A Place of Brightness

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Learning Latin with Pope Francis - August 18, 2016

To visit my archive of Latin Papal Tweets, go to my main page.

August 18, 2016

Literal translation of the Latin: Let us not cease to entreat God (in prayer) even if it seems useless to entreat God.

Here's how the Latin of today's tweet works:

Latin	English	Parsing	Grammar Points
Ne	not		Negative particle in hortatory subjunctive
desistamus	let us cease	1st pers. pl. pres. act. subj. verb	dēsistō, dēsistere, dēstitī, dēstitus; hortatory subjunctive
Deum	God	acc. sing. masc. noun	Deus, Dei
exorare	to entreat	pres. act. infinitive	exōrō, exōrāre, exōrāvī, exōrātus
etiamsi	even if		adv.
Deum	God	acc. sing. masc. noun	Deus, Dei
exorare	to entreat	pres. act. infinitive	exōrō, exōrāre, exōrāvī, exōrātus
videtur	seems	3rd pers. sing. pres. pass. ind. verb	videō, vidēre, vīdī, vīsus; passive used with meaning “to seem”
inutile	useless	neut. sing. adj.	Adjective used adverbially

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Learning Latin with Pope Francis - August 17, 2016

To visit my archive of Latin Papal Tweets, go to my main page.

August 17, 2016

Literal translation of the Latin: If we touch the cross, we touch the mercy of God and we are touched by the same mercy of God.

Here's how the Latin of today's tweet works:

Latin	English	Parsing	Grammar Points
Si	If		Conjunction introducing true conditional clause
crucem	cross	acc. sing. fem. noun	crux, crucis
tangimus	we touch	1st pers. pl. pres. act. ind. verb	tangō, tangere, tetigī, tāctus
misericordiam	the mercy	acc. sing. fem. noun	misericordia, misericordiae
Dei	of God	gen. sing. masc. noun	Deus, Dei
tangimus	we touch	1st pers. pl. pres. act. ind. verb	tangō, tangere, tetigī, tāctus
eadem	the same	abl. sing. fem. dem. adj.	isdem, eadem, idem
-que	and		enclitic conj.
Dei	of God	gen. sing. masc. noun	Deus, Dei
misericordia	by the mercy	abl. sing. fem. noun	misericordia, misericordiae
tangimur	we are touched	1st pers. pl. pres. pass. ind. verb	tangō, tangere, tetigī, tāctus

Monday, August 15, 2016

Learning Latin with Pope Francis - August 15, 2016

To visit my archive of Latin Papal Tweets, go to my main page.

August 15, 2016

Literal translation of the Latin: I entrust you to the protection of our Mother who lives in the glory of God and continually accompanies us.

Here's how the Latin of today's tweet works:

Latin	English	Parsing	Grammar Points
Commendo	I entrust	1st pers. sing. pres. act. ind. verb	commendō, commendāre, commendāvī, commendātus
vos	you	acc. pl. pronoun	vos, vestri
praesidio	to the protection	dat. sing. neut. noun	praesidium, praesidii
Matris	of Mother	gen. sing. fem. noun	mater, matris
nostrae	our	gen. sing. fem. poss. adj.	noster, nostra, nostrum
quae	who	nom. sing. fem. rel. pronoun	qui, quae, quod
in	in		Prep+Abl.
gloria	the glory	abl. sing. fem. noun	gloria, gloriae
Dei	of God	gen. sing. masc. noun	Deus, Dei
vivit	lives	3rd pers. sing. pres. act. ind. verb	vīvō, vīvere, vīxī
nos	(and) us	acc. pl. pronoun	nos, nostri
-que	and		enclitic conj.
iugiter	continually		adv.
comitatur	accompanies	3rd pers. sing. pres. ind. dep. verb	comitor, comitārī, comitātus sum

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Learning Latin with Pope Francis - August 14, 2016

To visit my archive of Latin Papal Tweets, go to my main page.

August 14, 2016

Literal translation of the Latin: Let us ask Mary, our Mother, that she may help us to pray with a humble heart.

NB: Placing the noun Matrem first is a way to emphasize that particular word in the sentence. I wrote an essay on the topic which you can read here.

Here's how the Latin of today's tweet works:

Latin	English	Parsing	Grammar Points
Matrem	Mother	acc. sing. fem. noun	mater, matris
precemur	let us ask	1st. pers. pl. pres. subj. dep. verb	precor, precārī, precātus sum; hortatory subjunctive
nostram	our	acc. sing. fem. poss. adj.	noster, nostra, nostrum
Mariam	Mary	acc. sing. fem. name	Maria, Mariae
ut	that, in order that		conj.; introduces purpose clause
adiuvet	she may help	3rd. pers. sing. pres. act. subj. verb	adiuvō, adiuvāre, adiūvī, adiūtus
nos	us	acc. pl. pronoun	nos, nostri
humili	(with) humble	abl. sing. neut. adj.	humilis, humile; modifies corde
corde	(with) heart	abl. sing. neut. noun	cor, cordis; abl. of means or manner
orare	to pray	pres. act. infi	ōrō, ōrāre, ōrāvī, ōrātus

In Saecula Saeculorum, the 4th Novel in the Valquist Series

In this fourth novel of the Valquist Series, Andrew Valquist is retired (?) from the National Security Agency and teaching Latin at a Classical Academy in the Washington DC area. But in the world of espionage, looks can be deceiving. He's not necessarily happy with the role he has played in all this, but the school was actually a joint NSA/MI-6 Project in which four young people have been unwittingly prepared for a mission to travel back in time to ancient Rome to retrieve information from a library that may save the modern world from certain destruction. They know they have to at least try to save humanity, but can they also save each other?

Next Stop: Spanish, the 3rd Novel in the Valquist Series

This third novel in the Valquist Series can be read as an espionage action-adventure in its own right, but also you can use it as a way to either brush up on your Spanish or learn functional Spanish for the first time! John Valquist needs to learn Spanish. But he's in luck, since his uncle Andrew is a language expert and a former (?) spy who is taking him on a vacation to Spain so he can study the language. In Next Stop: Spanish, you have the chance to see and study the words John studies, and then watch him add more and more Spanish into his dialogue as the story progresses. During this vacation, they get pulled into espionage intrigue (why do these things always happen to the Valquist family?). In the dramatic conclusion, John will need to put together everything he has learned to save his uncle!

Amor Vincit Omnia: the 2nd Novel in the Valquist Series

In this second novel of the Valquist Series, Keith Massey takes you into the halls of the National Security Agency, where he himself worked for four years after 9/11 and an Arabic linguist. You follow our hero Andrew Valquist, as he starts work as a new recruit at the NSA. Little does he know that on his first on the job, he's about to fly off on an unexpected overseas assignment. He'll be even more surprised when he learns that his background in ancient Latin will be crucial to the mission!