First composition in Latin

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Andrus
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First composition in Latin

Post by Andrus »

Hi all,

I have reached to a point in my Latin studies where just making the exercises and reading aren’t enough. I feel that to improve my Latin I need also to write. So here it is my first attempt. I feel like I’m back to first year of studies writing compositions about the day I had, or the beautiful park I went and so one. But as I don’t have great skills as a writer to try to imagine original stories this is what I have managed. So I’m sorry for the lack of substance in the text.

As I fear my Latin is, yet, very poor I did also write the English of what I wanted to say, so you can at least know what my Latin is trying to say.

Hodiē ante prīmam lūcem ego et uxorque mea excit?uimus. Vxor quae iter longum faciēt antequam s?lem ad caelum ascedere ex dom? discessit. Ego fīliam nostram excit?re opperīrī. Dēnique ubi ea excit?vit eam uestiuī et eae cibum par?uī. Stude? diēī ubi ea ipse cibum sē dare poterit. Tum fīliam ad lūdum carr? dūxī.

Today before dawn I and my wife waked up. My wife that will do a long travel (that had to make) leaved the house before the sun rise to the sky. I waited for our daughter to wake up. When she finally waked up I dressed her and prepared the food for her. I’m eager for the day when she can give herself the food (can eat by herself). Then I drove her to the school by car.

So how did I manage for the first Latin writing and where am I wrong?

Best regards,

Andrus

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Lucus Eques
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Post by Lucus Eques »

"ex domo" is just fine, if less common; it's more emphatic.
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Andrus
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FiliusLunae
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Post by FiliusLunae »

Muito bem escrito, amigo, Andrus! Eu também tenho escrito algumas coisinhas, além de estar a ler o nosso querido Harrius.
Se precisares de ajuda em português, ofereço-me para te ajudar. :P

~FILIUS

Feles in silva
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Post by Feles in silva »

FiliusLunae wrote:Muito bem escrito, amigo, Andrus! Eu também tenho escrito algumas coisinhas, além de estar a ler o nosso querido Harrius.
Se precisares de ajuda em português, ofereço-me para te ajudar. :P

~FILIUS
Andrus,

Concordo com o nosso colega Filius. Muito bem escrito. Infelizmente, eu ainda não cheguei ao teu nível. Um dia espero pode escrever algo mais interessante do que os problemas entre o gato e a raininha.

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Post by Andrus »

Viva FiliusLunae e Feles in Silva,

Obrigado pela oferta de ajuda. Penso que a irei usar quando estudar o Subj. Pois pelo pouco que já andei a espreitar na matéria mais à frente terei dificuldade de perceber como se passa do condicional em Português para frases em Latin e o facto de estar a estudar através do Inglês, que não tem a forma condicional, só me deverá dar mais dores de cabeça.

Se por acaso precisarem de alguém com quem discutir Latim partindo do Português não hesitem em me contactar.

Feles in Silva vendo pelo teu outro tópico diria que não estás muito atrás de mim. Eu arrisquei esta pequena composição pouco depois de ter concluído o estudo de todas as declinações e o modo indicativo dos verbos.

É sempre um prazer de tempos a tempos poder falar sobre o Latim usando o nosso querido Português.

Andrus

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Lucus Eques
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Post by Lucus Eques »

Yay for Portuguese. :-)

I have an extra moment now, Andrus, so I wanted to congratulate you on your desire and your affirmed capacity in writing Latin. I value self-expression in Latin very, very highly, and I encourage you to press forth with the effort. I hope you enjoy the experience greatly, atque spero me quam primum litteras nouas tuas lecturum.
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Andrus
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Post by Andrus »

Saluē Luce Equēs,

Verbīs tuīs gr?ti?s tibi ag?.
(Using the Ablative of cause but not sure if that is correct)

Andrus

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Lucus Eques
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Post by Lucus Eques »

Benignē! (which is the Milanese Latin Society's way of saying "you're welcome")

"propter" or "ob" are used frequently. "Gr?ti?s tibi ag? ob uerba tua," for instance.
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whiteoctave
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Post by whiteoctave »

this is all well and good. well done Andrus. your Latin is coming on well too, Lucus, although your use of atque before a consonant in a non-clausula position is bizarre to the say the least, and your positioning of the possessive pronoun with noun and adjective illuminating. i must also commend the Milanese Latin Society for their deft originality: benigne was of course the Latin idiom for saying 'no thank you'.
i have jotted down your dictum in my book of aurea dicta, however, about propter and ob being 'used frequently'. 'ob uerba', as it happens, will not be found in Latin composed before the Renascence (to adopt the more suitable spelling).


~D

nostos
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Post by nostos »

Latin is fluid. One is able to place one’s possessive pronoun (adjective) wherever one pleases: ‘litteras nouas tuas’ can be ‘writings of yours that are new’, ‘new writings of yours’, or ‘your new writings’; part of the beauty of Latin is that this same effect can be achieved without altering grammatical structure, only modifying word order according to emphasis. Basic Latin, whiteoctave; nothing requiring genius.

The use of ‘atque’ before a consonant ‘in a non-clausula position’ does indeed have this note in fine print in Gildersleeve and Lodge (revised Latin Grammar, 1895; §477 note 7): ‘atque is used before consonants, as well as ?c, to connect single notions: when sentences or clauses are to be connected, ?c only is allowable; either atque or ?c with expressions of Likeness.–STAMM.’ Supposing Stamm. to be ‘Stammbaum’, this rule seems to be created from inference from other languages, very suspect in itself; one should not assume immediately this snide remark is a grammatical rule rather than rarefied supposition when it is not included in most grammars. G&L make such a minimal distinction in note 7 referencing Stamm. as their only authority (the others at my disposal say both are acceptable). This comment seems to be more out of spite than out of desire to do good.

‘ob’ and ‘propter’ were (and are) in fact used nearly interchangeably by the Silver Age. G&L write (§416.16): ‘Of Cause, for; found in early Latin . . . in classical and post-classical Latin in increasing proportion . . . ob has almost completely supplanted propter in Tacitus’. That the particular construction ‘ob uerba’ ‘will not be found in Latin composed before the Renascence’ is clearly besides the point; both ‘ob’ and ‘propter’ were (and are) used frequently, which is all that Lucus said. Latin is a living tongue by virtue of several thousand people using it in the present, from which perspective it becomes impossible to see the reasons for this hair-splitting except for purposes of snobbery and superciliousness, both of which are not becoming of anyone. With living Latin, these distinctions cannot be taken any more seriously than stating the incorrectness of ‘honor’.

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