Comparative Teaching of Old Greek and Latin/Lesson 01 Part 3

Comparative Teaching of Old Greek and Latin Lesson 01 Part 3

Translated from the Greek Wikipedia|Wikiversity: "Συγκριτική διδασκαλία των κλασικών γλωσσών / (Comparative Teaching of the Classical Languages)"


LESSON 01 PART 3. Spirits, accents, sounds and letters.


1.3.1. Analyse and translate the dialogues:


Α. Old Greek


Teacher: Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ διδάσκαλος.

Student: Ἐγώ μαθητής εἰμι.

Teacher: Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ παιδοτρίβης (gymnastics teacher).

Student: Σὺ εἶ διδάσκαλος καὶ οὗτός ἐστι παιδοτρίβης.

Teacher: Ὑμεῖς μαθηταί ἐστε.

Student: Ἡμεῖς μαθηταί ἐσμεν.

Teacher: Χαίρετε, ὦ μαθηταί!

Student: Χαῖρε, ὦ διδάσκαλε!

Teacher: Οὗτος πάπυρός (notebook) ἐστιν.

Student: Παπύρους πολλοὺς ἔχομεν.

Teacher: Αὕτη βύβλος (book) ἐστίν.

Student: Βύβλους ἔτι οὐκ ἔχομεν.

Teacher: Ἔρρωσθε (hello, health!), ὦ μαθηταί!

Student: Ἔρρωσο, ὦ παιδοτρῖβα!

Teacher: Αὕτη σφαῖρά (ball) ἐστι.

Student: Ὁρῶμεν τὴν σφαῖραν, ὦ παιδοτρῖβα.

Teacher: Ἴθι εἰς πίνακα (Go to the blackboard)!

Student: Εἶμι εἰς πίνακα (I' m going to the blackboard).

Teacher: Ἀρχώμεθα τῆς διδασκαλίας (Let's begin the teaching)!

Student: Δι’ ὀλίγου (In a few minutes) σχολή (interval) ἔσται, ὦ διδάσκαλε.

Teacher: Οὔ μοι δοκεῖ χρῆναι (I do not think that you must not) ἡμᾶς θορυβεῖν τούτου ἕνεκα.

Student: Παῖδες γάρ ἐσμεν, ὦ διδάσκαλε.

Teacher: Εἶεν, ἴτε! Ὑγιαίνετε!

Student: Καὶ σύ γε!


Β. Latin:


Praeceptor: Ego sum praece’ptor (I'm the teacher).

Discipulus: Disci’pulus sum ego (I'm the student).

Praeceptor: Tu es magi’ster? (Are you the teacher?)

Discipulus: Non, ille est do’minus (No, that is the teacher).

Praeceptor: Vos disc’ipuli estis? (Are you students?).

Discipulus: Ita, nos disci’puli sumus. (Yes, we are students).

Praeceptor: Salve’te! (Hello, good morning!).

Discipulus: Salve tu quoque! (Good morning!).

Praeceptor: Hic est libe’llus (This is a notebook).

Discipulus: Libe’llus est ille (That is a notebook).

Praeceptor: Haec est creta (This is a chalk).

Discipulus: Ille est li’ber (That is a book.

Praeceptor: Lege, scribe, disci’pula (Read, write, school girl)!

Discipulα: Lego, scribo, do’mine (I'm reading, I'm writing, master).

Praeceptor: Ego sum do’minus. Quis sum ego? (I'm the master. Who am I?)

Discipulus: Do’minus es tu.

Praeceptor: Haec est ta’bula. Quid est hoc? (This is a blackboard. What is this?)

Discipulus: Ta’bula est illa (That is a blackboard).

Praeceptor: Bene, i in sedi’le tuum (Well! Go to your bench)!

Discipulus: Gra’tias ago tibi (I thank you)!

Praeceptor: Lege lectio’nem, puer (Read the lesson, my child)!

Discipulus: Non tempus est (Ther's no time), magister, hinc seceda’mus (let's go out fron here)!

Praeceptor: Tintina’bulum expecta’te (Wait for the bell)!

Discipuli: Tintina’bulum, tintina’bulum, magister!

Praeceptor: Ite (Go), pu’eri (children)! Vale’te (Good bye)!

Discipuli: Vale tu quoque (Good bye,as well, master!


1.3.2. Justify the spirits and the accents in the words of the following sentences:


1. Ῥώμη (force, here City Rome) μετὰ φρονήσεως ὠφέλησεν, ἄνευ δὲ ταύτης ἔβλαψεν.

2. Ἀλλ’ ἄγετε πειθώμεθα πάντες!

3. Τούτῳ ὄνομα ἦν Πλάτων.

4. Κῦρος ἐθήρευεν ἀπὸ ἵππου, ὁπότε γυμνάσαι βούλοιτο ἑαυτόν τε καὶ τοὺς ἵππους.

5. Ἠναγκάσθη Ξενοφῶν ἀναστῆναι (to get up) καὶ εἰπεῖν τάδε.


1.3.3. Justify the accentuation in the words of the Latin sentences:


1. Disco’rdia (discord, dispute) semper nocet (it harms) po’pulis (the populations).

2. Sae’pe (often) magi’stri (teachers) pu’eros (children) pigros (idle) casti’gant (they punish).

3. Pa’ter (the father) do’num (present) fi’lio (to son) dat (gives).

4. Ami’ci (the friends) ami’cos (the friends) a’mant (they love).

5. Grae’ci et Roma’ni anti’qui (old) po’puli sunt (they are).


1.3.4. Justify the spirits and the accents in the words of the following expressions:


1. Τί γάρ; οὐ μεθ’ ὑμῶν διαλέγεσθαι δύναμαι;

2. Σίγα, ὦ παῖ, καί μοι τὸν ἄρτον κόμιζε!

3. Σύγγνωθι, ὦ Σώκρατες! Ἀμέλει! (Excuse me, Socrates! Do not care of!)

4. Ἄγε δή, ἴωμεν! (Let’s go!).

5. Ὄμνυμι, τοίνυν, νὴ τὸν Δία! (by God!).

6. Ἀγαθὸς ἦν τὴν φυήν (φυή = body or spirit formation).

7. Δεῦρο παῖδες, οὐκέτι σχολή! (no interval!)

8. Ἴσθι ἀνόητος ὤν! (Know that you are a fool!)


9. Cur ergo librum non ca’pitis? (Why then don't you take the book?)

10. Bene! Ea’mus i’gitur! (Well, let’s go!)

11. Quam iucu’nda vita est! (How pleasant a life is !)

12. Pa’ule, ami’ce mi! (Paul, my friend!)

13. Mecum veni! (Come with me!)

14. Mirum librum emi, a’spice eum! (I bought a marvellous book, look at it!)

15. Magni’ne emi’sti? (Did you buy it expensively?)

16. Non ita (Not of course).


1.3.5. Justify the spirits and the accents in the words of the following expressions:


1. Οὐδὲν καινὸν ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον (There is nothing new under the sun).

2. Λυδία λίθος (A stone with which we try something, usually the gold).

3. Πρῶτος ἐν ἴσοις (First between equals).

4. Ἐνώπιος ἐνωπίῳ (Person to person).

5. Αἰδὼς Ἀργεῖοι! (Shame anymore!)

6. Ἀθήνησι Πανεπιστήμιον (University of Athens).

7. Γαίαν ἔχοι ἐλαφράν! (May be light the earth that covers him!)

8. Γαία πυρὶ μειχθήτω! (Let all world be destroyed!)

9. Σιγὴ ἰχθύος (Avoiding the speech, silence)

10. Σκιᾶς ὄναρ ἄνθρωπος (Man is insignificant, impotent).


(The accents in the Latin words will enter in the first thirty five courses to facilitate students.)


1. Ab ovo (From the egg, that is to say from the beginning).

2. Ab urbe co’ndita (From the foundation of Rome).

3. Capta’tio benevole’ntiae (The attracting the favour of the audience).

4. De facto (In the practice).

5. Homo ho’mini lupus (Man is wolf to the man).

6. Hono’ris causa (Because of honor).


(We have no problem with the accentuation of the monosyllabic and dissyllabic words. The problem is focused on words of three or more than three syllables: co'ndita, ho'mini, capta'tio, benevole'ntiae: They are stressed on the antepenultimate because the penultimate is short. hono'ris: It is stressed on the penultimate because it is long.)


1.3.6. Write the following expressions with the right accents and spirits and justify the changes:


1. Αβρόχοις ποσί (With dry legs).

2. Γνωστός και μη εξαιρετέος (Person that should not be excluded).

3. Εν τη ῥύμῃ του λόγου (In the flow of the conversation).

4. Μάννα εξ ουρανου (Unexpectable help).

5. Φαλακρω κτένας δανείζεις (You lent a comb in bald headed person. You try in vain).

6. Λαμβάνει σάρκα και οστα (It becomes real).

7. Δωρον αδωρον (Unuseful, unnecessary).

8. Εάλω η Πόλις (Istambul was conquered).

9. Προς επίρρωσιν (For aid, for strengthening).

10. Συλλήβδην (All together).


1.3.7. Justify the accentuation in the words of the Latin expressions:


1. Te’rminus ante quem (Chronological limit before which something became).

2. Terra inco’gnita (Unknown ground, earth).

3. Philoso’phiae doctor (Doctor of philosophy).

4. Perso’na non grata (Person undesirable).

5. O’mnia vincit amor (Love overcomes all).

6. Lice’ntia poe’tica (Poetic freedom in writing).

7. In memo’riam (To memory).

8. Homo sa’piens (Wise person).

9. Filio’que (And from the son ).

10. Ex consuetu’dine (From habit).


1.4. Information about the Classic Culture.


1. "γυναιξὶ κόσμον ἡ σιγὴ φέρει": (Silence brings ornament to women):

The general faith about the value of the reasonable silence was declared by the saying " κρεῖττον τὸ σιγᾶν τοῦ λαλεῖν " i.e. it is better keep silence than speak. This Sophocles’ opinion shows, beyond the big importance of the reasonable silence, from some aspect, and the situation of the woman in Ancient Athenian society of the Classic Period, which period, it will be supposed, was not very proud of the equality of women to men, even if existed examples as Lysistrate, Aspasia and other women of the Athenian society, that declared the opposite. While in the Minoic Society eg the woman enjoyed every freedom, as participation in public life, in athletic events and feasts, in Classic Athens she was usually excluded from the public life and was limited in women’s quarters, that is to say in the apartments of women, because of which it was also given the name “gynaeconites” to the place of the church, which women stayed in. The main room of the house, where ancient Athenians received the visitors, was named «andron» (men’s room), where, as it says and the name, it remained the man, who officially received the visitors.


2. “σκιᾶς ὄναρ ἄνθρωπος”: (Man is a dream of a shadow)

Contrary to Protagoras saying " πάντων χρημάτων μέτρον ἄνθρωπος " (man is the measure of all things) this saying of the great lyric poet of the 5th century B.C. Pindaros shows the aspects of the people of that period about the insignificance of the human beings compared to Gods. Pindaros says that all human things are inferior to divine and that the person must know it and not reach the “hybris” (arrogance), i.e. not proceed to energies that exceed the human limits and cause the disgrace of Gods, that always have as result the “nemesis”, the inevitable punishment, as it happened with Prometheus, Oedipus, Creon, Leto, Patroclus etc.


3. Graecia capta ferrum victo’rem cepit: (Greece was defeated with the force of arms by Romans but defeated them with its culture)

The great Roman poet Horace in a letter makes the ascertainment that Greece, even if it was conquered with the force of arms by Romans, substantially conquered them with its culture, that is to say the letters and the arts. Obviously Horace, as the other great Roman writers, recognized the enormous offer of Ancient Greeks in the growth of Latin Literature and Culture. Livius Andronicus in the beginning of the 3rd century B.C. translated for first time Homeric texts and the great poets as Virgil, Horace, Ovid or the dramatists as Plautus, Terence and Seneca, were brought up with the texts of the Ancient Greeks and imitated them.


4. ab urbe co’ndita: (from the foundation of Rome)

Ancient Greeks used the chronological system based on the Olympic Games, that is to say they began dating the historical events since 776 B.C. when the first Olympic Games had taken place. Romans dated the events beginning from the foundation of Rome, that is to say since 753 B.C. the year when, according to the tradition, Romulus and Remus founded Rome. The months of year, for Ancient Greeks, were the following: Hecatombaion (Εκατομβαιών) (15-7/15-8), Metageitnion (Μεταγειτνιών) (15-8/15-9), Boedromion (Βοηδρομιών) (15-9/15-10), Pyanepsion (Πυανεψιών) (15-10/15-11), Maimakterion (Μαιμακτηριών) (15-11/15-12), Poseideon (Ποσειδεών) (15-12/15-1), Gamelion (Γαμηλιών) (15-1/15-2), Anthesterion (Ανθεστηριών) (15-2/15-3), Elafebolion (Ελαφηβολιών) (15-3/15-4), Mounychion (Μουνυχιών) (15-4/15-5), Thargelion (Θαργηλιών) (15-5/15-6) and Skirophorion (Σκιροφοριών) (15-6/15-7). For Romans the months of year, beginning with March, were the following: Ma'rtius, Apri'lis, Ma'ius, Ju'nius, Quinti'lis (in the period of August it was renamed Julius), Sexti'lis (in the period of August was renamed Augu'stus), Septe'mber, Octo'ber, Nove'mber, Dece'mber, Janua'rius, Februa'rius.


To continue look at: Lesson 02 Part 1

To see the Introduction look at: Introduction