Introduction
Welcome to Latin Via Ovid
Introduction
Your second assignment for this
section is to read the Introduction, pp. xv-xxvi, and then answer
the questions at the end of this page. Following are some personal
comments on the parts of the Introduction.
"The
Indo-European Family of Languages" - pp. xv-xviii
Look, please, at the first chart
on page xvi after reading page xv. Words in different Indo-European
languages that have direct or indirect connections are called "cognates."
Sometimes the vowels will be different, such as the Latin mater
and the Greek meter. Sometimes the consonants will differ,
such as the Sanskrit matar and the Anglo-Saxon moder.
Sometimes both will happen when the original Anglo-Saxon moder
changed from the German mutter, and we eventually got the English
mother. Then to make the whole thing even more complicated
the Latin mater became madre in Spanish, mere
in French, and either madre or matrona in Italian.
In the second chart on page xvi
you can see how other Latin words changed in the Romance Languages
which developed from classical Latin. I will be asking you to figure
out various English cognates for the Latin vocabulary words in each
chapter. Some will be obvious such as "sorority" from L. soror. Some
will not be so obvious such as "accept" from L. accipio. Read on about
how English was enriched by Latinate words on pages xvii and xviii.
"The Latin Alphabet"
- pp. xix-xxi. Our
alphabet and the Latin alphabet are basically the same. Page xix explains
very well how the alphabets developed. Be sure to look carefully at
the chart on page xx. Since I will not be dealing with a Greek font
in the class, we will use the full names to indicate Greek letters,
such as alpha or omega. Look at the four Greek letters at the bottom
of the chart. They represent combinations of sounds in English and
Latin. Theta is a voiced "th" sound in English and is rarely
used in Latin. You will see the others in Greek words used in Latin
such as philosophia, Chiron and Psyche. "Guide
to Pronunciation" - pp. xxi-xxiv Here
is the most difficult part of teaching an Internet Latin 
course.
You, as the student, can not hear the teacher pronounce Latin words.
Even though Latin is mainly taught as a reading and writing language,
it helps immensely to hear spoken Latin. Much grammar, especially
in verbs, depends upon the difference between "long" and
"short" vowels. In the first 20 chapters of Latin Via
Ovid, long marks, called "macrons" (see page xiii),
are marked. We will discuss these as they come up in the Structure
sections of each chapter, but please heed this gentle warning: pay
close attention to all long marks, especially ones on the ends of
words.
The main difference between long
and short vowels was originally just length. Long vowels were held
longer than short. The "a" in "father" in the list on page xxi is
simply held twice as long as the "a" in "cart." The letter "e," however,
changes sound between short and long. The short "e" is like the "schwa"
in English, while the long "e" is pronounced like a long "a" in English,
as in "they." Se in Latin is pronounced like "say" in English.
The short "i" is the same as in
English, but the long "i" in Latin is pronounced like a long "e" in
English. Insula in Latin sounds like "eensula" in English.
The Latin "o," however, is like the "a." It is the same sound, short
or long; just make the long "o" sound longer. Do the same for the
short and long "u." Luna is similar to "loona."
Latin and English also have diphthongs,
two vowels that are sounded as one. The most common is "ae"
which is pronounced like a long "i" in English. Terrae is like
"terreye." Hopefully the other diphthongs are fairly obvious in the
list on page xxi.
Now for consonants.
"C"
and "g" are always hard. "C" is like card or accurate in English,
never like "cipher". "G" is like the first "g" in garage, never the
second. I will let you in on a little secret here, though. I have
never heard anyone, including college professors, pronounce Cicero
or Caesar with a hard "c." They are always "Sisero" and "Seeser,"
not "Kikiro" or "Kaiser." Go figure.
I am not going over all of the
consonants since most are just like English, and the book is good
in its examples. However, three others need extra attention.
The letter "i" in between two
vowels or in front of another vowel is a consonant. Iuppiter is
"Yoopiter. Iam, a common word, is "yahm" with a short "a" in
English. Don't pronounce it like "jam." Huius is like "hooyoos."
The letter "r" should be rolled.
I frankly can not do this very well. Hopefully you students will have
fun rolling your "r"s really well in Latin sentences like
charta terrae parva est (the map of the land is small).
The Latin letter "v" is usually
like the English "w." It is aspirated a little, meaning there is continuous
breathing afterwards, sort of like "wh" in the English "what." Parva
is like "parwha," and voco like "whoco." In some Latin books
the letter "v" is also used for the vowel "u" because the Romans wrote
them that way. Inscribed on a wall would be parvvs, and it
will be up to you to notice this and figure it out.
I am not going to comment much
on "Syllables and Accent" (pp. xxii-xxiv), other than to say read
the parts carefully, and remember two things: Latin words are never
accented or emphasized on the last syllable; and we will talk
about both of these more when we get into poetry later.
"Publius Ovidius Naso,"otherwise
known as Ovid - pp. xxiv-xxvi. Ovid
is our poet, our source for the stories in the text, and a major influence
in the art, music, literature and culture in Western civilization.
His stories, esp. from the Metamorphoses, have been a part of education
in Europe and America for almost 2000 years. He is the main reason
I, as your Internet teacher, have chosen this text, rather than the
many others available. You will learn a great deal more about Ovid
and his influence on us during this course.
intro-03