A Place of Brightness: Learning Latin with the Liturgy: the Traditional Table Prayer in Latin

Monday, August 22, 2016

Learning Latin with the Liturgy: the Traditional Table Prayer in Latin

The Latin original of the traditional Catholic table prayer is an excellent tool for teaching some important grammatical points. Here is the text, with English version:

Benedic, Domine, nos et haec tua dona quae de tua largitate sumus sumpturi. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts, which we are about to receive through thy bounty. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Before a full grammatical breakdown, the following points are worth drawing special attention to.

The compound verb benedicere (to bless [literally, to speak well]) follows the paradigm of the verb dicere, including, as seen in the prayer, the irregular imperative. Remember, dic, duc, fac, fer, ought to be an 'e' but it isn't there. Maledicere (literally, to speak badly) means to curse.

The Future Active Participle is common enough that it is well worth knowing. The most famous example is found in the words "Have, Imperator, morituri te salutant" (Hail, Caesar, those about to die salute you; Suetonius Divus Claudius 21.6). The appearance of it in a table prayer, presumably composed in the Medieval Period, is a testimony to the Latinity of that era.

Here is my video version with (ecclesiastical) pronunciation:

Here's how the Latin works:

Latin	English	Parsing	Grammar Points
Benedic	Bless	sing. imper.	benedico, benedicere, benedixi, benedictus
Domine	O Lord	voc. sing. masc. noun	Dominus, Domini
nos	us	acc. pl. pronoun	nos, nostri
et	and		conj.
haec	these	acc. pl. neut. dem. adj.	hic, haec, hoc; modifies dona
tua	thy	acc. pl. neut. poss. adj.	tuus, tua, tuum; modifies dona
dona	gifts	acc. pl. neut. noun	donum, doni
quae	which	acc. pl. neut. rel. pronoun	qui, quae, quod
de	out of		Prep.+Abl.
tua	your	abl. sing. fem. poss. adj.	tuus, tua, tuum; modifies largitate
largitate	bounty	abl. sing. fem. noun	largitas, largitatis
sumus	we are	1st pers. pl. pres. ind. verb	sum, esse, fui
sumpturi	about to receive	nom. pl. masc. fut. act. part.	sūmō, sūmere, sūmpsī, sūmptus
Per	Through		Prep.+Acc.
Christum	Christ	acc. sing. masc. noun	Christus, Christi
Dominum	Lord	acc. sing. masc. noun	Dominus, Domini
nostrum	our	acc. sing. masc. poss. adj.	noster, nostra, nostrum; modifies Christum and Dominum

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Monday, August 22, 2016

Learning Latin with the Liturgy: the Traditional Table Prayer in Latin

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