Salvete Omnes,
I’m about to wrap up my first year of Latin, and I was wondering what sort of literature you would recommend for someone that understands the basics of Latin (e.g. the six tenses, five declensions, 1st/2nd/3rd adj., personal pronouns, demonstrative adj., etc…). Also, I have a question about the noun Gades, Gadium- f. pl. Gades, Cadiz (a town in Spain) I don’t understand how you can have a plural of a town?
Thanks in advance,
Decius
Try “Athenae, Athenarum, f. pl. Athens”.
Plural in Latin; plural in English; plural in Greek???
There are a number of nouns, both in Latin and in English, which have plural forms but singular meanings.
Latin: castra (2nd N PL) military camp (albeit withseveral turrets
English: pants, jeans - one article of clothing (albeit with two legs)
Sometimes strange things happen in languages. So be it. That’s what makes learning languages fun.
Magistra
The first thing I read when I first started Latin was Caesar. I didn’t particularly like it then, but when I read him now, I really get a kick out of him. He’s probably the easiest author to read, mostly because what we call “standard” Latin grammar and sentence structure - all those things you just spent the first year learning - were more or less invented by Caesar. The role he played in standardizing Latin is significant. Plus, there are some cool stories in his war journals - ethnographical descriptions of the tribes he’d observed like the Druids, character portraits of diabolical French generals - it’s good stuff.
If you want to read poetry, maybe start with Catullus? There are some nice short pieces that give you a good sense of completion to finish, and he is wickedly funny at times. Plus, if you have any interest at all in Latin meter, you’ll find that Catullus is absolutely the master. He takes really hard meters that were tailored for the Greek language, and puts them so naturally into Latin that you’d never guess he was trying. His grammar is usually pretty straightforward, and his vocabulary is not nearly as hard as some of the other poets (although prepare to spend plenty of time with a dictionary for the first few years no matter which author you read).
There are plenty of other fascinating authors as well, but those are some good ones to start with.