Sic transit gloria mundi - Latin

[heir-to-the-wind]

I still study Latin, including palaeography and epigraphy, because of my interest in classical archaeology and numismatics.

Latin is valuable for understanding English prescriptive grammar as well as vocabulary.

But I lack academic discipline to earn a college degree in classical languages. I can only read footnoted Latin texts. My undergraduate major was English composition. Latin is minimally useful for law.

 

[Latimer]

I have the Loeb editions of Virgil, Ovid, Augustine and Vitruvius. Latin on the left, English on the right. One of the pleasures in reading them is that they give me the illusion that I understand more Latin than I actually do.

 

[heir-to-the-wind]

I have the Loeb editions of Virgil, Ovid, Augustine and Vitruvius. Latin on the left, English on the right. One of the pleasures in reading them is that they give me the illusion that I understand more Latin than I actually do.

The Loeb books are wonderful, but the temptation to read the English translation on the opposite page is too great.

 

[Alnitak]

I have the Loeb editions of Virgil, Ovid, Augustine and Vitruvius. Latin on the left, English on the right. One of the pleasures in reading them is that they give me the illusion that I understand more Latin than I actually do.

You probably know more than you think.

 

[Zeno Lorea]

I'm all for using Latin expressions to enrich our language, but I hate it when it goes wrong. My pet peeve is the common phrase 'ad nauseam' which Americans invariably misspell and give the same last two letters as 'museum'.

 

[Latimer]

Although not truly easy, Vitruvius comes more easily to me than other Latin writers. As I am an architect, I'm already familiar with much of the content--you might say I know where he's going when I read the passages.

It's never occurred to me previously, but I doubt that Palladio--a stone mason and a stone mason's son--knew Latin. His understanding of Vitruvius must have come from his humanist patron Gian Giorgio Trissino, who would have translated De Architectura for him. I imagine that Trissino's translation accompanied Palladio on his monumentally important trip to Rome.

About this time last year I was in Paris and had the great fortune to see the first edition (Venice, 1511) of Fra Giocondo's edition of De Architectura which is in the Mazarin Library at the Institut de France; a few days previously I had chanced upon Vincenzo Catena's portrait of Trissino in the Grande Gallerie of the Louvre. Both were extraordinarily moving experiences for me.

 

[mikey3000]

I would note that latin is foundational to understanding and practising law.

Actually it isn't. Law dictionaries are very useful for understanding the Latin terms, but speaking Latin doesn't impress many in a courtroom anymore, or on a gay porn message forum.

 

[Willie Boy]

Many moon ago I was once told I spoke fluent Latin with an Indian accent. The Gypsy woman then went on to read my palm. Then she attempted to foresee my future. She would not tell me exactly what she saw, only that she could not speak of it. I wasn't sure if she was afraid or awestruck, maybe a little of both.