Latin for Beginners Part 1

Latin for Beginners.

by Benjamin Leonard D'Ooge.

PREFACE

To make the course preparatory to Caesar at the same time systematic, thorough, clear, and interesting is the purpose of this series of lessons.

The first pages are devoted to a brief discussion of the Latin language, its history, and its educational value. The body of the book, consisting of seventy-nine lessons, is divided into three parts.

Part I is devoted to p.r.o.nunciation, quant.i.ty, accent, and kindred introductory essentials.

Part II carries the work through the first sixty lessons, and is devoted to the study of forms and vocabulary, together with some elementary constructions, a knowledge of which is necessary for the translation of the exercises and reading matter. The first few lessons have been made unusually simple, to meet the wants of pupils not well grounded in English grammar.

Part III contains nineteen lessons, and is concerned primarily with the study of syntax and of subjunctive and irregular verb forms. The last three of these lessons const.i.tute a review of all the constructions presented in the book. There is abundant easy reading matter; and, in order to secure proper concentration of effort upon syntax and translation, no new vocabularies are introduced, but the vocabularies in Part II are reviewed.

It is hoped that the following features will commend themselves to teachers:

The forms are presented in their natural sequence, and are given, for the most part, in the body of the book as well as in a grammatical appendix. The work on the verb is intensive in character, work in other directions being reduced to a minimum while this is going on. The forms of the subjunctive are studied in correlation with the subjunctive constructions.

The vocabulary has been selected with the greatest care, using Lodge's "Dictionary of Secondary Latin" and Browne's "Latin Word List" as a basis. There are about six hundred words, exclusive of proper names, in the special vocabularies, and these are among the simplest and commonest words in the language. More than ninety-five per cent of those chosen are Caesarian, and of these more than ninety per cent are used in Caesar five or more times. The few words not Caesarian are of such frequent occurrence in Cicero, Vergil, and other authors as to justify their appearance here. But teachers desiring to confine word study to Caesar can easily do so, as the Caesarian words are printed in the vocabularies in distinctive type. Concrete nouns have been preferred to abstract, root words to compounds and derivatives, even when the latter were of more frequent occurrence in Caesar. To a.s.sist the memory, related English words are added in each special vocabulary. To insure more careful preparation, the special vocabularies have been removed from their respective lessons and placed by themselves. The general vocabulary contains about twelve hundred words, and of these above eighty-five per cent are found in Caesar.

The syntax has been limited to those essentials which recent investigations, such as those of Dr. Lee Byrne and his collaborators, have shown to belong properly to the work of the first year. The constructions are presented, as far as possible, from the standpoint of English, the English usage being given first and the Latin compared or contrasted with it. Special attention has been given to the constructions of participles, the gerund and gerundive, and the infinitive in indirect statements. Constructions having a logical connection are not separated but are treated together.

Exercises for translation occur throughout, those for translation into Latin being, as a rule, only half as long as those for translation into English. In Part III a few of the commoner idioms in Caesar are introduced and the sentences are drawn mainly from that author. From first to last a consistent effort is made to instill a proper regard for Latin word order, the first principles of which are laid down early in the course.

Selections for reading are unusually abundant and are introduced from the earliest possible moment. These increase in number and length as the book progresses, and, for the most part, are made an integral part of the lessons instead of being ma.s.sed at the end of the book. This arrangement insures a more constant and thorough drill in forms and vocabulary, promotes reading power, and affords a breathing spell between succeeding subjects. The material is drawn from historical and mythological sources, and the vocabulary employed includes but few words not already learned. The book closes with a continued story which recounts the chief incidents in the life of a Roman boy. The last chapters record his experiences in Caesar's army, and contain much information that will facilitate the interpretation of the Commentaries.

The early emphasis placed on word order and sentence structure, the simplicity of the syntax, and the familiarity of the vocabulary, make the reading selections especially useful for work in sight translation.

Reviews are called for at frequent intervals, and to facilitate this branch of the work an Appendix of Reviews has been prepared, covering both the vocabulary and the grammar.

The ill.u.s.trations are numerous, and will, it is hoped, do much to stimulate interest in the ancient world and to create true and lasting impressions of Roman life and times.

A consistent effort has been made to use simple language and clear explanation throughout.

As an aid to teachers using this book a "Teacher's Manual" has been prepared, which contains, in addition to general suggestions, notes on each lesson.

The author wishes to express his grat.i.tude to the numerous teachers who tested the advance pages in their cla.s.ses, and, as a result of their experience, have given much valuable aid by criticism and suggestion.

Particular acknowledgments are due to Miss A. Susan Jones of the Central High School, Grand Rapids, Michigan; to Miss Clara Allison of the High School at Hastings, Michigan; and to Miss Helen B. Muir and Mr. Orland O. Norris, teachers of Latin in this inst.i.tution.

BENJAMIN L. D'OOGE

MICHIGAN STATE NORMAL COLLEGE

LATIN FOR BEGINNERS

TO THE STUDENT--BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION

> If you will look at the map of Italy on the opposite page, you will find near the middle of the peninsula and facing the west coast a district called Latium,[1] and Rome its capital. The Latin language, meaning the language of Latium, was spoken by the ancient Romans and other inhabitants of Latium, and Latin was the name applied to it after the armies of Rome had carried the knowledge of her language far beyond its original boundaries. As the English of to-day is not quite the same as that spoken two or three hundred years ago, so Latin was not always the same at all times, but changed more or less in the course of centuries. The sort of Latin you are going to learn was in use about two thousand years ago. And that period has been selected because the language was then at its best and the greatest works of Roman literature were being produced. This period, because of its supreme excellence, is called the Golden Age of Roman letters.

[Footnote 1: p.r.o.nounce _La's.h.i.+-um_.]

> For some centuries after Rome was founded, the Romans were a feeble and insignificant people, their territory was limited to Latium, and their existence constantly threatened by warlike neighbors. But after the third century before Christ, Rome's power grew rapidly. She conquered all Italy, then reached out for the lands across the sea and beyond the Alps, and finally ruled over the whole ancient world. The empire thus established lasted for more than four hundred years. The importance of Latin increased with the growth of Roman power, and what had been a dialect spoken by a single tribe became the universal language. Gradually the language changed somewhat, developing differently in different countries. In Italy it has become Italian, in Spain Spanish, and in France French. All these nations, therefore, are speaking a modernized form of Latin.

> In their career of conquest the Romans came into conflict with the Greeks. The Greeks were inferior to the Romans in military power, but far superior to them in culture. They excelled in art, literature, music, science, and philosophy. Of all these pursuits the Romans were ignorant until contact with Greece revealed to them the value of education and filled them with the thirst for knowledge. And so it came about that while Rome conquered Greece by force of arms, Greece conquered Rome by force of her intellectual superiority and became her schoolmaster. It was soon the established custom for young Romans to go to Athens and to other centers of Greek learning to finish their training, and the knowledge of the Greek language among the educated cla.s.ses became universal. At the same time many cultured Greeks--poets, artists, orators, and philosophers--flocked to Rome, opened schools, and taught their arts. Indeed, the preeminence of Greek culture became so great that Rome almost lost her ambition to be original, and her writers vied with each other in their efforts to reproduce in Latin what was choicest in Greek literature. As a consequence of all this, the civilization and national life of Rome became largely Grecian, and to Greece she owed her literature and her art.

> After conquering the world, Rome impressed her language, laws, customs of living, and modes of thinking upon the subject nations, and they became Roman; and the world has remained largely Roman ever since. Latin continued to live, and the knowledge of Latin was the only light of learning that burned steadily through the dark ages that followed the downfall of the Roman Empire. Latin was the common language of scholars and remained so even down to the days of Shakespeare. Even yet it is more nearly than any other tongue the universal language of the learned. The life of to-day is much nearer the life of ancient Rome than the lapse of centuries would lead one to suppose. You and I are Romans still in many ways, and if Caesar and Cicero should appear among us, we should not find them, except for dress and language, much unlike men of to-day.

> Do you know that more than half of the words in the English dictionary are Latin, and that you are speaking more or less Latin every day? How has this come about? In the year 1066 William the Conqueror invaded England with an army of Normans. The Normans spoke French--which, you remember, is descended from Latin--and spread their language to a considerable extent over England, and so Norman-French played an important part in the formation of English and forms a large proportion of our vocabulary. Furthermore, great numbers of almost pure Latin words have been brought into English through the writings of scholars, and every new scientific discovery is marked by the addition of new terms of Latin derivation. Hence, while the simpler and commoner words of our mother tongue are Anglo-Saxon, and Anglo-Saxon forms the staple of our colloquial language, yet in the realms of literature, and especially in poetry, words of Latin derivation are very abundant. Also in the learned professions, as in law, medicine, and engineering, a knowledge of Latin is necessary for the successful interpretation of technical and scientific terms.

> The foregoing paragraphs make it clear why Latin forms so important a part of modern education. We have seen that our civilization rests upon that of Greece and Rome, and that we must look to the past if we would understand the present. It is obvious, too, that the knowledge of Latin not only leads to a more exact and effective use of our own language, but that it is of vital importance and of great practical value to any one preparing for a literary or professional career. To this it may be added that the study of Latin throws a flood of light upon the structure of language in general and lays an excellent foundation for all grammatical study. Finally, it has been abundantly proved that there is no more effective means of strengthening the mind than by the earnest pursuit of this branch of learning.

> Whence does Latin get its name? Where is Latium?

Where is Rome? Was Latin always the same? What sort of Latin are we to study? Describe the growth of Rome's power and the spread of Latin. What can you say of the origin of Italian, French, and Spanish? How did the ancient Greeks and Romans compare? How did Greece influence Rome? How did Rome influence the world? In what sense are we Romans still? What did Latin have to do with the formation of English? What proportion of English words are of Latin origin, and what kind of words are they? Why should we study Latin?

PART I

THE p.r.o.nUNCIATION OF LATIN

THE ALPHABET

<1.>> The Latin alphabet contains the same letters as the English except that it has no _w_ and no _j_.

<2.>> The vowels, as in English, are _a, e, i, o, u, y_. The other letters are consonants.

<3.>> _I_ is used both as a vowel and as a consonant. Before a vowel in the same syllable it has the value of a consonant and is called _I consonant_.

Thus in Iu-li-us the first _i_ is a consonant, the second a vowel.

SOUNDS OF THE LETTERS[1]

[Footnote 1: N.B. The sounds of the letters are best learned by hearing them correctly p.r.o.nounced. The matter in this section is, therefore, intended for reference rather than for a.s.signment as a lesson. As a first step it is suggested that the teacher p.r.o.nounce the examples in cla.s.s, the pupils following.]

<4.>> Latin was not p.r.o.nounced like English. The Romans at the beginning of the Christian era p.r.o.nounced their language substantially as described below.

<5.>> The vowels have the following sounds:

VOWELS[2] LATIN EXAMPLES

a as in _father_ hac, stas a like the first _a_ in _aha'_, never as in _hat_ a'-mat, ca-nas e as in _they_ te'-la, me'-ta e as in _met_ te'-net, mer'-ces i as in _machine_ ser'-ti, pra'-ti i as in _bit_ si'-tis, bi'-bi o as in _holy_ Ro'-ma, o'-ris o as in _wholly_, never as in _hot_ mo'-do, bo'-nos u as in _rude_, or as _oo_ in _boot_ u'-mor, tu'-ber u as in _full_, or as _oo_ in _foot_ ut, tu'-tus

NOTE. It is to be observed that there is a decided difference in sound, except in the case of _a_, between the long and the short vowels. It is not merely a matter of _quant.i.ty_ but also of _quality_.