ventum secundum

Latin Learning Latin
1

Orberg in Ch XVI of LLPSI - Line 36 gives us:

Nautae nec mari turbido nec mari tranquillo navigare volunt; itaque in portu ventum secundum opperiuntur (id est ventus qui a tergo flat). Vento secundo naves e portu egrediuntur: vela vento implentur ac naves plenis velis per mare vehuntur.

but he explains too little of this for my understanding.

  1. secundus, -a, -um is an adjective meaning favourable, right? But it’s the same word as second (II). I went to the dictionary to find this out.

Is this where the phrase ‘second wind’ comes from - but which is widely understood to mean ‘second’ as in following on from a first burst of energy…?? That’s just a thought - or does it mean ‘second’ and ‘favourable’…?

  1. what does ‘Id est ventus qui a tergo flat’ mean?? Does this mean ‘later’ - but if it does then ‘later’ than what…?
2

  1. secundus means second, directly following and favourable. According to my dictionary, the meaning ‘favourable’ comes from the idea of water and wind following the boat: i.e. making it easy to sail.


    I’m not sure about the English expression of second wind. Perhaps it has nothing to do with the Latin expression, perhaps it has changed it meaning over time.

  2. Oerberg explains the meaning of ventus secundus with this sentence: id est (think of the abbreviation i.e.) that is a wind that blows from behind.

Hope this helps.

3

Ingrid70 - thanks a lot..actually I’d just figured out that by ‘a tergo flat’ he means blowing from behind. I like the way Orberg doesn’t over explain…leaving you to try to work it out or - hopefully not too often - throw yourself at the mercy of the learned people on this forum. Thanks.

4

What I had to realize is that the word for the ordinal of ‘two’ is ‘secundus’ because secundus means ’ following’ ( 2 follows after 1). So the ordinal is named after the word not the other way around.

Etymology of ‘secundus’
From Proto-Italic *sekʷontinos (literally “that follows”); equivalent to sequor (“to follow”) +‎ -undus.[1]

So as described in previous posts ventus secundus means following wind which all sailors know makes for easier and more efficient sailing - at least with pre-bernoulli principle boats and sails…