Salvēte, sodāles.
In the previous lesson, we saw that nouns and names that end in -a (dea, amīca, Minerva, equa) are feminine, and nouns and names that end in -us (deus, amīcus, Mercurius, equus) are masculine. While this rule is not followed 100% of the time, it is followed in the opening chapters of Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata - so we will take it as a rule for now.
The Latin word familia describes something different to our modern concept of ‘family’. A better translation is ‘household’. The familia introduced in the textbook contains a wife and her husband, three children, and a terrifying one hundred (!) enslaved men and women. A few of these enslaved men and women are seen living in the house - most of them go unnamed and unseen.
Two enslaved women and two enslaved men from Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata. Figures by Playmobil.
Beneath Syra and Dēlia you see the word fēmina. A fēmina is a female human aged around 30-50. Ending in -a it is, of course, feminine.
Beneath Dāvus and Mēdus you see the word vir. A vir is a human male aged around 30-50. There are several nouns - like vir - that end in an -r instead of an -us. These are also masculine. We will meet another - puer - in our next lesson.
Here are some sentences for you to read (est, you may remember, means ‘is’) :
Syra est fēmina.
Dēlia fēmina est.
Dāvus est vir.
Mēdus vir est.
Lastly, try to internalise these two new words. Think of a fēmina or vir that you know, either personally or otherwise, and throw their name into a Latin sentence. I’ll go first. Natalie Haynes est fēmina. Tom Holland vir est.
Satis est (This is enough). I’ll see you back here soon for Lesson 4.