The Book 'Latina Pro Populo (Latin For People)'...

Anybody ever hear of the book Latina Pro Populo (Latin For People) by Alexander and Nicholas Humez? I think the two brothers were drunk as they wrote it. Or high. Maybe they were just high on life, I don't know. But you know, it's still a good book.

It gives you an interesting insight into the language. And when you're done reading the book, you can get a working understanding of Latin. In fact, you can basically speak it at that point. Isn't that amazing?

Here are some of the more memorable phrases from the book:


BELLVM IN GALLIA MALVM,
SED IN METELA TAETRVM.

"A war in France is bad. But a war in a chamber pot is horrible."


MVNDVS ADVLTERI TRIQVETRVS.

"The adulterer's world is three-cornered."


O FILII ET FILIAE GALLIAE,
MALA BRITANNIAE TAETRA!

"O sons and daughters of France! The apples of England are foul!"


IN BRITANNIA, ADVLTER
PVELLIS BONOS LIBROS DAT,
SED IN GALLIA, CANCROS.

"In England the adulterer gives the girls good books. In France, crabs.


VNVS BONVS, ALTER MALVS,
SED NEVTER TRIQVETRVS.

"One is good, the other bad. But neither is three-cornered."

(BTW, it teaches you Latin from the classical perspective. That is why they use the word Britannia, which translates loosely as "England".)

 

My understanding of the word Latina is a female Hispanic. Around here most speak English and Spanish.

 

Also in Latin For People, Alexander Humez shows many of the unique features of Latin. Some words resemble each other. In fact they are spelled the exact same way, though they are different words. He said when that happens, you just have to ask yourself, what are they probably trying to say?

For example, he has:

Liberī, liberī adulterī.

"The children of Bacchus are adulterers." Liber is another form of Bacchus. And the word for free becomes "children" in the plural: "liberi". And the sentence makes sense when you know that.

Also, I don't think it's in that book. But I've heard "viri sunt viri", men are slime. Again, viri is the plural of vir, men. And the plural of virus is viri. Virus meaning poison, something noxious, slime. (I know I probably made a couple of mistakes above, because I am partly writing this from memory. So please feel free to correct me.)

Also, while I have the chance I wanted to point out that "illegitimi non carborundum" doesn't mean anything in Latin. People once thought it was Latin for "don't let the bastards wear you down". It is not. The insult word for bastard in Latin is irrumator. And carborundum is just silicon carbide, a hard chemical compound containing silicon and carbon used for sanding.