The Book 'Latina Pro Populo (Latin For People)'...

Anybody ever hear of the book Latina Pro Populo (Latin For People) by Alexander and Nicholas Humez? I think the two brothers were drunk as they wrote it. Or high. Maybe they were just high on life, I don't know. But you know, it's still a good book.

It gives you an interesting insight into the language. And when you're done reading the book, you can get a working understanding of Latin. In fact, you can basically speak it at that point. Isn't that amazing?

Here are some of the more memorable phrases from the book:


BELLVM IN GALLIA MALVM,
SED IN METELLA TAETRVM.

"A war in France is bad. But a war in a chamber pot is horrible."


MVNDVS ADVLTERI TRIQVETRVS.

"The adulterer's world is three-cornered."


O FILII ET FILIAE GALLIAE,
MALA BRITANNIAE TAETRA!

"O sons and daughters of France! The apples of England are foul!"


IN BRITANNIA, ADVLTER
PVELLIS BONOS LIBROS DAT,
SED IN GALLIA, CANCROS.

"In England the adulterer gives the girls good books. In France, crabs.


VNVS BONVS, ALTER MALVS,
SED NEVTER TRIQVETRVS.

"One is good, the other bad. But neither is three-cornered."

(BTW, it teaches you Latin from the classical perspective. That is why they use the word Britannia, which translates loosely as "England".)

 

My understanding of the word Latina is a female Hispanic. Around here most speak English and Spanish.

 

Also in Latin For People, Alexander Humez shows many of the unique features of Latin. Some words resemble each other. In fact they are spelled the exact same way, though they are different words. He said when that happens, you just have to ask yourself, what are they probably trying to say?

For example, he has:

Liberī, liberī adulterī.

"The children of Bacchus are adulterers." Liber is another form of Bacchus. And the word for free becomes "children" in the plural: "liberi". And the sentence makes sense when you know that.

Also, I don't think it's in that book. But I've heard "viri sunt viri", men are slime. Again, viri is the plural of vir, men. And the plural of virus is viri. Virus meaning poison, something noxious, slime. (I know I probably made a couple of mistakes above, because I am partly writing this from memory. So please feel free to correct me.)

Also, while I have the chance I wanted to point out that "illegitimi non carborundum" doesn't mean anything in Latin. People once thought it was Latin for "don't let the bastards wear you down". It is not. The insult word for bastard in Latin is irrumator. And carborundum is just silicon carbide, a hard chemical compound containing silicon and carbon used for sanding.

 

Noli rogare quid faciat tibi patria tua, sed cui resonet aes.

 

Like I said here before, Latin For People (Latina pro populo) is a book by Paul Alexander Humez. This book is a comprehensive introduction to Latin, covering its history, grammar, and sounds, and includes exercises and glossaries for better understanding of the language. It aims to make the Latin language accessible and understandable to a broad audience serving as an invaluable resource for understanding Latin literature and thought. As he says in the book, when you're done reading it you literally can speak the language. I found it in the U of M library around 1991 and I fell in love with it. (But the men who wrote it sound like they were drunk because the sample sentences they give are sometimes strange.)

Here are some more sentences and phrases from the book:

Poma non bona sunt.
Mala poma sunt.
Mala ergo mala sunt.

("Fruit is not good. An apple is fruit. An apple is therefore not good.")

Nautae gloriosi semper in insula currunt.

("Braggart sailors are always running into islands.")

Dexterum habes; sinistrum habes; tertium etiam habes neutrum: ergo triquetrus es.

("You have a right; you have a left; you have a third that is neither: therefore you are three-cornered.")

Adulter bonus ambobus gratias agit: puellae et socero.

("The good adulterer gives thanks to both: to the girl and to the father-in-law.")

I have to tell you. I left the phrase Nautae gloriosi semper in insula currunt on a small slip of paper at a local Detroit gas station. I thought it was funny as a veiled reference to problems that can arise from police and other misconduct here. (I was going to leave Adulter bonus ambobus gratias agit: puellae et socero in a nearby sexy lingerie store. But it was closed by the time I got there.)

 

More lessons from Latin For People:

Insula locus non idoneus adultero.
("An island is not a suitable place for an adulterer.")

Libri boni, sed liberi taetri.
("Books are good, but children noisome.")