in more saxi-astri celebra

Latin for realz

For once, my Latin homework does not concern piratae, lupi, porci, filiae agricolae, nautae, etc.

Yesterday I took my “last Latin midterm on grammar evar,” the class having finished our McKeown textbook, in which pastoral vocabulary is abundant.

Today we started learning about dactylic (from the Greek “δάκτυλος,” meaning “finger,” in reference to the bone structure- one long phalanx and two short phalanges) hexameter and scansion, looking at Ovid’s Deucalion et Pyrrha.

My teacher’s mnemonic for the scansion of the last two feet of a verse is “strawberry jam pot.” (__ - - / __ x) (“long short short / long stop”)

I’m loving figura etymologica.

This is exciting!!

But now I have to go do my Greek homework, which is just daunting. I spent some time with my καλὸς διδάσκαλος this afternoon and (besides sharing him the “Latin is a spouse/Greek is a sexy pool boy” quote) told him that I shant be continuing Greek next semester, due to schedule restraints and the general poor relationship I have with that language. I shall go on and gain more proficiency in Latin.

There are 17 days of class left, then finals week. This is unsettling for several reasons— academic, and personal.

Latin exam tomorrow

“After si, nisi, num, and ne, all the ali-’s drop away!”

Mnemonic device concerning the omission of “ali-” from the indefinite pronoun/pronomial adjective “aliquis/aliqui” when following the “si, nisi, num, ne” in conditional sentences.

Spring 2010 Semester

Registered for next semester’s classes last evening, in between studying for the Greek midterm (which was this morning, heu misera sum. I think I did alright, though. I’ll find out tomorrow morning.) My schedule is as follows:

Latin 204, Intro to Latin Lit. MTWR 9:55-10:45

History 307, History of Rome. Lecture TR 11:00-12:15, Discussion M 2:25-3:15

History 600 Seminar, “Inscribing the New World.” W 1:20-3:20

Geography 344, The American West. TR 2:30-3:45

PE Activity, Ice Skating I. TR 8:50-9:40

I decided to throw ice skating in there because hey, it fit in the schedule and it’ll be fun, and I only know how to skate forward.

I am looking forward to all these classes. And holler at Fridays off!