Ducentesimum Undevicesimum Latinum Verbum Diei: September 5, 2010

[Christina Wallin]

Theme for this month: Glimpses of Language Shift

The LVD is back, after a month's break! The words from this month
(and most likely several subsequent months as well) come from "Latin
Alive: The Survival of Latin in English and the Romance Languages," by
Joseph Solodow. I have quite enjoyed reading it, for its fascinating
look at the evolution from Indo-European to Latin to the modern-day
Romance languages. This journey in particular is what I will focus
upon for the words this month.

ambo, -ae, -o adj. and pron.

Definition: both, two of a pair

Sententia: Plautus Menaechmi l. 1117-1120
MESS = Messenio Servus
MEN = Menaechmus
SOS = Menaechmus (Sosicles)

MESS. Quid? vos tum patri
filii quot eratis? MEN. Vt nunc maxime memini, duo.
MESS. Vter eratis, tun an ille, maior? MEN. Aeque ambo pares.
MESS. Qui id potest? MEN. Gemini ambo eramus. 1120

Mess: What? Then how many were you your father's sons?
Men: As best I remember now, two.
Mess.Which of the two was older, you or that one?
Men: We were both equally the same (in age).
Mess: How is it possible?
Men: We were both twins.

Titus Maccius Plautus was an early Roman playwright, whose works are
among the earliest in surviving Latin literature. His play Menaechmi
is about a pair of twins, Menaechmus and Menaechmus (Sosicles). The
former Menaechmus was lost abroad when the twins were 7, and because
of this loss, the later twin was renamed Menaechmus. After the latter
twin came of age, he went off to find his lost twin, with his slave
Messenio to help. This scene comes at the very end, when the two
Menaechmi come face to face, and Messenio is helping them realize that
they are in fact twins.

In addition to discriminating between singular and plural, Indo-
European also had a special form for groups of two! The word “ambo,”
along with “duo,” “two,” is a remnant of this dual construction,
marked by the -o ending.

Finally, this being the start of the academic year, it is an excellent
time to suggest the LVD to those whom you think will be interested.
Please tell anyone interested in receiving the LVD to email me at
cawa...@gmail.com, and I will happily put them in the Google group!
That being said, I really do not want to spam you, so if you no longer
are interested in receiving these words, let me know so that I can
take you off of the email list.