de frenis

tongue twisters
Ready for a challenge? Quintilian, a Roman educator from the first century C.E., says kids learning to speak should practice with words with a chain of syllables that crash like ts et vluti confragss). Quintilian calls rocks (sllabs catn these words (chalino), which is Greek for Latin frn. Frn are horse bits. No, not bits of a horse. A frnus is a piece of metal that fits across the horses tongue and teeth. Tie a rope to each side of the frnus and you can steer the horse! These mosaics show famous charioteers holding their horses by the bit. Try the frn nfr. Why do you think the Romans call tongue twisters frn?

d u c I. un u
Focus on pronouncing u cnsonns and long vowels. I came, I saw, I conquered Gaius Iulius Caesar after the Battle of Zela, 47 B.C.E.

te Tti tbi tnta trrane tlist II. Tte t

Focus on pronouncing /t/ before a vowel. Oh, Titus Tatius, you tyrant, you took on so much! Quintus Ennius, a poet who lived about 2200 years ago

bunt III. mnse Ma mlae n

Focus on pronouncing /m/ and /n/. Evil people get married in May. Traditional Roman saying

IIII. spersit sppetat suprstitet

Focus on placing stress on the correct syllable. May she survive, continue to exist, and remain. Titus Maccius Plautus, a comedian who lived around Ennius time

gina ma p I pr

Sources @ lexiconlatinum.wikia.com Elliott K. Goodman 3/5/2013

 uit V. slam lle m sl sb s smpt lber

Focus on pronouncing /s/ before a vowel. He freed only me for himself alone with his own money. Plautus

VI. stlt stlid ftu fng brd blnn buccns

Focus on pronouncing /st/, /f/, and /b/. stupid, dull, silly, dumb, foolish, simple idiots Plautus A frnus, coiled rope, and a decorative flap for a horse. The rope and flap were made before 79 C.E. and are from the town of Boscoreale, near Pompeii. (see gina!) The frnus is from the p area north of Rome.

ter optim rum mlt mlier mlior mulerum VII. m

Focus on pronouncing /m/ before a vowel. Mom, youre a way better woman than the best women. Ennius

uus udens u uit ulet VIII. u

lis. Focus on pronouncing u cnsonns and u uc Alive, the seer lives and is well. Plautus

que bers ex l bers lbrs lbr VIIII. fcio l

Focus on vowel length and putting stress on the correct syllables. I make free men out of children using books and a scale. Motto of St. Johns College in Annapolis, MD and Santa Fe, NM

d d te tla latte X. t tr Rma mn n

Focus on pronouncing repetitive syllables. I will bury you, Rome, with my bare hand! Give up your arms and hide. supposedly said by Hannibal Barca, enemy of Rome

gina II scunda p

Sources @ lexiconlatinum.wikia.com Elliott K. Goodman 3/5/2013

 nia fisset XI. s prcul Prcul Prcul Camp prcul Prcul Prculus pse fret
Focus on pronouncing final syllables. If Proculus home Campania is far away from Proculus, then Proculus himself is far away from Proculus. from a graveyard in Bologna, Italy for St. Proculus who died around 1390 C.E. Campania is 350 miles south of Bologna.

minum nuium mnim m nium nmium m n XII. m n mn minum immnui u u mnimum ulunt u
Focus on pronouncing /m/ and /n/. The smallest mimes of the snow gods hardly want the responsibility of finishing too much wall-wine while theyre alive. from the 12th-14th century Europe, part of a challenge to create the longest sentence with i, m, n, and u. This is what the sentence looks like in a printed book from 700 years ago:

go XIII. pladite prcell porcrum pgra prp

Focus on /p/, /pl/, and /pr/ and vowel length. Clap little piggies, you lazy children of porkers! from Pugna Porcorum - a Latin poem where every word starts with p - written by Ioannes Placentius around 1530

ne dcane cnis sed n cne c ne XIIII. c ns c ne dcane cne dcane d cne d c

Focus on vowel length. Gray-haired dean, youre singing! But dont sing about a dog, gray-haired dean. Sing about gray hairs, gray-haired dean! written around 1600, maybe about a college dean in Oxford, England who sang hunting songs

XV. set quntum lctum quntum gmitum rum quntum fltum fctum aud vi quid lacrim
Focus on pronouncing similar sounds. But I heard so much crying, so much moaning, so many tears, so much weeping! Marcus Porcius Cato, a grumpy politician who lived about 2100 years ago

gina III trtia p

Sources @ lexiconlatinum.wikia.com Elliott K. Goodman 3/5/2013

 la m l ml mla cntulit mnia mnd XVI. m

Focus on vowel length. An apples cheek brought all the evils to the horrible world. written before 1876

r ncesse est r mr m XVII. in mr mr m

Focus on /m/ and vowel length. The mouse must die in a sea of delicious wine. Modern

XVIII. u ue ueo sse us

Focus on vowel length. Hey, grandpa, I really want to eat birds. Modern

tur mrmota mnax XVIIII. quntum mtriae mteri ri s mrmota mnax mtriam pssit mteri
Focus on vowel length. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Modern

who cares about pronouncing a dead language?

A dead language has no native speakers, meaning no one is brought up from birth speaking that language. Latin, by this definition, is a dead language because basically no one can say he has spoken Latin since he was a baby. However, Latin has been spoken and used by children and adults continually for nearly 3,000 years. This gets to the first reason why learning to pronounce Latin is important: to make sure other Latin speakers can understand you. Second Latin is beautiful to hear and speak. As you use Latin more you will find sounds and phrases that are pleasing to your ear. We read Latin that ancient Romans wrote. These authors wanted their words to sound a certain way. We learn to pronounce Latin like they did so we can hear how ancient Roman authors heard their own words. The frn are a good example of Romans writing to make certain sounds and have fun with Latin. Part of learning a foreign language is to learn to speak differently. Latin has aspectslike long vowels and consonantsthat are new to speakers of English, Spanish, and other languages. Lastly, when we speak Latn we hear ancient Rome come alive again.
rta p gina IIII qu Sources @ lexiconlatinum.wikia.com Elliott K. Goodman 3/5/2013