Intro | Chapter I | Chapter II | Chapter III | Chapter IV | Chapter V
Chapter VI | Chapter VII | Chapter VIII | Chapter IX | Chapter X| Magistra

Chapter VIII
Pan et Syringa

Introduction

Most cultures tried to explain natural events through stories. The rainbow in the Bible, for instance, came after Noah's Flood. Thunder to the Norse was Thor's hammer and to the Greeks the lightning bolts of Zeus. In this story, we will learn how a musical instrument was first invented.

The commentary on page 60 will help you a great deal to translate the story.

Learning Numbers

Here are more numbers in Latin. Please make vocabulary cards of these. XXI is viginti et unus, "twenty [and] one." 22 is viginti (et) duo, etc. 28 is "two from thirty," duodetriginta; 29 is undetriginta; etc. mille is 1,000; milia are thousands.

Story Reading and Pronunciation

Syringa is three syllables with a hard "g," Syr-in-ga. concilium has the hard "c" of Latin twice, like the Greek kappa, kon-kil-i-um. Also errat (line 7) is not erat, the imperfect of est. Roll your "rrs" more with erro, errare.

This story is a little simpler than the last. Read the story outloud as before, and try to figure out the meaning of the sentences as you say them.

Verba

More masculine and neuter second declension nouns. All second declension nouns have the same genitive singular ending, a long -i. The nominative tells you if the noun is masculine or neuter, -us for masculine and -um for neuter.

Note, please, that you have two Second Declension nouns in the Verba that end in -r, ager et vir. Their genitive forms, however, are different, ager, agri; vir, viri. Always put second declension endings on the genitive root after you have taken off the long -i, i.e. agr- and vir-, agrum and virum.

N.B. Yes, we have said the above before. repetitio est mater studiorum. There are some ideas in Latin that bear repeating because students I have had in the past have had great difficulties with them.

concilium, -i also means "plan" or "council" when dealing with people. It only means "union" with things.

unda, -ae usually means "wave," but in the story translate it as "stream." Waves "undulate" in the ocean.

Add coniungo, coniungere, coniunxi, coniunctum, "join," (3rd Conjugation verb in line 17) to your vocabulary cards.

aeternum is technically an adjective even though it is listed under Other Words.

[All stories should start with olim as far as the Magistra is concerned.]

Structure

N.B. There are two main ideas in these Structure Sections. You will learn a new tense, the Future; and Second Declension is expanded.

46.	Future tense in Latin in the First Second Declensions is much like the Imperfect. Look at the list (or paradigm) in this Section. Take the root, voc-, add the First or Second Conjugation vowel, -a-, add the syllable for future, -bi-, and add the subject ending, -t. Result: vocabit, "he will call."
47.	evidens
48.	evidens
49.	I commented on this type of 2nd declension noun in this Chapter's Verba. Look over the list in this section for all of the endings. One way to remember how the Latin words work is to remember the English derivatives that come from them. Ager, agri derives to "agriculture," vir, viri to "virile," puer, pueri to "puerile," liber, libri ("book" in Latin) to "library."
50.	With first and second declension adjectives that end in -er, apply the same rule we used in Section 49 above. Look at the genitive for your basic root. miser changes to miseri. pulcher changes to pulchri. Take off the long -i, and add all other endings to that root, miser- and pulchr-. Basic rule for all Latin nouns and adjectives: look at the genitive singular form for the root of the word.
51.	You should be able to write out from memory all three tenses of sum with no help at all. There is no way I can test you on this over the Internet,but I can not emphasize this too much. Memorize all forms of sum.
52.	This is not a big deal. If you wish, simplify this structure rule. Put Latin numbers in front of Latin nouns; put all other adjectives behind. Even there we will have a common exception. The Romans liked to say magna cum laude, or maxima cum celeritate, putting the adjective in front of the preposition in a prepositional phrase.

 

Intro | Chapter I | Chapter II | Chapter III | Chapter IV | Chapter V
Chapter VI | Chapter VII | Chapter VIII | Chapter IX | Chapter X | Magistra

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