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.