you should have the time, I’d love you to leave a comment on the blog page. What do YOU think Marcellus SHOULD do? What do YOU think he WILL do?

Look! The suitcase which Marcellus found (amazing to say) is full of…money! What should our Marcellus do? What will Marcellus do?

Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis /  by Anthony Gibbins

curiosus. A short slice from Peter Needham’s AWESOME Latin translation of J. K. Rowling’s [I don’t have an Adjective that would do that work justice] Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

in facie sua Harrius id solum amabat: cicatricem tenuissimam in fronte exceptam cuius figura erat fulguri similis. cicatricem tam diu habuerat quam meminisse poterat et meminerat primam quaestionem a se Materterae Petuniae propositam fuisse quomodo eam excepisset.

‘in ea collisione autocinetorum qua interfecti sunt parentes tui.’ quod locuta addiderat ‘noli curiosus esse.’

noli curiosus esse – ea erat prima lex si quis volebat tranquillam vitam apud Dursleos agere.

And the original:

The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.

"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said. "And don't ask questions."

Don't ask questions - that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.

Don’t ask question is translated as Don’t be inquisitive. I like that.

Marcellus thinks that it is strange that he found a suitcase in the dumpster. Inquisitive, he decides to open it.

the force /  by Anthony Gibbins

vis is a fascinating word. It has no less than twenty entries in the Oxford Latin Dictionary, and here we will list them all. But first a heads up; a number of these involve violence including sexual violence. Many of them, however, do not.

1. physical strength exerted on an object, force, violence 2. force used to obtain sexual gratification 3. unlawful force or violence 4. violence in politics, public life, or similar 5. violence directed against enemy troops, military force 6. forceful or vigorous action or movement 7. energy or forcefulness of character or behavior, determination etc.; also forcefulness of demeanor 8. a large body or number (of persons, animals etc., often implying potential violence) 9. (of natural forces) violence, overwhelming rush, pressure etc.; a violent discharge, a stream, shower or similar 10. intense or overwhelming nature or effect (of a sensation or emotion); (also, of a passionate person) 11. (of a person, office, etc.) ability to control affairs, political weight, power, influence, or similar 12. influence (of a deity or similar) over events, power, sway 13. (of laws, decisions, etc.) binding force, authority 14. the power or capacity to do something, an ability, faculty, etc. 15. (of things, esp. remedies) power to produce some physical effect, potency, virtue 16. a primary element or force, principle (in an organism) 17. that which makes a thing what it is, its essence 18. the meaning, significance (of words, expressions or similar) 19. value, amount 20. physical powers, strength or vigour of body.

The meaning in this sentence is probably closest to the first. If you remember the recent post on Ablatives of Manner, you may recognise one here; magna vi with great force.

For those who are celebrating, Merry Christmas! And for those who are not, have a really awesome day!

Then he feels something with his hands similar to sack. With great force he drags it out of the dumpster. It is not, however, the sack but a suitcase.

 

 

 

the Legonium making-of special /  by Anthony Gibbins

One of my favorite things about the Star Wars movies as a kid (I grew up with A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) were the making-of specials that they would run on TV. These were the days when it took, literally, YEARS for most movies to be shown on television! A making-of special was the next best things. They would show the models of the Star Destroyers, the green screening of Cloud city, and the actors inside all those Ewok suits. I loved them.

So, this is my own making-of special. See the picture of Marcellus up to his hips in the dumpster? He isn’t really in there. He didn’t fit. So I took his legs off and attached them to a 1x2 Lego Brick. I know, mind blown! I expect I’ll be getting my call from Lucasfilm any day now.

Marcellus climbs into the dumpster. He is able to see nothing in the darkness. Therefore he touches everything with his hands, trying to find the sack.