Latin for people = Latina pro populo

217 Pages·1976·42.197 MB·English

by  Humez, Alexander, Humez, Nicholas D

LATINA
PRO
POPULO
ALEXAND RI HUMEZ
PARVULA FUSCAQUE SOCIETAS
I I I
BOSTONIA NOVUM EBORACUM TORONTO \...ONDINIUM
,
LATIN
FOR
PEOPLE
NICHOLAS HUMEZ
LITILE, BROWN AND COMPANY
I I I
BOSTON NEW YORK TORONTO LONDON
COPYRIGHT C 1976 BY PAUL ALEXANDER HUMU
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS BOOK MAY BE REPRODUCED
IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY ELECTRONIC OR MECHANICAL MEANS IN
CLUDING INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS WITHOUT
PERMISSION IN WRITING FROM THE PUBLISHER, EXCEPT BY A REVIEWER
WHO MAY QUOTE BRIEF PASSAGES IN A REVIEW.
The illustration on paae88 is reproduced by
permission of the Harvard College Library.
Library fIleo. ..... CataJoalallD Publlcadoa Data
Humez, Alexander.
Latin for people - Latina pro populo.
I. Latin language-Grammar-19SO-
I. Humez, Nicholas,joint author. II. Title.
III. Title: Latina pro populo.
PAl087.H82 478'.2'421 76-2436
ISBN 0-316-38149-7
18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
Published simultaneously in Canada
by Uttle, Brown Ii Company (Canada) Umited
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
MV-NY
For Hilda Allen,
DULCE LUMEN LUXQUE FACTI

co
TS
Preface: Comfortable Words (and Others) ix
Chapter I: Sling and Stone: The Latin Language So Far 3
Chapter II: Nouns to Nouns 20
Chapter III: Evens and Ends 30
Chapter IV: A Couple of Numbers. A Number of Nouns 38
Chapter V: Questions and Answers: The Logic of the
Talking Bear 50
Chapter VI: Pronouns: Yours. Mine, and Ours 60
Chapter VII: Mood Music 69
Chapter VIII: The Future 79
Chapter IX: Demonstrative Pronouns: This, That, and
the Others 88
Chapter X: Leading Questions, Complex Sentences or,
Before the Law 96
Chapter XI: Mutatfs Mutandfs or, The Expanding
Woodwork 106
Chapter XII: Passives and Passive-Aggressives 114
Chapter XIII· The Long and the Short of It 121
The Trots 131
Ex Post Facto or, What to Do Until Volume II Arrives
in the Mail 143
Synopsis of the Grammar 146
Glossary: Latin-English 164
English-Latin 182
Acknowledgments 205
Index 207
PREFACE
Comfortable Words
(and Others)
There is really no fast and easy way to learn a language: the feast is
simply too vast and too varied to be completely digested in anything
less than a full lifetime, even by the most efficient metabolism. On
the other hand, it isn't always necessary to make away with the
whole spread to feel some measure of pleasant satisfaction. Besides,
there is always more.
This book is intended as a course in Latin for the nibbler and
the glutton alike: it may be read in considerably less than a lifetime
ix
and with infinitely less effort, and from it you may gain a good feel
for the Latin language in the variety of its natural settings, past and
present.
A few words about the preparation of Latin for People. In it we
have sought to present the fundamentals of Classical Latin grammar
together with some idea of the ways in which the language could
actually be used as a tool for shaping reality. What else, after all, is a
language for? Each of the following chapters therefore tells you
something about the nuts and bolts of Latin grammar, how they
may be put together and taken apart again, and to what ends. Exer
cises in both Latin and English are included for readers who may
wish to put anything into practice, that being the only sure way of
definitively getting the best of a language. The exercises of each
chapter are preceded by a list of the vocabulary in order of appear
ance. At the end of the book appear the trots (as basic a part of the
history of Latin as the first declension or Caesar's Gallic'Wars), a
general Glossary and Synopsis of the Grammar, and a few sugges
tions as to where to go for seconds.