A.W.A.D. - Five Latin Words

By Anu Garg
www.wordsmith.org

The magic of technology is spreading. What we couldn't even imagine only a few years ago is now possible. With just a few clicks of a mouse, someone in one corner of the world can make contact with a fellow human being thousands of miles away and offer to sell her cheap Via gra.

In the beginning, most of the spam was in English, but now they are branching out. Can you imagine the suits in their boardrooms at Spam, Inc. plotting the strategy, "We have to diversify our offerings in local languages to broaden our reach."

There's a positive side to it though. Comparing these pieces of junk mail with the English version can improve one's knowledge of foreign languages. Example:

From: Mariam Abachha
Subject: Envie d'associé avec vous...
Translation: Nigerian loot now offered in exquisitely fractured French

So far I haven't received any spam in Latin, but the day can't be far off. Until spammers catch up on Latin, let us this week peruse a few words from that ancient language.

ex libris
PRONUNCIATION: (eks LEE-bris, LI-)
MEANING:
1. From the library of (a phrase inscribed in a book followed by the name of the book owner)
2. A bookplate

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin ex libris (from the books), from ex- (from) + liber (book)

in medias res
PRONUNCIATION: (in MAY-dee-uhs rays, in MEE-dee-uhs REEZ, in MAY-dee-as RAYS)
MEANING: adverb: In the middle of things

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin in medias res, from in (in, into) + medius (middle) + res (thing). A related term is ab ovo (from the beginning, literally, from the egg). Both come from Horace's Ars Poetica (Art of Poetry), where the Roman poet advises that an epic poem ought to begin in the middle of the action rather than at the beginning. The story is then told by flashbacks.

dramatis personae
PRONUNCIATION: (DRAM-uh-tis puhr-SO-nee)
MEANING: noun:
1. The characters in a play or story
2. The people involved in an event

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin dramatis personae (persons of the drama), from drama (play) + persona (mask, character in a play, person)

lares and penates
PRONUNCIATION: (LAR-eez and puh-NAY-teez)
MEANING: noun:
1. Household gods: the benevolent gods in an ancient Roman household
2. Household goods: a family's treasured possessions

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin Lares et Penates, from Lares, plural of Lar (in Roman mythology, the deity or spirit who protected a household) + et (and) + Penates (deities of the household that were believed to bring wealth), from penus (provisions, interior of a house).In an ancient Roman home a shrine for the guardian spirits was called lararium.

ex parte
PRONUNCIATION: (eks PAHR-tee)
MEANING: adverb: Involving one side only

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin ex parte (from a side)

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