VERBVM HEBDOMADALE

[Lucius Livius Seneca]

[Lucius Livius Seneca]

[Lucius Livius Seneca]

[Lucia Horatia Adamas]

L. Horatia Adamas L. Livio Senecæ omnibusque fautoribus linguæ Latinæ S.P.D.

Ut videtur, munus verborum hebdomadalium praebendorum ad me transiit. However, there is a very apt Latin word which comes to mind at this time of year: bruma, -æ, f., meaning 'winter solstice,' the shortest day of the year, or the period near the time of the winter solstice, that is, midwinter. By extension, this word comes to mean winter in general, or cold, wintry weather, and is also used in expressing someone's age, as in 'Marcus is six winters old.' (There are, however, other ways of doing the latter in Latin).

Several Roman authors use this word, including classical ones; Cato writes 'ubi solstitium fuerat ad brumam,' Cicero notes 'eas [litteras] mihi post brumam reddiderunt,' Horatius has 'tepidas…præbet Juppiter brumas,' and there are a good many other citations from Cæsar, Columella, Ovid, Terence, Propertius, Lucretius, Vergil, Pliny, and several others.

By derivation, 'bruma' is a contraction of the superlative degree of the adjective 'brevis,' i.e., 'brevima,' which may have been mispronounced much as we English speakers do with the vernacular versions of 'give me' and 'forget about it,' so 'bruma' rather than 'brevima' actually is the correct form of this word. Despite a fair number of classical citations, 'bruma' is sufficiently rare in Latin textbooks that not even Latin teachers may have seen it, so Latin students might like to ask their teachers if they know what this means.

Valete!

[Lucius Livius Seneca]

L. Livius v. c. et mag. Horatiae Adamanti mag. sal.

Verbum "bruma" scio vero, sed formam superlativam "brevis" esse nesciebam. Ob hanc doctrinam tuam gratias tibi ago, magistra!

Vale.

[Lucia Horatia Adamas]

L. Horatia Adamas L. Livio Senecæ omnibusque S.P.D.

Flocci est! Non omnes magistri linguæ Latinæ hocc vocabulum noverunt; uni quidem id docui, et suspicor nonnullos hocc nescire. De 'brevima,' autem, nonnulli nostrum aliter dicere solent 'brevissima,' nam hæc est forma superlativa solita adjectivi 'brevis.' ;-))) Ut videtur, soni serpentini evanuerunt. ;-)

I thought that this was a very apt word for this time of year, and its rarity in spite of that made it even more welcome as a vocabulary addition. Then there is that truncated form 'brevima,' whereas the normal form of the superlative of 'brevis' is 'brevissima.' All told, interesting to the lover of Latin.

Another apt phrase, found in Livy, is 'nivem / nives fodere,' which we would translate as 'shovel snow,' although the Latin literally says 'dig snow.' Maximopere malim adjutorem qui nives cottidianas pro me fodere queat.

Vale, et valete!

[Lucius Livius Seneca]

[Lucius Livius Seneca]

[Lucius Livius Seneca]

[Lucius Livius Seneca]