Lectio septima decima

Cupiō locustam

I want lobster

Ubi prandēre possumus?

Where can we have lunch?

Hospitēs in trīclīniō prandent. Quot estis?

Guests have lunch in the dining room. How many are you?

Quattuor sumus.

We are four.

Assīdite ad hanc mēnsam1.

Sit down at this table.

Maria! Affer2 omnia ad prandium quattuor convīvārum necessāriā3. Convīvae in trīclīniō sunt.

Maria! Bring everything (all-things) necessary for lunch for (of) four guests (table-companions). The guests (table-companions) are in the dining room.

Maria est nōmen famulae. Famula quattuor catīnōs affert...

Maria is the name of the servant. The servant brings four plates…

Apud ūnumquemque catīnum, pōnit pōculum, cultrum, cochlear, fuscinulamque4 ūnam.

Next to each plate, she places one glass, knife, spoon, and fork.

Quid edere cupitis? Hic est cibōrum index.

What do you wish to eat? Here is the menu (list of-foods).

Parvus Victor indicem capit et respondet:

Little Victor takes the menu and answers:

Ego cupiō locustam5 jūre armoricānō, deinde lepōrem6 vel cunīculum assum vēnātōriō mōre, dēnique crustulum7 cum malīs.

I want (wish-for) lobster à la armoricaine (in Armorican sauce), then roasted hare or rabbit chasseur (in hunting manner), [and] finally apple pie (pastry with apples).

Māter īrāta colaphum Victōrī dūcit, dīcēns:

The angered mother slaps Victor (leads a slap to Victor), saying:

Nimia8 cupis! Nōbīs satis erunt, pānis, ōva, cāseum9.

You want too many things. Bread, eggs, [and] cheese will be enough for us.

Notes

  1. Assidite: imperative, 2nd pers. pl. of assido (is, ere), to sit down. Mensa, the table on which one eats; do you recall the tabula multiplicatoria (L 6, N 1).

  2. Affer, imperative, 2nd pers. sg. of affero, composed of ad, towards, and fero (fers, ferre), to carry; and conjugated as the latter. Fero and its compounds have their place in the series of irregular verbs. Do not forget that in all languages, by virtue of the law of maximum inconvenience, it is precisely the irregular verbs that are the most often used (if they were not used much, they would be replaced sooner or later by regular verbs). Moreover, you should not be afraid to use them, even if you get muddled in their conjugation. Little by little, they will become familiar to you, and as these verbs are very useful, your efforts will be rewarded.

  3. Omnia necessaria is a neuter plural: all things necessary. You will see later that this form is easily recognizable from the form in a of the feminine singular, thanks to the other words of the sentence, and even here thanks to omnia which can only be the neuter plural of the pronoun omnis that we saw in the previous lesson.

  4. Fuscinulamque = et fuscinulam. Note that the adjective unam agrees in gender and number with the last term of the enumeration. This is not the only possible construction: we will return to this later. Also notice that the accent migrates to the syllable which precedes the particle que!

  5. Locusta means at the same time lobster (notice the resemblance of both words) and locust.

  6. Leporem, hare, direct object; if it were a subject, it would be lepus; whereas portus, subject, makes portum, object: all words do not vary in the same way. Have patience! What seems disturbing now will soon seem natural to you.

  7. Crustulum, cake, (diminutive of crusta, the crust) is neuter.

  8. Nimia, literally too many things, is a neuter adjective: vide supra notam tertiam (see note 3 above). Vid. sup., see above, is a frequent abbreviation.

  9. Ova. Still a neuter plural (n. pl.). The singular is ovum. If you know Italian, think that the plural of uovo, the egg, is irregular: uova; but it comes directly from a regular Latin form.

    For Caseum, think of the German Käse or the English cheese. Whereas the French word (fromage) and its Italian counterpart (formaggio) come from another Latin root: forma, form, mould.

    You can definitely see that we do not leave the European family!

Exercitatio

Māter pōnit crustulum in catīnō.

Mother puts a pastry on the plate.

Famula lepōrem in trīclīnium affert.

The servant brings the hare into the dining room.

Famulae lepōrēs in trīclīnia afferunt.

The servants bring the hares into the dining rooms.

Lepus sex francīs cōnstat.

The hare costs six francs.

Lepōrēs in trīclīniō prandēre nōn cupiunt.

The hares don’t wish to have lunch in the dining room.

Quantī cōnstat locusta? — Decem francīs!

How much does the lobster cost? — Ten francs!

Nimiō cōnstat.

It costs too much.

Quis est hic cibus?

What is this dish (food)?

Cibum quem cupiō, in indice nōn inveniō.

I can’t find the dish I want (wish) on the menu.