Latin in My Everyday Life

Latin in My Everyday Life

Latin is a class that many people think is useless. I frequently hear a lot of things like "nobody speaks it," and "it won't help you communicate," but while these things are mostly true, Latin provides more insight to history, mythology, and the origins of most modern European languages than any other language at Parish could hope to offer. It not only helps me in school, but in my everyday life as well.

I am a giant nerd. Coinciding with this, I was preparing for the debut of Stark Trek: Picard last weekend by watching a lot of the Next Generation series. While watching the last movie made for this series, I noticed something that should have been extremely obvious. One of the major antagonistic alien races in Star Trek are just walking Roman history in space. This species is called the Romulan Empire. Almost every name used by this fictional empire was stolen from the Romans. The main reference is that their planet's and sister planet's names, Romulus and Remus, are directly taken from the mythological founders of Rome of the same name, who supposedly founded Rome in 753 B.C.E.

Last summer my family went on a trip to Scotland. It was very beautiful, but one of my favorite bragging moments from the trip was when I was able to read an inscription on the wall of the king's quarters located in Edinburgh castle. I do not remember specifically what the text said, but I remember the words "dues" and "rex," meaning "god" and "king" respectively in Latin. This is a prime example of how knowing Latin can positively impact a normal experience by allowing me to gain insight on a place's historical context without needing to look it up.

This year in English, I was able to get a 100 on a grammar quiz, something that I was personally very surprised by, and I entirely attribute this feat to my years spent in Latin class. Most of the grammar topics that we were covering had to do with structures such as direct objects, indirect objects, and prepositional phrases. I was able to quickly understand these structures in English by thinking of the nouns as if they had cases like in Latin. Sectioning off nouns as ablative, dative, and accusative helped me easily figure out the function of each noun in the sentence.

It seems like almost every other day I will find myself reading Roman Numerals. This counting system originating in Rome is still in used in a lot of places today. It uses a series of letters that translate to numbers, with a letter in front meaning subtraction and a letter behind meaning addition. I most frequently them on clocks and in books. All the time in English class people will ask me what a certain combination of numerals means in a book, and I am delighted that I am able to help people with this knowledge that I picked up in Latin class. I had a decent idea of what the numerals meant before taking Latin, but the class really helped me further grasp the concept.

Two summers ago, I found myself playing Minecraft with a downloaded modification to the game called "Thaumcraft." Back then, I probably wouldn't have mentioned this on an assignment, but with the modern "meme-ification" of the game, I am willing to share this strange way that Latin has helped me. The modification to the game revolved heavily around the concept of different types of elements called "essentia" that made up the in-game world. These elements could be used to create powerful weapons and tools. For many remembering what essentia type was called what was fairly confusing, but for me it was easy because every element was named in Latin. Latin words like "ignis," "aqua," "terra," "vis," and "mortuus" (which mean "fire," "water," "earth," "force," and "dead" respectively) were some of the many names for elements found in the mod. As funny as it sounds, knowing Latin really helped 14 year-old me gain in-game items to brag about to my online friends.

Overall, Latin has made a much more impactful change in my life than I ever could have expected any language class to do. It helps me in my daily life with things such as English grammar, understanding references, and understanding words based on their Latin roots. It is an experience that I would believe that everyone should be able to have, and I wouldn't trade it for anything, especially not Spanish class.

Christopher Foster

Latin is cool. But stay in school.

Nobody expects a separate language to help them learn about history, or their own language for that matter, but Latin is an exception. Not only did it come in in handy during my trip to Rome about a year ago, but also helped me during the SAT and English grammar. It also has some fun references to plenty of video games like Kid Icarus, and all of the Asterix and Obelix games.

During my trip in Rome, my family and I went on a tour and the tour guide asked what a certain building was used for (I forgot the specific word). While the name suggested something else, I remembered that the word was derivative of a courtroom, and everyone was shocked when I said the correct answer. I primarily remember that particular event just after learning about the various buildings in Rome during Latin I, as well as the basic government systems.

During the SAT, frequently confusing words are used in order to test vocabulary and the ability to fill in context. Many questions (although forgotten) had at least two words of Latin origin, frequently helping me avoid the wrong answers.

My grammar skills have grown immensely thanks to Latin. Not only have I learned about the separate voices, i also learned how to properly use participles and other special verbs to their fullest. It has been a staple of many essays i have written like the Essay for History (French Revolution) and the Colloquium.

Kid Icarus, a Nintendo made video game draws heavily from mythology, with its two major antagonists, Medusa and Hades. Not only are they both quite powerful, their powers are faithfully recreated within the game, revolving around under worldly power.

The Asterix and Obelix games are literally video games designed around the roman empire, with all kinds of culture from the architecture to the combat. Moreover, the characters themselves are based on actual history, albeit more exaggerated.

Latin is present all over the world, though more impactful in more places than others. It can help in a variety of ways, from tests to small fun facts of history. Latin is a great class to take, as it is fun, full of quirky history facts, and plenty of stab wounds to go all around.

How Latin has helped me

How Latin has helped me

BY: Holden Linderman

DC: Last year in 8th grade when we traveled to DC there were a lot of examples of Latin influence. I got some of them but I have just recently learned what a lot of them meant since I have been in Dr. Morgans class this year. Without Latin, I wouldn't have been able to understand a lot of the things we learned in DC if it wasn't for Latin. For example, when we were in a museum there was a Latin sentence that not many people understood but I was able to figure out what it meant by using context clues and my knowledge of the language.


English: I have struggled with vocabulary and writing in general throughout my whole life. However, since I started Latin things have become a lot easier and I have became a much better writer. One example of how Latin has helped me in English was the other day when we were discussing the odyssey he used a Latin term and I immediately knew what  Mr. Flickenger was talking about. Latin is such a great resource when it comes to English.


Odyssey: The Odyssey is about a hero named Odysseus and his troubles with gods on the way back to his home. I have realized that a lot of the events in roman history that we have learned about have turned up in the Odyssey. For example, Odysseus was the man that thought of the idea for the trojan horse and is the reason they won. The trojan war is also what sets the premise of the whole story. Another thing is a lot of the terminology and all the gods in the Odyssey all have something to do with Roman Culture and Latin terms.


Gladiator: Gladiator starring Russell Crowe is one of my all-time favorite movies. It takes place in Rome and covers so much we have learned in Latin. When I first watched I had just started Latin and I didn't enjoy the movie that much because I couldn't understand a lot of things that were occurring in the movie. I keep on watching it again and again. I have probably watched it about 5-6 times and with my knowledge of ancient Rome and Latin culture I was able to understand everything that happened and I love the movie even more now.


Marines: I watch a lot of US Marine documentaries specifically one on youtube called business insider. For a while, I didn't understand the motto of the US Marines but after learning about mottos throughout the past years, I know what their motto means. Their Motto is Semper Fidelis which is Latin for "always faithful."

All in all, Latin is an amazing Language that has helped me throughout my education. I know for a fact that I would not be as good at writing if it weren't for Latin. Latin isn't just something I'm forced to learn about it is something I choose to learn about because I love its culture. It is important for people to take Latin even after high school for many of the things listed above and more. 

Trey How Latin helps me in real life

Trey Smith

1. Understanding basic words like father mother and food when they said it in assassins creed odyssey last year
2. When my sister asked why the ambulance is called an ambulance and I told her because I knew the Latin root ambulant which means to walk, a couple weeks ago
3. When watching Justice League war and understanding references when Wonder Woman correlates all the members of the league to different roman gods a few weeks ago
4.When I saw the pokemon falinks and noticed that it was a pokemon based on a Roman army formation and had Roman armor and shields plus spears about half a year ago
5. When I am driving around with my mom and I see a certain house with columns or arches that are similar to roman architecture and how they would decorate their columns and archways which I see pretty often even a couple days ago

Overall while I do get a lot of comments about why would I take Latin instead of Spanish or others, I am very grateful that I chose what I did for many reasons. For one it introduced me to larger more advance words and how to deal with them using context but also the importance of sentence structure when forming the sentence correctly to get the correct point across. But also even before I joined Latin I had an appreciation and interest in just baseline stories of greek myths but now having a better understanding of Rome and their ways really brings more realism and intrest to the same stories and introduces new stories for me to read.

How Latin Helps me Everyday

Most may not realize but Latin is around us every day in one way or another. And a lot of the time you wouldn't even know its there unless you took a Latin class. One way I've seen Latin outside of school is at the mall. The store Hollister has a phrase called "carpe now" that is advertised a lot around the store and I only noticed it for the first time a few months ago. When I first saw this I remembered the motto, Carpe Diem, by  Horace that we learned in Latin in 7th grade. The phrase carpe diem translates to seize the day. So when I saw this I was like oh they are trying to say seize/get these items now. Another time Latin has helped me in school is when we have been reading the Odyssey by Homer in English class this year. In the Epic, the books/chapters are labeled by Roman Numerals and if it wasn't for Latin I wouldn't have been able to recognize any number after 5. I learned this skill from Latin in 7th and 8th grade when we would have to draw sticks with roman numerals to find out what seat to sit in.  Now I know when she says to look for chapter 21 I know to go to the page that has XXI on it. Another time Latin has helped me with the Odyssey is the story between Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. In the Odyssey, it mentions their relationship and how it taught Odysseus to be loyal. Though when I originally read that passage I didn't really understand what it was trying to say about their relations. Then a few days after we read that passage, in Latin class we started talking about messed up family lines and got on the topic of Clymenestra and Agamemnon and Dr.Morgan explained to us their story, and the Odessy suddenly made a lot more sense. Another time I've seen Latin outside of school is when I went to go see the movie Black Christmas with a friend over the break. The movie was about all these sorority girls getting killed around campus when everyone leaves for Christmas break. When I saw this movie I had remembered the vocab word soror, sororis and how it translates to sister in Latin. Then I realized that that is one of the places the word sorority comes from because it is a sisterhood. This movie also had a lot of Greek and Roman references throughout it. One of the last examples of when I saw was in the comic I read called Lore Olympus. It's based on the story of Hades and Persephone but with a twist. When I first heard about the comic I was like wait I know this story because previously in Latin we did a reading comprehension worksheet on it. I learned that Hades tricked Persephone into staying in the underworld with him longer with a pomegranate, so when I saw a comic based on it I was really interested and decided to read it. Knowing about the story already gave me an advantage because I already knew a lot of the characters the author mentioned. Overall I'm really glad I chose to take Latin because it has not only helped me in school but out of school. I think this is one reason why it's so important to learn new languages because you start to pick up on things you wouldn't have known before. Especially Latin because a lot of the English language is based off Latin and people use Latin mottoes all the time without even realizing it.
-Samantha Ward

How Latin has helped me

Joe Giles                                           How Latin has helped me 

During my time in Latin, I have learned a lot. Most of it helps me in the classroom of course, but a little part of it has helped me understand other parts of my life. 

1. Olympics: During the Parish Olympics I was assigned to chariot races and rotation three, four, and five. Once we got there, the station was a mess. Through my entire career in Latin I have always been familiar with chariot races and how they are set up. The cones were messed up so I fixed them in a way that the chariot would be like. This was better for me and the students participating so it was more realistic.  

2. Odyssey English: During 7th grade I was assigned a project based on a certain greek god. I researched the god hermes and found out a lot of information about him. After I presented, I learned about many other gods in the greek world. The project was very interesting and I will never forget it. Later this year we were assigned to read a book in English called the Odyssey. After learning about greek gods this helped me understand the characters more and understand the book.

3. Marines: My dad had recently pulled my grandfathers medals from the garage. My grandfather was in Vietnam and was in the Marines. One of them caught my eye. One of the medals had the word fidelity. During Latin II in ninth grade, I learned the word fidelis. This word means loyal. Latin helped me understand my grandfathers history more and I am very grateful for that. 

4. Sports Autograph: During 8th grade, my uncle gave me old autographs of famous cowboy players. I collect sports memorabilia and so did he as a kid. After looking at some of the autographs I saw that one of the pictures had a sentence on it. The writing said superbowl xii. During Latin in middle school we have always learned roman numerals so knowing it was Superbowl 12 helped me understand it more and do more research on that Superbowl. The Cowboys won that year against the Broncos. 

5. Sports Conferences: I have always enjoyed the sport of basketball. The sport is one of my passions and I love the game so much. I recently started to really get into college basketball because of Texas Tech. I have personally met Chris Beard (the coach) and gone to a camp for Texas Tech. Texas Tech conference is the big xii. After learning Roman numerals in middle school, I learned this was 12 Latin helped me understand the conference and now I know more about each team. 

Though this list is not broad or large, this list is very important to me. I have learned a lot

from a small amount of Latin. My learning has opened up a way for me to connect and learn more about what I love and why Latin can be very useful if you pay attention. Latin is all around us and if you look closely, you see it everyday. 

How Latin Has Helped Me-Clay

Latin has helped me better understand the roots of the English language. It has helped me become more knowledgeable about English and how the words are not just made up but have roots in different languages. For example the word accept is derived from the Latin word accipio.
Two months ago I was doing basic prep for the SAT and the word credulous came up. While I had never heard that word I knew it had to do with something about being believable because of its root credo.
When I was 8 I read the Percy Jackson series. While it is based off Greek Mythology, Roman and Greek mythology are very similar. As I learn more about mythology it helps me understand books I read especially references like the Cerberus.
Latin has helped me better understand the parts of the English language. As I go further into Latin I learn more parts of Grammar and two months ago when I had to write a paper and my English teacher said don't use passive voice, I understood what he meant because of Latin.
Latin has also helped me understand reference to  historical figures. With how prominent Julius Cesear has been in some of our class discussion, it has helped me understand more about the figure we hear so much about.


I would say Latin has helped my education and positively impacted it. It has helped me understand the language I use and many references in pop culture. I would recommend Latin to anyone looking to better understand their language and the roots of it.

Clay Kollinger

How Latin Has Helped Me

Learning the Latin language has helped me in many ways often beyond the simple understanding of the language in its historical context.  References to Latin are often used in your everyday lives.  These can be easily seen if you know what to look for.  One example of this occurred a couple years ago when i was quite into the Harry Potter Series.  One connection I was able to identify was the spell lumos.  Lumos is a spell used in the series to emit light from the end of a wand.  This word is derived from the word lux which means light.  

Another time Latin helped me was last year when I was reading the Odyssey.  The Odyssey is a book in which there are many Latin references.  In this book when I heard of the cyclops and sirens I immediately knew what they were referring to.  This was an advantage because it gave me a better understanding of what was going on and gave me a jump on those who did not.  Overall, Latin has helped me to expand my vocabulary and has increased my general knowledge.

Latin Blog Post

Example 1: Grandfather clock

I have experienced my grandfather clock my whole life because it has been in my house since I was born. My grandfather clock has roman numeral numbers to tell the time. This grandfather clock was built 20 years ago out of wood. The Latin influences are how the grandfather clock compared to all the roman numeral numbers and how they can help you tell time now and back when the Romans did. I appreciate my grandfather's clock because of how he carved all the roman numeral numbers in such detail. Also, how the clock has lasted all these years. Lastly, I appreciate how the roman numeral number is super clear to read so you can tell the time easily. 

Example 2: Circus de Maximo

I experienced the Circus de Maximo last year in Rome. The Circus de Maximo is a chariot racing stadium. It was the biggest and first stadium in Rome. The Circus de Maximo can hold up to 150,000 people watching the race. The Latin influence is to show people how greatly they care about their sports specifically chariot racing. I appreciate the Circus de Maximo because I love watching people race each other and I think watching Chariot racing would be even better. Also, the Circus de Maximo has a lot of people watching which brings people together. Not only does it bring people together in Rome but people all around the world just to watch people chariot race at the Circus de Maximo.

Example 3: The coliseum 

I experienced the Coliseum last year in Rome. The coliseum is also known as the Amphitheatrum Flavium. It has been around since it was completed in 80 AD where people would watch the gladiators fight each other, animal hunts, or gladiators fight animals. The Latin influence is to show how much the Romans spent on building such a beautiful place to watch people fight each other to the death. Being able to go to Rome and seeing the Coliseum makes me appreciate how grateful I am to see it because there have been so many important people who have been there or have fought there. I also appreciate the coliseum because it is an important part of Roman history through all the beautiful carvings. One more thing I appreciate about the coliseum is how it is in the middle of Rome so everyone can admire its beauty.

Example 4: Kanye West 

In one of Travis Scots songs, he uses the words “I keep it 300 like the Romans…where are the Trojans. I experience this before some of my soccer games as pump-up music. There is no real point to the song it just has a lot of random phrases that can get stuck in your head. It also has a great beat that makes you want to listen to it. This connects to Latin because it was the battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC where There was a greek army of over 1000 men where they blocked the passage where the Pursian army had 150,000 men. The persons outsmarted the greeks which resulted in most of them retreating except the three hundred who fought for their death. I appreciate this because it is a good reminder of all the 300 soldiers who fought till death. Also, how they never gave up and that is a good lesson for me. This also helps in life as a friendly reminder to not give up just like those 300 soldiers did not give up.

Example 5: Roman Bath

I experienced the Roman bath last year in Rome. This is one of the remaining walls of a Roman bath. The Roman bath was a public bath used to clean themselves off. In every roman bath, they would have a changing room, an exercise room, open-air swimming pool, a superheated dry and sweating room, warm room, cold room. The Latin influence is to show how the Romans kept their self clean by using the Roman bath system. I appreciate the roman bath because it helps me realize how fortunate I am to have my own bath and not have to charge it with other people. Also, because the roman bath can help me understand how people would get clean because they don't have the technology we have today. I think the roman bath is an example of a way people can understand what the Romans did when they were dirty and needed to wash off. 

Source:

https://www.wikipedia.org

Latin in My Life

Ethan Weinger

Latin in My Life

There once was a time in 6th grade where I wasn't doing Latin, but instead Spanish. It was a strange time, as Latin has helped me in so many ways outside of the classroom. Latin has changed my life in many good little ways. So, I thought why not talk about five ways Latin has changed my life.

Music: I listen to a lot of rap and not until recently I learned that several of the songs I really like have Rome and Latin reverences. The main rapper who would reverence these things is Jay-Z. Jay-Z has said in a song called Encore that, "I came, I saw, I conquered. From record sales, to sold out concerts." This line is referring to the classic line of Julius Caesar, where he says Veni, Vidi, Vici. That means I came, I saw, I conquered, and Jay-Z is referring that he is like Julius Caesar, by becoming a huge deal with his followers. Another Jay-Z line comparing himself to Julius Caesar is in the song Run This Town with Rihanna and Kanye West. He says the lines, "You can call me Caesar, in a dark Czar. Please follow the leader."Once again Jay-Z mentions Julius Caesar and this time he is referring that he is a leader like the icon of the Romans. I learned about Caesar during a Latin class where I did a project over him and learned his famous quote. Without knowing it, I would've never noticed the first line in Encore. I always want to know what rap songs are saying for the whole song, so this helps me a lot by knowing Roman history.

English: I have struggled with vocabulary in English my whole life, but recently I have started being able to match English words with Latin words they came from. With this, I can use better words when writing papers and other things. I have also just learned fun facts about English words, such as hippopotamus really means a river horse. I find these things extremely interesting and it helps me understand words better. This has helped me get higher grades on papers and more able to understand more complicated things when reading or listening.

Odyssey: While reading the Odyssey, I have found that Roman history we learned about has come into the book many times. In Latin class, we learned about the Trojan War several times and that is a key part of the book, as the main character, Odysseus, fought in it and was a hero during the battle. We as well learned about the story of Orestes in Latin and it came up in the book. He pretty much did a lot of terrible things, including killing his own mother. By knowing this from Latin class, I have a better understanding of the Odyssey and the little details of the book that many of my classmates didn't realize.

Rome: While on vacation in Italy, I had to go to Rome. It has many key features that have to do with Latin, but my favorite was the Colosseum. Latin as a language didn't help me very much while I was there, but learning about the history of Rome during Latin class helped me point out features of the Colosseum to my parents. My favorite thing that I noticed was the underground part where the gladiators or the animals came from to battle. They had a level system under there to carry the animal for a person up there. Knowing these things from my formal Latin teacher, Mr. Stewart, I was able to give me and my parents the full tour of many places in Rome.

Olympics: When I watch the Olympics, I mainly just pay attention to the sports part of it. In the sports part of it, there are many sports that came from Roman sports. Examples that I remember are boxing, racing, and the long jump are from the Romans. As well, I found out in Latin class that the slogan of the Olympics actually means faster, higher, and stronger. I had seen it in Latin and I knew exactly what it meant because of Latin class. Because I knew these things, I could once again point it out to my family so they can have a better understanding like me.

Blog Post (Jan. 31, 2020): Latin Helps us all the Time

Sara Carruth

Latin Helps me all the Time

          Being able to recognize and understand Latin vocabulary and form has helped me to further develop knowledge of literary works, movies, and even in other classes here in school. My first example of this is how I was able to dissect and further understand terms in which were used in the "Harry Potter" series of books when I re-read a few of the books over the summer last year. One area of the book in which this occurred was when I recognized the spell used for conjuring a flame, "Incendio", as being a Latin vocab word we learned in class. Another instance in which I understood something because of Latin class was the first time I heard the phrase "carpe diem", which means "seize the day". I knew what this had meant because of Mr. Stewarts Latin class last year in which he taught us this. Also when the word "ego" is used I always think of how the word means "I" in Latin, which therefore makes the word a very simple and clear derivative, as ego (in the English language now) means to be all about yourself. The first time I realized "ego" meant this was during Latin class last year with Mr. Stewart. To further illustrate the fact that Latin has aided me in the past in everyday life, another example would be how I asked my English teacher, Mr. Mazzella, this year what e.g. stood for while writing a short answer for a prompt he had given us. He told me that it derived from a Latin phrase; "exempli gratia", meaning "for example" My final instance is the word "alibi". I personally watch a lot of crime tv-shows and this word is used very often. I had heard the word before, however, when I watched the show "Lucifer" last school year, I understood the real meaning of it due to Mr. Stewart telling my class that the word meant "elsewhere". Being in Latin class these past two years has helped me significantly within and outside of school in many ways. Without the knowledge of Latin that I have at this point, or in any of the points in which these situations came upon me, I would not have had as good of an understanding of the terms/phrases that I provided. Therefore, I appreciate and value everything that I have learned so far and am continuing to learn in this class. 

How Latin Has Helped Me

How Latin Has Helped Me

I see Latin everywhere in my life, and taking Latin as a class opens my eyes to so much more Latin influence than I ever knew existed! In Global Cultures around October, we learned about many statistics and what they mean. One example is Gross Domestic Product. When ever you see GDP, it is usually followed by the Latin phrase per capita. I had no idea what this meant, and then I realized that it is Latin for "by head," meaning that whenever you see GDP, the number is per person, or per capita. I also saw Latin in Harry Potter when I read the series in 2017. One particular spell that was used by many characters was accio. This word means "I summon" in Latin. I also experienced Latin when I learned about the element gallium back in 2019 in science class. Gallium comes from the Latin word Gallia, meaning France. Since the founder of this element is French, it was fitting to name the element after his home country. When I first started reading the Odyssey for English in November, we were supposed to annotate for piety. Turns out that piety comes from the Latin word pius, meaning religious. Piety also means religiousness, so it was a fitting name. The last Latin example that I found was from the song Gloria by U2 when I heard the song last week. One of the lines is in te domine, meaning in you lord. It was a nice addition to the song and it makes it more unique. Though Latin is not the most popular language choice in high school, I think it should be more appreciated. I see Latin absolutely everywhere. It is one of the defining factors of life in this country today. English stems from Latin, and when you learn the language, you can find Latin everywhere and in popular sayings. It is a very unique language that opens your eyes to so many possibilities and knowledge in many fields. I highly recommend Latin for anyone that wants to learn about influences that you never would have recognized.

Grace Ramsey

How Latin Has Helped.

Since starting Latin in 7th grade, it has helped me gain a greater understanding and new perspective on many aspects of my life.

1) One way Latin has helped me is in my understanding of English Latin-based words. In fact, three weeks ago, as I was reading Homer's Odyssey, I took notice of the word patient. Having just studied the word patior meaning to suffer, and therefor I knew that patient literally meant to suffer. Not only was this hilarious, it helped me gain a new understanding of what the character was enduring while waiting.

2) Another way Latin has helped me, was when I was watching a TV show a few days ago called Supernatural. It's a show about a few guys who go around hunting demons. Naturally this show contains several exorcisms. In these exorcisms, they chant in Latin. One of the things they say is "omnis immundus spiritus". This means all unclean spirits. Knowing Latin in this instance helped me gain a greater understanding of what exactly was going on and added to the mood and depth of the show

3) The third way Latin has helped me is in English. This happened towards the end of last year. My class was doing their mock trial and it was chock full of latin jargon. I distinctly remember the phrase "bona fide" within the trail packet and by checking into it, I realized that it meant "good faith". This helped make the mock trial richer and I gleaned a greater understanding of the trial because of it.

4) The fourth way Latin has helped me has been in sentence structure. The first time I really noticed this was a few weeks ago, when reading the Odyssey. By going over concepts such as participles, tense, and voice, I now possess a greater mastery of English sentence structure. In sentences like "the running man" and "I should have threatened" (with running and threatened being the participles), I can understand the parts of speech and usage. This is all due to Latin and breaking down its sentence structure.

5) And finally, the fifth way Latin has helped me is in my understanding of Latin headings on buildings. This occured while on a trip to DC last year. My knowledge of Latin helped me read the seal of the National Archives. It says "littera scripta manet". This means the written word remains, signifying the importance of physical documents. This, again, helped gain a greater understanding of the place we were in and helped increase the richness of the experience.

All in all, Latin has had many uses in my life, both practical and not. Mostly it has increased my understanding of a place and context and increased my enjoyment of an experience. But there are several instances of its more concrete uses, most notably my English sentence structure. Latin is so pervasive, especially now, that it's hard to go anywhere without finding a reference. I do not regret taking this course, even if it's not as plainly useful in terms of spoken communication, its uses and references are ingrained on the surface of our language, our culture, and our history. I encourage everyone who is able to take this course.

Latin: Why it is the best

Jaclyn Miles

First and foremost, Latin has been the most helpful within different classes and aspects of life than I've observed in other languages. It's all around us every day and many don't even notice, but here are five examples which you or anyone could observe:

1) In general, lots of the English language are derived from Latin roots. That means that while in English, I can understand and interpret certain vocabulary words. A showing of this is the word "colloquial". I didn't necessarily know what this meant when I first saw it. But, I then learned the word "colloquium" in Latin and that helped my understanding of it. This is only one example, and there are many more words that I have been able to decipher due to taking Latin.

2) Recently, we just finished reading the Odyssey and Latin was quite helpful during that period because I could relate the events that happened in the book. We discussed the Trojan War and that is practically the basis of the story. So, because of my prior knowledge of the war from Latin class, I was able to connect points that Mr. Flickinger was referring to. Also, the story of Orestes and killing his mother was mentioned a few times, and because we talked about it in class, I was able to know what the characters were alluding to.

3) As I mentioned before, Latin is around us every day with us not even noticing. Earlier during the year, we did a mottos project which was us choosing one motto of an organization or college with Latin in their motto. I learned that a lot of companies usually have Latin mottos or words that have Latin roots. So, whenever their slogan or motto comes on TV, I am able to comprehend/translate it with much thought. Also, some brand names are Latin/Greek based such as Trident gum. That obviously refers to the god Poseidon and his symbol of the Trident. Through that blog post project, I'm also able to recognize connections in Greek mythology to products I use.

4) In chapel and at my church, there is an extremely common song with the lyrics "Dona Nobis Pacem" etc.. I never knew what that meant. Though, because I have been taking Latin, I was able to try and figure out the meaning of the lyrics which is "Grant us Peace". I also do this with other songs and Latin phrases that churches typically use.

5) Not only has Latin helped me in English, but overall understanding other languages like Spanish. I've been able to help and figure out certain words in Spanish due to them being derived from Latin. An example of this happening was one of my friends asked me what "easy" was in Spanish and I answered "facilis" knowing that was easy in Latin. I actually was quite close because the actual way to say "easy" in Spanish is "facile". They are quite similar and I was opened to the fact that there are so many other words in Spanish that are extremely similar to Latin. This happened in 8th grade when I was still fairly new to how expansive Latin.

In all, I would definitely recommend taking Latin in the future for even just a single course. It has been proven helpful in a lot of aspects of my life. Many may think that just because it's a dead language that it no longer shows up anywhere. But, they couldn't be more wrong and taking Latin has overall been a great eye-opening experience.

Latin Helps Us All the Time

Grant Williams

Latin in the Modern USA

In an almost ironic twist, the Latin class has helped me through so much. I was in sixth grade, and the Spanish teacher thoroughly ignored my accomodations, even after multiple meetings with the learning specialist. Then the Latin preview came around. I saw students whose interests aligned with mine, and so I said "It cannot be any worse than this." I would now describe it as a "Caesar at the Rubicon" scenario.



1. NCIS
In one of my favorite shows, NCIS, the main character, Agent Gibbs, is a former marine. He meets many other marines in the process of countless investigations. When he meets somebody who he thinks is a marine he'll say "Semper fidelis", which translates as "Always faithful". If they are a marine, they'll typically reply "Hoorah". Latin helps decipher some of the military jargon in that show.


2. DC
In the Nation's capital, there is Latin everywhere. There might as well be a hidden Rome. On the monuments, there are no Base 10 numbers (Arabic number system). They only carve Roman numerals into the eternal tributes. When I went to the Lincoln Memorial over Thanksgiving break, the founding dates of all the states are inscribed in massive font around the top of the monument. Although I could not read them, I knew how to read the last few digits. And then there's the Senate.


3. US Space Force Logo
In the US Space Force logo, which admittedly looks like somebody liked the Starfleet logo, there are Roman numerals signifying the founding date of the organization, MMXIX. I saw this while browsing twitter, and I couldn't stop laughing that somebody had the gall to put numbers under the Starfleet logo and call it the sixth branch of the US military.

4. Matilda Song
In the Upper School musical, Matilda, there is a song ominously titled "The Hammer". In it, there is mildly real Latin. It reads "BAMBINATUM EST MAGITUM, CIRCULUM EST DEUM". Which translates, confusingly, to "Children are maggots*, and Circle is god." I was confused by these lyrics, with only the second bit being real Latin.

*Not real Latin. I thought magitum was a form of "magister". A real translation would be "Liberi sunt vermiculos". However, magitum sounds like maggots, so they chose that. The second one is real Latin.

5. Te Pesce Verbero

My friends all take Latin, so our motto is Te Pesce Verbero. It translates as "I beat you with a fish." This strange call to arms came about in 7th grade Latin class, when we had studied a unit that had "beat" as one of the main verbs. We then began to force the Spanish students to learn the superior language, regardless of whether they wanted to or not.

5 Ways Latin has Helped Me

Latin has helped me throughout many different classes and outside of school. In English I, Latin has constantly helped me understand the book, The Odyssey. The book is based on Greek and Roman mythology, and also uses Roman numerals, so I was able to grasp a better understanding of the book with my connections to Latin. Latin has helped me understand many gods/goddesses and their capabilities, myths, etc. Outside of class, Latin has also helped me expand my vocabulary, and be introduced to better, more descriptive words. For example, while having conversation with teachers, I started to use the term loquacious, which is derived from the Latin word loquo, which we learned in class. Latin has also helped me understand 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person language. Before I joined Latin, I was always confused on the differences between speaking in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person, but because of the charts we used in Latin, I easily learned that 1st is I and we, 2nd is you or y'all, and 3rd is he/she/it or they. For special words that use a different plural form that we are not really used to, Latin has also helped me with that. Now, I don't know if this is completely right, but in Latin, the plural ending for a -us ending is -i. In English, some words that end with -us end with -i as their plural form, like cactus to cacti, instead of "cactuses." Finally, Latin has also simply just helped me understand Roman life, including history, weapons, etc. In English, when we were reading The Odyssey, it starrs Odysseus, who leaves to fight in the Trojan War with famous characters like Agamemnon, and throughout the book, Odysseus usually uses many old-fashioned weapons like a hasta, or spear. In these cases, Latin has just helped me gain a deeper understanding of all of this, like knowing what the Trojan War is, knowing what a hasta is, etc. Latin has helped me in many different situations, and I hope to continue to learn through the class.