Raphaela's Blog – December 2007 Archive (4)

There was an old vicar from Kew,

Who kept a small cat in a pew.

He taught it to speak

Alphabetical Greek,

But it never got further than µ.



Apparently Andrew's late feline was streets ahead of this one with regard to the pronunciation of classical languages.



(I wish I knew who authored this limerick so that I could provide proper attribution. I learned it from one of my Latin lecturers way back in my undergrad days, but nobody seemed to know who deserved credit… Continue

Merry Christmas, everyone.



Puer tympanista



Veni, dicunt, pa-rum-pum-pum-pum

Ad natum Dominum, pa-rum-pum-pum-pum

Portamus munera, pa-rum-pum-pum-pum

Quae sunt regalia, pa-rum-pum-pum-pum, rum-pum-pum-pum, rum-pum-pum-pum

Adoratum sic, pa-rum-pum-pum-pum

Dominum.



Infans Jesu, pa-rum-pum-pum-pum

Sum pauper sicut tu, pa-rum-pum-pum-pum

Afferre nequeo, pa-rum-pum-pum-pum

Quod dignum domino, pa-rum-pum-pum-pum,… Continue

A propos of Laura's most recent post in her Christmas songs series, there is also a rather lovely 19th century setting of this carol by Anselm Schubiger (1815-1888). A PDF of the music is downloadable via the ChoralWiki page. This setting uses only three verses of… Continue

In answer to Laura Gibbs' request for Latin manifestos:



Why I read Latin out loud

• Because hearing something, even when I'm doing the speaking myself, makes it much easier to internalise and learn than when I'm just seeing the printed words on the page.
• Because reading out loud is the only way I can think of to make sure I really know where the stress, at least, should go in any word in any given oblique case, never mind the vowel…

Continue