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