Whitaker’s Smart Little WORDS

I’m more fickle with my Latin reading resources than Catullus is with his lovers. I was reading Catullus 25 today (Catullus chastises Thallus for stealing napkins and pottery), when I came across the adjective ‘mollicellas.’ I performed a search in my standby resource–the Wiktionary–and got no results. Whitaker’s WORDS (the application for Mac OS X) also failed, but failed with this result:

I thought, “oh, that’s cute,” so I performed a few more compound searches, and realized this is a standard feature from Whitaker’s. This isn’t too useful while reading Catullus, but if I were reading Virgil, or whichever Latin writers compete with Aeschylus for the title of ‘Master of the Ἅπαξ Λεγόμενον,’ it may prove very useful.

Here’s the link to download. I’m still a die-hard for the Wiktionary, but I’m no longer monogamous.

http://archives.nd.edu/whitaker/words.htm

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Aeolic Verse : Advanced Variations

Below are variations on the Aeolic verse pattern, centralized in the glycolic verse discussed in the previous post. To review the glyconic, click here.

A Priapean verse is 1 glyconic and 1 Pherecratean together, with a diaeresis between them

xx –˘˘–˘– // ˚˚–˘˘– –

• the verse form is named for the Priapeia, a collection of 95 anonymous poems concerning the phallic god Priapus, some of which are written in the Priapean style

The Lesser Asclepiad is 1 glyconic with 1 extra nucleus interposed

xx –˘˘– –˘˘– ˘–

• there is usually a word-end after the first of the two nuclei
• the verse form is named for the Hellenistic poet Asclepiades

The Greater Asclepiad features 1 glyconic with 2 extra nuclei interposed

xx –˘˘– –˘˘– –˘˘–˘–

• there are usually word-ends at the first and second nuclei

The Alcaic Hendecasyllable  features 1 iambic metron with a shortened (‘headless’) glyconic

x–˘–  x –˘˘– ˘–

• The gylconic is shortened insofar as it is missing it’s first variable syllable
• The line is so-named because it contains eleven syllables (Greek ἕνδεκα)
• The line is name of the lyric poet Alcaeus

The Phalaecean Hendecasyllable is a glyconic followed by a 1 bacchiac foot

xx –˘˘– ˘–   ˘–x

• The verse is named for Phalaecus, an early epigrammatist
• Is it just mean, or are these verse forms starting to sound like breeds of dragon from Harry Potter?

Non-Glyconic Aeolic Styles

The following verse variations are not considered glyconic derivatives.

The Aristophanic features a nucleus and a 1 bacciac foot

–˘˘– ˘––

• Named, of course, for Aristophanes

The Adonic verse form is a nucleus with one long

• It is named for laments to Adonis, the ‘eastern’ god of beauty, desire, etc.
• It is the fourth line of the Sapphic stanza

The Sapphic Hendecasyllable contains 1 trochaic and an Aristophanic (nucleus with bacchiac foot)

–˘–x   –˘˘–   ˘––

The Greater Sapphic interposes an additional nucleus.

–˘–x   –˘˘–  –˘˘–  ˘––

• Both verses are featured in the Sapphic stanza, named for the poet Sappho

The Lesser Alcaic features a dactyl and an Aristophanic (nucleus with a bacciac foot)

–˘˘ –˘˘– ––

The Essential AG: 625

Famous Phrase:

cui dōnō lepidum novum libellum? [a Phalaecean hendecasyllable: xx ––˘˘– ˘–˘–x]

to whom do I dedicate this charming new booklet? -Catullus, Carmina 1.1

Review of First Conjugation (Even the Nasty Bits)

You need this. This is your intellectual chi. Failing that, it’s your intellectual tea. Take it daily, slowly–let it steep. Verb summaries don’t have to be boring, but they are important. Try rendering everything in full English translation. ‘I love him, You love cats, She loves the boy who left her.’ Make love triangles. Have fun.

Take five minutes. You won’t regret it.

(PS–I’ll bet there’s at least one mistake on here. find it)

First Conjugation ACTIVE (complete)

Primary Sequence

Present

amō, amās, amat, amāmus, amātis, amant

amem, amēs, amet, amēmus, amētis, ament

Imperfect

amābam, amābās, amābat, amābāmus, amābātis, amābant

amārem, amārēs, amāret, amārēmus, amarētis, amārent

Future

amābō, amābis, amābit, amābimus, amābitis, amābunt

[no subjunctive future primary]

Secondary Sequence

Perfect

amāvī, amāvistī, amāvit, amāvimus, amāvistis, amāvērunt

amāverim, amāveris, amāverit, amāverimus, amāveritis, amāverint

Pluperfect

amāveram, amāverās, amāverat, amāverāmus, amāverātis, amāverant

amāvissem, amāvissēs, amāvisset, amāvissēmus, amāvissētis, amāvissent

Future Perfect

amāverō, amāveris, amāverit, amāverimus, amāveritis, amāverint

[no subjunctive future secondary]

Et Cetera

Present Imperative

amā, amāte

Future Imperative

amātō (2nd or 3rd person singular), amātōte (2nd person plural), amantō (3rd person plural)

Infinitive (present, perfect, future)

amāre

amāvisse

amātūrus esse

Participles (present, future) 

amāns, amantis

amātūrus, -a, -um

Gerund

amandī, amandō, amandum, amandō

Supine

amātum, amātū

The Essential AG: 184 (p89-90)

Famous Phrase: “odī et amō quārē id faciam fortasse requiris / nesciō sed fierī sentiō et excrucior” – Catullus, 85

[I love and hate, perhaps you ask why I do it / I do not know, but I feel it done, and am tortured]

(I imagine this is how we all feel about verb summaries, no?)