Lectio tricesima altera

Socrus martis diē salūtātiōnī sē dare solet

My mother-in-law usually receives guests on Tuesdays

Guīdō1! Propera, quaesō! Indue pulchrās vestēs!

Guy! Hurry, please! Put on [your good] (beautiful) clothes!

Vae mihi! Fessus ex officiō redeō. Tōtō diē fōcālī cōnstrictus2 aestuāre3 coāctus sum4.

Woe [is] (to) me! I'm coming back from the office exhausted. I've been forced to smother all day, constricted by [my] tie.

Rēctor administrōs5 suōs vexāre solet... et calceī novī mihi pedēs ūrunt6.

The boss is-in-the-habit-of tyrannizing his employees … and [my] new shoes [hurt my feet] (to-me feet burn).

Domī soleātus7 et sine fōcālī mē quiētūrum esse spērābam. Tū omnia mea cōnsilia perturbās.

At home, in sandals and without a tie, I was hoping to rest (fut. inf.). You are upsetting all my plans.

Mel meum8, cūr ita loqueris? Nōnne scīs mātrem9 meam hodiē vespere fīliās et generōs ad sē receptūram?

Honey (mine), why do you speak so? Don't you know [that] my mother (today in-the-evening) [will be receiving her] daughters and sons-in-law [this evening] (to herself going-to-receive)? (future part.).

Hujus molestiae oblītus eram.

I had forgotten (of) this bother.

Mementō! Dominicō diē nōs in perendinum diem invītāvit, tūtē10 prōmīsistī.

Remember! On Sunday she invited us [around] (for) the day after tomorrow, [and] you yourself [promised] (accepted).

Vēra dīxistī. Immō, heri eam in Via Rēgālī offendī11, quae mihi dīxit:

You spoke [truly] (true-things). What's more, yesterday I ran into her in the King's Road, [and she] (who) said to me:

«Cārissimē gener, quantō gaudiō nōbīs erit vōs crās revīsere»; nec recūsāvī.

“Dearest son-in-law, (for) what a great joy it will be to us to see you[pl.] again tomorrow”; and I did not demur.

Praetereā mē fugere nōn dēbuit socrum Mārtis diē salūtātiōnī sē dare solēre.

Besides, [I should have known] (me to-flee not it-ought) [that my] mother-in-law is [in the habit of receiving guests] on Tuesday[s] (to-greetings herself to-give to-be-accustomed).

Hebētī memoriā es ... sī dē rēbus molestīs agitur.

[You have a bad memory] (By dull memory you-are) … if [it has to do with] (concerning) bothering things (it-is-dealt [with]).

Diēs hebdomadis12 vocantur: Lūnae diēs, Mārtis diēs, Mercuriī diēs, Jovis diēs, Veneris diēs, Sāturnī13 diēs, Dominicus diēs vel Dominica.

The days of the week are called: Monday (Moon's day), Tuesday (Mars' day, the Anglo-Saxon Tyr), Wednesday (Mercury's day, the Germanic Woden or Odin), Thursday (Jupiter's day, i.e. Thor), Friday (Venus' day, the goddess Frige or Freyja), Saturday (Saturn's day), [and] day of the Lord or Sunday (Sun’s day).

Dīīs pāgānōrum sex priōrēs14 diēs dicātī15 sunt, scīlicet: Lūnae, Mārtī, Mercuriō, Jovī, Venerī, Sāturnō.

The first six days are dedicated to pagan gods, viz.: to the Moon, to Mars, to Mercury, to Juppiter, to Venus, [and] to Saturn.

Septimus autem diēs ā chrīstiānīs Dominō dicātus est quia «complēvit Deus diē septimō opus suum quod fēcerat, et requiēvit»16 (Liber Genesis, IĪ, 2).

The seventh day on the other hand was dedicated to the Lord by the Christians because “on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he rested” (Book of Genesis II,2).

Notes

  1. Guido, gen. Guidonis, Guy (a French name, Italian Guido).

  2. Focale, -is, n., item worn around the throat (fauces, -ium, f. pl.).

  3. Æstuare (1st conj. present ind.: aestuo, aestuas, etc.) to be hot, to smother, a verb which is good to know and which has a commonly used derivative which we will find tomorrow.

  4. Cogi, passive of cogo, -is, -ere, coegi, coactum, to force to…, which we have seen in L. 30, P. 6. The perfect participle clearly shows the origin of the verb (cum + agere).

  5. (Ad)minister, -tri, m. (f. (ad)ministra, -ae), servant, employee: ministers are, or should be, the servants of the State, of rites, etc.

  6. Urere, to burn, but also to make suffer, is a 3rd conjugation verb that we've seen L. 20, P. 9, and which we will see again.

  7. Solea, -ae, f., light indoor footwear. Calceus, -i, m., footwear worn for going out and which is removed in the house.

  8. Mel, mellis, n., honey. Compare mel meum to the way we also say in English honey or even sugar (because honey was formerly used to replace sugar) as a term of endearment!

  9. Mater, -tris, f., (3rd declension), mother; but gener, -eri, m., (2nd decl.), son-in-law, perhaps from the same family as genus (L. 30, N. 12). Likewise socer, -eri, father-in-law; its feminine socrus, -us (see below, P. 10), mother-in-law, belongs to the 4th declension, which we will review tomorrow.

  10. Perendinus dies, the day after tomorrow, posterus dies, the following day; hesternus dies, the preceding day. The corresponding adverbs are: perendié, the day after tomorrow; cras, tomorrow; heri, yesterday.— Tute, or tute ipse, yourself, in person.

  11. Offendo, -is, -ere, -i, -sum (perfect offendi, offendisti; supine offensum), to meet suddenly.

  12. Hebdomas, -adis, f., or hebdomada, -ae, f., week.

  13. Luna, -ae, f., the Moon; Mars, Martis, m., Mars; Mercurius, -ii, m., Mercury; Jupiter, Jovis, m., Jupiter (note the brevity of the cases other than the nominative); Venus, -eris, f., Venus; Saturnus, -i, m, Saturn.

    N.B.— We have followed here the contemporary civil usage, which calls for weeks to begin on Monday. However, according to its biblical origins, the week begins Sunday, and, further down, the seventh day mentioned in P. 14 is, in fact, the Sabbath day, i.e. Saturday.

  14. Primus, -a, -um, the first, that which is number 1. Here not this adjective but its comparative, prior, -oris (n. prius, -oris), should be used, since the first six days are compared with the last. Diis, abl. pl. of deus, -i, god.

  15. Dicatus, -a, -um: past participle of dico, -as, -áre, -avi, -atum, to dedicate (1st conjugation), which should not be confused with díco, -is, -ere, dixi, dictum (3rd), to say. They can be distinguished by the pronunciation (short i and long á in the infinitive for the first, and long í and short e in the infinitive for the second). Note also the tonic accent: dicare and dicere. If you've forgotten the relationship between “quantity” and the tonic accent, reread the preface (p. XIV).

  16. Requiesco, -is, -ere, -quievi, -quietum (3rd conjugation), to rest, perfect requievi, -isti, etc.; future requiescam, requiesces, requiescet, etc.: present subj. requiescam, requiescas, requiescat, etc. You know perhaps the formula requiescat in pace, may he/she rest in peace, which can be read on some tombstones (pronunciation: Italian: pache; Latin: pahke; requiescant if more than one person is meant). The simple verb: quiescere (same conjugation), means to be at rest.

Exercitatio

Lūnae diē in opere hebdomadem incipimus.

On Monday we begin the week at work.

Mārtis diē generī cum uxōribus socrūs domum adeunt. Ā socrū recipiuntur.

On Tuesday the sons-in-law with [their] wives go to the home of [their] mother-in-law. They are received by [their] mother-in-law.

Mercuriī diē hesternae receptiōnis molestiārum oblītī sunt.

On Wednesday they have forgotten the annoyances of the previous day's reception.

Jovis diē fīnem hebdomadis prōspicere incipiunt.

On Thursday they begin to look forward to the end of the week.

Veneris diē rēctōrēs multī administrōs suōs convocant.

On Friday many bosses convene their employees.

Quid diēbus praeteritīs fēcerint quaerunt. Quae proximā hebdomade efficiendā sint cōnstituunt.

They ask what they have done (perf. subj.) on the [preceding] (past) days. They decide what is to be accomplished the next week.

Sāturnī diēs sabbatum quoque vocātur.

Saturday is also called the Sabbath.

Dominicō diē quiēscere dēbēmus. Attamen proximam hebdomadem prōspicere et quae praeterita hebdomade didicimus, revīsere possumus.

On Sundays we ought to be at rest. Nevertheless we can look ahead to the next week and review what we have learned on the preceding week.