Week 2 Latin

What we’ve learned so far:

• Latin nouns have number, gender, and case
• They are also grouped into ‘declensions’ based on how they
‘decline’
• We will go over the meanings of the cases again today.
• We have started learning the First Declension. We will practice
more of that this week and we will start the Second Declension.
Vocabulary:
vir, viri (m) – man
femina, feminae (f) – woman
puer, pueri (m) – boy
puella, puellae (f) – girl
familia, familiae (f) – family
mater, matris (f) – mother
pater, patris (m) – father
filius, filii (m) – son
filia, filiae (f) - daughter
Vocabulary:
liberi, liberorum (m pl) – children
servus, servi (m) – slave
dominus, domini (m) – master, lord
ancilla, ancillae (f) – maid-servant
domina, dominae (f) – mistress
quot – how many

unus, una, unum – one

duo, duae, duo - two
tres, tres, tria – three
centum – one hundred
multus, multa, multum – many
paucus, pauca, paucum – few
 An aside on Roman names
Roman men generally had two or three names:
• Praenomen (first name) – only about 17 options! E.g. Appius,
Marcus, Publius, Quintus, Titus… Often abbreviated M. for
Marcus, etc.
• Nomen gentile (Family name) – Julius, Cornelius, Claudius, etc.
• Cognomen (branch of family) – Brutus, Caesar, Cicero, etc.
• Cognomen was originally a nickname and then came to be
applied to that branch of the family (Cicero means
‘chickpea’, Brutus means ‘stupid’, etc)
• Agnomen – a fourth name some generals got to mark an
achievement – e.g. Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonius –
called Macedonius in honour of his victories in Macedon
• This Roman stamp is inscribed with L*HER*FLO. It stands for
Lucius Herennius Florus. Roman stamp found in the baths of Villa
of Publius Fannius Synistor
Roman names
• Roman daughters were generally only known by the feminine form of
their nomen gentile (family name): Julia, Cornelia, Claudia, etc.
• But if you have two daughters you need to be able to distinguish them,
so they get called older and younger: Cornelia Maior and Cornelia
Minor.
• If you have more than two daughters, then they get numbered: Cornelia
Prima (Cornelia 1), Cornelia Secunda (Cornelia 2), Cornelia Tertia
(Cornelia 3), etc.
• When a woman married, she kept her name and sometimes also added
her husband’s name in the genitive (i.e. possessive): Cornelia Metelli
(i.e. Cornelia, Metellus’s wife)
Translate these phrases and answer any
questions
1. Quis est Marcus?
2. Cuius filia est Iulia?
3. Aemilia est mater.
4. Estne femina Iulia?
5. Quis est Quintus?
6. In familia sunt ancillae.
7. Quae est Aemilia?
8. Quis est Iulius?
9. Estne Delia filia Aemiliae?
 Grammar lesson
Cases:
• Nominative:
• Subject of the sentence: Dominus circumspectat (The Lord looks
around)
• Predicate (with the verb to be): Dominus est deus (The Lord is God)
• We have seen lots of these so far. e.g. Corsica insula est (Corsica is
an island), Corsica et Sardinia insulae sunt (Corsica and Sardinia
are islands)
• Accusative:
• Direct object of the sentence: poeta fabulas narrat (the poet tells
stories)
• Accusative with prepositions – we will learn more about this today
• Indirect speech: Accusative + infinitive construction
• Genitive:
• Possession: regia reginae magna est (the palace of the queen is big)
• Partitive genitive (genitive of the whole): pars cibi (part of the food)
• Certain adjectives can take a genitive: dignus, digna, dignum + gen =
worthy of; plenus, plena, plenum + gen = full of. E.g. oppidum plenum
vivorum est (the town is full of men)
• Dative
• Indirect object: librum tibi do (I give the book to you)
• Dative of possession: nomen mihi Julia est (my name is Julia.
Literally, the name to me is Julia)
• Dative is used with some adjectives (e.g. carus + dat = dear to)
• Dative is used with some verbs.
• Ablative
• Ablative of means: oculis videre (to see with the eyes)
• Ablative with prepositions – we will learn about this today
• Vocative
• Vocative is used to address someone: Ave Maria (Hail Mary)
First Declension
Singular Plural
Nominative puella puellae
Accusative puellam puellas
Genitive puellae puellarum
Dative puellae puellis
Ablative puellā puellis

Most First Declension nouns are feminine. There are a few that are masculine,
but they still behave in the same way.
e.g. Agricola, agricolae (m) - farmer
poeta, poetae (m) – poet
Practicing the first declension
Without translating, can you tell me what role puella plays in these
sentences?
• Julia puella est
• vita puellae parva est
• Marcus puellam videt
• Julius cibum puellae dat
Second Declension Other second declension nouns
ending in –ir or –er follow this
pattern with a different
Second Declension nouns are usually masculine or neuter. nominative case. E.g. puer, pueri
Nouns ending -us, -ir, -er are masculine. Nouns ending in -um are neuter. (m): boy
Masculine Nouns ending in -us servus, servi (m): slave, servant
Singular Plural
Nominative servus servi
Accusative servum servos
Genitive servi servorum
Dative servo servis
Ablative servo servis

NB. Second declension masculine nouns are the only ones that form a different vocative, and only in the
singular. Nouns ending in –us take an –e form: Dominus becomes Domine. Nouns ending in –ius take an –i
form: Julius becomes Juli.
Second Declension
Neuter Nouns verbum, verbi (n): word

Singular Plural
Nominative verbum verba
Accusative verbum verba
Genitive verbi verborum
Dative verbo verbis
Ablative verbo verbis
Practicing the Second Declension
• We have already met some second declension words in our
reading:
• Marcus non vir, sed puer est. (vir, viri (m): man; puer, pueri (m): boy).
• Estne Medus filius Julii? (filius, filii (m): son)
• Medus servus Julii est. (servus, servi (m): slave)
• The names in these sentences are also second declension nouns:
Marcus, Julius, Medus.
Prepositions
• A preposition is a (small) word that governs a noun in a clause.
• Examples of English prepositions:
• In: I am in the house
• Under: The car is driving under the bridge
• Around: I am walking around the supermarket

• Latin prepositions govern a noun in a particular case, usually

accusative or ablative
Latin Prepositions: Adventures with a lion
Towards the lion With the lion (cum +
(ad/versus + accusative) ablative)

Before/in front of the lion

(ante or apud +
accusative, pro or coram On top of the lion (super
+ ablative) + accusative)

Against the lion

(adversus or contra +
accusative) Above the lion (supra +
accusative)
Around the lion (circa +
accusative)
Further adventures with a lion
On the lion Into the lion
(in or super + (in + accusative)
ablative)
Inside the lion
Down from the lion (intra + accusative)
(de + ablative)

Out of the lion

(ex or e + ablative)
Under the lion
(sub + ablative or
infra + accusative) Away from the lion
(a or ab + ablative)
Practicing the first and second declensions
and prepositions
• Aqua est in terra
• Ecclesia est in terra
• Discipuli Christi sunt in Judaea
• Maria est ancilla Domini
• De terra non sunt angeli
• puella ante ecclesiam est
• Ancilla pro servo est
Parsing
Identify:
1. Part of speech (i.e. a verb, a noun, an adjective, etc).
2. If it’s a noun, give its number, gender and case.
3. If it’s an adjective, give its number, gender and case and the
noun it agrees with.
4. If it’s a preposition, identify the noun it governs and its case.
[Once we have learned more about verbs we’ll discuss the parsing rules for verbs].

Example:
Discipuli Christi sunt in Judaea
Reading
• Ave Maris Stella
• Liturgical hymn dating from at least the 9th century,
possibly earlier. Authorship is disputed. It is often
attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux but it was
certainly written before he was born in 1090. Paul
the Deacon and Ambrosius Autpertus (both 8th cent)
are both considered possible authors.
• We’re going to read the first two stanzas.

Ave maris stella, from Copenhagen MS Thott. 547 4°

[Link]
Ave maris stella mare, maris (n) – sea
stella, stellae (f) – star
almus, alma, almum – nourishing, blessed
Ave maris stella, semper – always, ever
felix – fruitful, happy
Dei Mater alma, caelum, caeli (n) – sky, heaven
atque semper Virgo, porta, portae (f) - gate

felix caeli porta. sumens – receiving

illud – that
Gabriel, Gabrielis (m) - Gabriel
Sumens illud Ave os, oris (n) – the mouth (ore is ablative)
funda – establish (imperative verb)
Gabrielis ore, nos – us
pax, pacis (f) – peace (pace is ablative)
funda nos in pace, mutans – changing
Heva, Hevae (f) – Eve
mutans Hevae nomen. nomen, nominis (n) – name
Doxology
spiritus, spiritus (m) – spirit (spiritui is dative)
Gloria Patri, et Filio, sanctus, sancta, sanctum – holy
sicut – just as, as
et Spiritui Sancto. nunc – now
semper – always
Sicut erat in principio, saeculum, saeculi (n) – generation, age, period
et nunc, et semper,
et in saecula saeculorum