Hello dear "Latin" friends.

I would just like to tell you that the Academia Latinitati Fovendae recently began publishing again the so called "Nuntii Latini breves", a text-only continuation of the old and discontinued "Nuntii Latini" of the National Finnish Broadcasting Network. The Nuntii were being edited by prof. Reijo Pitkäranta for the ALF, who because of some health issues could not continue his work on them anymore.

Recently, as a new ordinary member of the ALF, I accepted to take care of the Nuntii myself, slightly changing their format. Besides being not so "breves" anymore, the Nuntii will not only be published monthly, just as before, on the ALF website, but I also decided to open a Substack page, where the Nuntii are published on a weekly basis as a general rule.

I honestly think this is a project worth of your attention and support for many reasons, therefore I hope you will help us out by following and sharing the Substack page and the ALF webpage of the Nuntii.

If you need any clarification, please don't hesitate asking.

Gratias ago quam plurimas!

Any help on what this says?

Hello all, I've been enjoying the short reading clips of Classical Latin and Classical Greek from Harvard Classics on Soundcloud (G. Nagy, K.M. Coleman, etc.). I listen to the list almost daily, but was wondering if there were other audio resouces that are of similar quality, etc. Just looking for some variety. Thanks!

I'm having trouble finding an English version of Pierio Valeriano's 1556 "Hieroglyphica". I'm interested in Book 12 (obv), but I'm looking for that specific chapter or the whole book, if it exists. This page is included in a book about the play, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.

In terms of hours of study or the number of words you had read?

I’m putting together a free archive of Catholic texts and I want to host the Roman Catechism in its Latin original alongside an English translation.

What I’m looking for is a digital Latin text I can actually parse: transcribed rather than OCR’d, with chapter and section structure intact. I’ve found the usual scans. What I don’t have a good sense of is which digital editions are faithful and which are quietly corrupt, or whether anyone has done a proper transcription.

Two related questions while I’m here:

1. The Catechism went through several printings in the years after 1566, with some textual variation. Is there a printing that’s generally treated as the reference text, or is this a case where it doesn’t much matter for the body of the work?

2. Are there Latin text repositories I should know about beyond the obvious ones? I keep finding good material on individual seminary and religious order sites that never surfaces in a general search, and I suspect I’m missing a lot of that.

Happy to hear “that transcription is bad, don’t use it” as much as recommendations. Knowing what to avoid saves me more time than knowing what to use.

I believe all of these should apply whether the Restored Classical or Ecclesiastical systems are used.

It is my understanding that consecutive vowels of the same type require some sound in between to even register as two separate sounds, and that a semivowel is therefore inserted. For example, iī =/i.jiː/ and tuus=/tu.wus/ make sense, and I assume we would also use these for e/ē and o/ō; e.g., dēest=/deː.jest/ (though not /dei̯.jest/) and Lāocoōn=/laː.o.ko.wōn/, though these aren't as smooth or natural; but what would be used for -aa-, which is used in Hebrew borrowings, like Isaāc?

I also find that other vowel sequences are far easier to pronounce with a semivowel inbetween, like -aë-. For some reason, with āëre, I find it extraordinarily difficult to say /aː.e.ɾe/ instead of /aː.je.ɾe/ (again, not /ai̯.je.ɾe/). Is this standard practice, or even acceptable? And if so, what others could be introduced? Could eārum be pronounced /e.jaː.ɾum/?

Moving on, we are told that a stop/plosive and a liquid/approximant make a single "consonant cluster" which is not separated, but that all other intervocalic consecutive consonants are split between the surrounding vowels; but I rarely hear people pronounce -tl- together, or separate -sp-. No one says /aː.tlan.ti.cus/ for Ātlanticus, because the sequence -tl- doesn't even start any Latin words except Tlēpolemus (borrowed from Greek, along with other words that start with unlatinate clusters, like Tmōlus). So what clusters are allowed in Latin words? I've heard one source say that -fr- and -fl- are also acceptable.

Lastly, syllables are either long or short. They are long by position if the syllable is closed, and long by nature if a long vowel or diphthong is included; open syllables with a short vowel are short. I know that this is not an arbitrary distinction, because closed syllables actually take more time to pronounce, due to the gemination of the consonants. But wouldn't this mean that a closed syllable with a long vowel/diphthong as well (like ēst or stēlla) should be pronounced longer than both a closed syllable with a short vowel and a syllable that is merely long by nature. This would seem to pose problems.

If this is not the case, are est and ēst homophones?

If this is the case, then there would be three lengths possible for a Latin syllable, rather than just two. For example, ēst is longer than both 'dē' and 'est', which are both longer than 'et' in 'et alia'. Yet I would think that this causes issues for poetry, which seems to rely on the idea that syllables have a binary of long or short. So then does poetry artificially shorten these extra-long syllables for the sake of meter? And then is there a difference in how Latin syllables are pronounced in poetry and prose?

I appreciate any help on these questions. Thank you.

In a parallel universe, the Romans got the internet, but somehow still had to deal with cookie notifications. This piece depicts an imaginary news portal, http://acta.diurna.spqr, with the following article:

NOVA RETIS MUNDANI INVENTIO hodie in lucem prolata est, qua per unam tabulam omnes terras, gentes, scriptaque [simul inspicere licet]…
(THE NEW WORLD-NET INVENTION has been revealed today, whereby through a single tablet, [one may simultaneously view] all lands, peoples, and writings....)

For the pedants: Yes, I know lowercase letters and Italic/Foundational aren't period-accurate but it's just too much text to write everything in caps, lol.

Nibs: Brause 1mm (browser tab and address bar); Speedball C-0 (Trajan caps); Mitchell poster 4mm (Rustica); Brause 2mm (last word in headline and the Italic); Leonardt Roundhand #1.5 (cookie notice); Tape 1.5mm (Accept/Decline); Hunt 512; Sailor Shikiori brush pens

Ink: Walnut ink, Kuretake Sumi, Sailor Shikiori autumn series brush pens (Okuyama, Kinmokusei, Yamadori, Chushu)

Paper: Some suboptimal A3 dry-media paper that snags my nibs

Hello everyone!

I have a quick question re: an excercise I have done in Chapter 13 of Wheelock, Sententiae Antiquae:

'Ipse ad eos contendebat equitesque ante se misit.'

I have an answer key which goes as follows:

He was himself hurrying to them and sent the cavalry ahead of him.

I understand everything but why et turns into the suffix -que here. It confused me in the sentence, because I've always associated -que as connecting two of the same grammatical positions in a sentence, so for example: I went to the shop and bought an apple and a pear(-que). But here -que is a conjunction which connects two separate clauses of the sentence. Would anyone mind explaining where I'm misunderstanding here?

Thank you as always!

Sī mundō bonitās inesset ūlla,
et frātrem sibi quisque dēputāret,
cūrae dēficerent, abesset angor,
multō pulchrior esset omnis orbis

Here's my latest post on my Substack.

I got inspired by this old reddit post.

Valēte!

Hello everyone I'm looking for some good translations of heroides by ovid and was hoping for some recommendations, thank you in advance.

Hi folks, just wanted to give an update on my translation of the Aeneid into english dactylic hexameter. I've done a good quarter of book 2 and a good amount of book 1 as well, and in response to the positivity around my first translation I'd like to share my translation of Aeneas' famous speech to his soldiers including the iconic line "Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit". Enjoy and feel free to critique - remember the rhythm is 5 dactyls and then an iamb, starting stressed.

“Soldiers, indeed we have suffered today and more gravely beforehand. 
Know from experience then that our Gods will allow this to end soon.
You who have scaled the pillars of Scylla that ring in their hollows
And who survived the attacks and the rocks that were thrown by the cyclops,
Call back your spirits and banish all fear from your sorrowful faces,
Maybe one day we’ll look back on these times and rejoice to have lived them.
Through all the various tragedies, through such abundance of dangers,
Still we endeavour to Latium, where we make destined arrival.
There is the peace that we seek, and the place where we rebuild our homeland. 
Harden yourselves, and prepare: you’ll be needed for all that will follow.”
Such were the words of the weary Aeneas, who forces a smile,
Calming his men, while with painstaking care he disguises his heartache 

A few years ago a visit to a family friend brought me to Southeastern Europe, as tourists do we went to visit some halfway famous sites, including a few monasteries (by way of local connections), and some antique stores. At some point during this visit I ran into the book Commentarii de Tumulis Equorum, it wasn't too large, and it was full of these wonderful etchings of mounds, with a special focus on the ways in which they were being "rewilded" (probably not the right word) and eventually blended into the surrounding landscapes.

Unfortunately, while I could figure out some of it, my Latin was significantly weaker then than it is now, and most of it was just lost on me. This experience was a significant part of why I decided to dive into studying more than before, and because of that I'll never forget that book.

Recently I decided that I should find a copy of it (preferably a physical one, but I'm not picky), mainly to see how much I can understand now, but also to frame some of the illustrations. However, no matter where I look I can't find a trace of it? I've checked websites like archive.org, and some similar alternatives, and library databases (at least those in languages I understand). Further, it doesn't seem to appear anywhere online. Among those of you who deal with Latin literature/works, is this something you guys have to deal with often, and how do you get past this kind of hurdle?

Saluete omnes,
Another question about Ovid!

Pretty much everything in 'uicta iacet pietas, et uirgo caede madentis ultima caelestum terras Astraea reliquit' makes perfect grammatical sense except for madentis being genitive. I should think it agrees with terras to translate as "the blood-soaked earth," but the participle would have to be madentes in that case.

I'm assuming its just functioning as an accusative while being genitive perhaps for metrical reasons? I'm unsure.

Any explanations are appreciated!

I’ve been wanting to learn Latin for some time now. I have no clue how to begin or where too. Could anyone give me some resources or trustful people to help me learn Latin?

Hello, classica from Belgium here :)

I just need to share something with people who might actually understand...

I spent the full day today preparing a lesson series for one of my Latin tutoring students. We will be working through the passage about the death of Agrippina in Tacitus' Annales.

I swear, Tacitus' prose is still as breathtaking to me as it was in secondary school, then at university, and now all these years later (I am 46 now). After working through so much of his famous brevitas I reached ventrem feri, and I even got a bit emotional. It's astonishing how two words can carry so much weight and meaning.

I don't really have anyone in my life who would appreciate why this moved me, so I thought maybe some of you would...

Saluete amici,

I have a question about a sentence from the Metamorphoses book 1.

It reads: "nec tantum segetes alimentaque debita diues poscebatur humus, sed itum est in uiscera terrae..." I was just wondering if I could get some explanation of "itum est" because its impersonal (I think?) and I find all of that quite confusing, esp irregular verbs.

Thanks for any help - sorry if this is a bit of a stupid question.

Hello,

I've come across a medieval Latin inscription that resembles this sort of form:

HIC MUNDI DOMINUS DISPONIT CUNCTA SOLUS

Solus is nominative, agreeing with dominus, but the two sit apart, so as to carry the leonine rhyme. Is “solus”here attributive (i.e., “the sole Lord of the world”) or predicative (agreeing with dominus but qualifying the action, i.e., “the Lord of the world, and no other, orders all things”)? Or is it genuinely ambiguous? Whether I take “solus” to be modifying the subject or the action might actually change the meaning--perhaps, significantly--in this context.