I spent Talk Like a Pirate Day traveling by air, and with security these days I really didn't want to be mistaken for a pirate.

Just found out about another Latin broadcast forthcoming from Germany, by KISS FM. You can read more (in English) at Yahoo. I do wonder if that rap mentioned is new, or one we've heard before. I also hope their transmission has better Latinitas than their advert. "A mani"???

ADDENDVM: Turns out a mani does occur in Plautus etc. I stand corrected! Still, wouldn't want my students saying that.

Ista, a German hip-hop group that performs in Latin. At long last!

I'm excited, but I confess that Wibaius Keniensis talks the talk more convincingly. Wish he'd write more.

(Ht. Pistorius)

Boris Johnson, mayor of London, delivers a speech in Latin

HT rogueclassicism.

It's been ten days since Gary Gygax left the Prime Material Plane; the shiv‘ah, so to speak, is well over, and it's time to move on. But the week has produced many fascinating tributes, and I wanted a chance to blog them. So many of the tributes were about how Gygax subtly but overwhelmingly affected the author's life. It's true that when one thinks about it, Mr. Gygax's influences, while almost invisible, are just about ubiquitous. In last week's entry (q.v.) I wrote in response to Internal Monologue's comment about Gygax's constant use of latin abbreviations, e.g. "i.e., q.v.," etc.) "...it might even be fair to blame my obsession with Latin on Gygax's use of these abbreviations." Given how my "obsession with Latin" dominates my character (to say nothing of my life), I think this off-handed comment deserves some amplification.

When I first started upgrading to AD&D in fourth grade or so, the Latin abbreviations (starting, I think, with q.v., because the Fiend Folio and then the Monster Manual were my first books) really lept out at me. Even the glossary in the back of the Dungeon Master's Guide didn't satisfy my curiosity: I knew there had to be more abbreviations I was missing, and I wanted to know them all, and what each stood for. So naturally I asked my dad. My father is a lawyer, and has a certain fondness for sesquipedalian verbiage (a clichéd phrase, yes, but how can I avoid it?), so he was the most qualified person in my world. He was certainly happy to help. He opened up his legal pad and started writing down "i.e., id est, that is" and so on. Then having filled about half a legal page, he tore it out and gave it to me. I hung this page on my bedroom door, and, as the years went by, slowly made additions until I had filled the page. Granted, I hadn't yet actually started learning Latin (that began in seventh grade), so there are some horrendous mistakes (e.g. I conflated quod vide with quo vadis, inexplicably coming up with the mysterious and nonsensical quod vote.) That yellow and yellowed legal page sits on my old bedroom door in my parents' house to this very day.

So it is indeed possible that without Gygax I would never have become a Mad Latinist. But I suppose that's something of an ambiguous complement ;)

( Without further ado, here are some of the more notable tributes... )

It should come as no surprise, though, that what I'm most eager to mention is my own (all too predictable) tribute: [[la:Ernestus Geisericus Gygax]]. It has been pointed out that there might be better Latin names to equate with Gary, but I'm hoping the wikipedian community will allow me to keep Geisericus, just because it's so absurdly Dark-Age sounding. Those of you who can handle Latin, please check the article for anything that needs emendation or amendment. Heck, if you appreciate the subject matter but not the language, I will be happy to take your suggestions either here or on the disputatio page.

ADDENDVM: if you know Latin, you should also check beluosus' clever tribute.

Harvard has a tradition that the salutory address at graduation should be in Latin. This year Charles Joseph McNamara gave an address about Star Wars. The video is available online in .rm format, and the actual address begins at about 1:09:45.

The translation does suffer somewhat from the Ciceronian-syndrome so common to such things. Namely, everything has to be perfectly classical even in contexts where it's unneccessary. E.g. he cannot say principissa "princess", because that's an entirely medieval term. Instead he says filia regis "daughter of the king." THat's more understandible than avoiding the Graecanic galaxias for the pure Latin Via Lactea. The problem with that one is that the ancients knew of only one galaxy. When the idea came about that there was more than one, the term "Milky Way" (which exactly translates Via Lactea) came to refer specifically to our galaxy, and the Greek synonym Galaxias became generic for any galaxy. So it sounds like he's saying "...in a Milky Way far far away" (or worse, when he says "intergalactic" the Latin is "of all the milky ways.") Well, there is a certain beauty to playing within the bounds of Cicero. Especially in a public oration.

Thanks to beckyzoole for calling attention to this.

ADDENDVM: cynics might suggest that I'm so critical because I'm jealous that My Star Wars translations remain obscure. I scoff at this accusation, ha!

Current writer of Wheelock’s Latin to add new chapter for use by MMPORG players

People complain that each edition of Wheelock is even worse than the last, but from what I've seen online this is really needed.

Via quislibet, who himself wrote an excellent Latin for Gamers (and whom I could never get to write the Latin Wikipedia article on vampires)

ADDENDVM: It is not terribly shocking to find that this is a hoax.

"Quite often someone might possess only a narrow technological competence in a language and would be at a loss if required to use it in other situations. Classicists are all too aware that fluency in the high literature of Republican and Imperial Rome would leave them ill-prepared for a conversation with any Romans of the period"

So, um, sorry about the short warning, but... the Latin journal thing is likely from today until July 1st. Then it will definitely happen again from July 14-23.

So um... be ready or something.

This post is older than the hills. I wrote it before I got into Wikipedia (and thus found an outlet for this kind of thing). I wrote it before the birth of Harpo (my main inspiration was both spoothbrush and tanagers both mentioning that they were considering getting chinchillas). But I never posted it. One of the main reasons I didn't was that I didn't want to go to the trouble to edit and convert it to html. Well I actually did the vast majority of that work in January of 2004, then neglected to post it again.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. What is this oh so important post that's been waiting so long to see the light of day? It's a list of names for small mammals in Latin (whether ancient or not). Certainly that is something that could be of at least small interest to many of my readers. But the main reason I'm posting it now is that it might be of use to my friend David Morgan, who is working on a Latin dictionary. Honestly there isn't much in here he won't already know, but I think there are one or two bits that could be of use to him.

Also, excuse the rather unusual formating and classification system I used for the Latin. I would probably do it differently now, but I decided to keep to the original. In fact I've done hardly any editing to this at all (I don't really have time these days), so excuse any roughness or ugliness.

( Without further ado... )

Non quidem me dolet.
Pati vi'n quae patior?
Vi'n scire me non dolere?
Scire quid cum Deo pangam ego?
Tu...
Ego tecum....

Si modo possem
Deo persuaderer
partes ut mutaremus,
callem ascenderem
collem percurerem,
et aedificium.

( Si modo possem.... )

Felicem festum aut Nativitatis aut Encaeniorum. Aliis iubeo Bonam Quanzam futuram, vel Saturnalia praeterita, vel quaslibet ferias!

Stoa.org is now offering a Latin podcast. The RSS feed is at http://www.stoa.org/colloquia/podcasts/channel-01.xml , and stoa_podcast.

There are a few Latin webcomics too.

To be honest, none of these have fantastic Latinitas, but generally the authors at least welcome corrections

• Adventures of Cicero & Virgil


• Ozy & Millie in Latin (translated by Dominica from the conventiculum)


• Sluggy Freelance in Latin (seems to be experiencing some technical difficulties)

There used to be a (rather poor) Latin translation of "Sev Trek" as well, but that was years ago, and I can't find it now.

A small but vocal minority of my readers complains when I go to a conventiculum and start posting in Latin. More than once they have made the point that it is unfair to post in a language for which there are no automated translators.

Of course there ARE automated translators, but they... how shall I put this... suck. snickle once tried translating one of my entries using quicklatin. The results were... well let's just say they were "a small wooden stake for supporting vines." A recent post on latin has alerted me to the existence of Intertran. Unfortunately it sucks just slightly less (Note, for a better example, see below).

So, I guess you'll just have to live with me posting in a language you can't read. This isn't the end of the world. I have many good friends whose journals sometimes baffle me. icecat sometimes posts about hockey plays, yakko posts about computers and other technology from a very technical standpoint, rhi_silverflame posts gushing entries in fandom of shows I've never even heard of. I bet every one of my readers can think of examples from their own friends lists. No one can keep all of their readers entertained at all times, nor should it be the purpose of a journal, even a public one, to do so. Furthermore, I usually seem to gain readers during conventicula, rather than lose them, so really there are people to whom this is of interest.

And honestly, Latin is so omnipresent in our language(s) that I bet you can get something out of my posts if you don't let your eyes glaze over.

Just for fun, here's a side-by-snideside comparison of Quicklatin and Intertran:

Original Latin Tandem Lexintoniam adveni. Iter durus ac longus erat, et mea et caeli culpa. Solus sodalis meus erat Harrius Potter. Nunc apud Accium diversor. Sed hora est... (quid dicam?) ridicula et nobis ambobus dormiendum est- nolo enim hospitio eius abuti!

QuickLatin At last I have come toed Lexintonia. The journey hard and long was, and my and the heavens the fault/blame/responsibility. The my only companion was Harrius Potter. Now at Accius the diversor. But the hour is... ( which/who I shall say?) The small wooden stake for supporting vines and to us both he/she/it has been requiring to be slept- I am unwilling for to the hospitality to waste of it!

Intertran At length Lexintoniam to come. Road hard and long was , and my and skies fault. Alone fellowship my was Harrius Potter. Now according to It happens different. But hour is. ( what dicam? ) ridiculous and us both dormiendum is - nolle in fact hospitality her to use abusive language!

Actual Translation I have finally arrived in Lexington. It was a long, hard journey, which was both my fault and the weather's. My one companion was Harry Potter. Now I am staying at Aki's. But the hour is... (what can I say?) ridiculous, and we both should sleep- afterall, I don't want to abuse his hospitality!

Mayoral candidate challenges incumbent in Latin.

I was dreaming about the Freud family this morning. You KNOW your subconscious is trying to tell you something when Freud shows up.