The Others

The word "alien" comes directly from the Latin adjective alienus: of another place, person; unfamiliar; hostile; insane.
Alienus comes from the adjective alius: other, another.

Harry Potter

You probably all know that Harry Potter is riddled with Latin references. Well, here's a fun experience I had last semester while I was rereading Harry Potter 6.

One night, after studying Latin vocab with a friend for a couple hours, I was reading the chapter where Hermione and Harry find Ron snogging with Lavender Brown. Hermione gets upset and screams out "oppugno" and some birds start attacking Ron. When I read this I started screaming because I had just learned that oppugno means to fight against or to attack.

That came straight from Latin my friends.

Finger Counting

Roman numerals came about because of finger counting. It seems obvious for 1, 2, and 3 (I, II, III), but what about 5 and 10? I mean a "v" and an "x" don't seem like fingers. Ha! Look below.

Holding up five fingers looked like a "v" to the Romans and when you hold up two of those together you get "x." Now you'll never forget what these Roman numerals mean!

*According to my Latin teacher, this is legit.

And

So this post is about the ampersand, otherwise known as &.

If you don't already know, the ampersand in English, means and. In Latin, et.

The ampersand was actually created as a way to write et in a cursive-like way. The font I chose actually shows the "e" and "t" pretty well, but it didn't always look like it does now. You can see the evolution of the ampersand here. 

So every time you use an ampersand you are really saying et.

The Orient

The word "orient" comes from the Latin verb orior meaning to rise, to spring. So what does that have to do with Asia? Well, the sun rises in the East. So Asia, or the Orient, is where the sun rises.

Apparently, people used to call the West, the Occident, from the verb occido meaning to fall, to set (also to die or be ruined), but I've never heard the phrase used before, so this is just an extra, fun fact.

Cool, right?

P.S. My sister says I've turned into the guy from My Big Fat Greek Wedding who's always telling everyone that everything comes from Greek. Hmm . . .

Republic

The word republic comes from two words in Latin.

The word res means "matter, business, affair, circumstance, thing etc."

Publicus is an adjective meaning "of the state, common, public"

Together = public matters, state business

In Latin, they used it together, but as two separate words. 

My Favorite Trivia

When I learned about this it blew my mind.

So you know when you were in elementary/jr high/high school and your teacher would tell you that if you left something out in a hand written paper you should draw a little "v"  and then write what you wanted to insert?

Your teacher told you it was called a "carrot" mark, right? And that made sense to you because the "v" kind of looks like a carrot, right?

Wrong! It's real name is a caret mark. It comes from the verb careo, meaning to lack. So caret means, it lacks.

Crazy, right?

We'll start with the obvious

Some Latin has an obvious presence in our language. By obvious I mean that the Latin is still in its original form and English hasn't changed it so that it looks like an original English word. Make sense?

Abbreviations
i.e.
Stands For: id est
Meaning: that is (to say)

e.g.
Stands For: exempli gratia
Meaning: for the sake of an example, for example

etc.
Stands For: et cetera
Meaning: and the rest


a.m.
Stands For: ante meridiem
Meaning: before midday

p.m.
Stands For: post meridiem
Meaning: after midday

RIP
Stands For: requiescat in pace
Meaning: may he/she/it rest in peace. From the verb "requiesco" in the subjunctive* 3rd person singular. "Pace" is the ablative* form of pax, meaning peace.
Luckily it translates very nicely with the same initials and same meaning in English.


Phrases
per diem
Literal: for the day
Modern Meaning: a business stipend for necessary items

exit 
Literal: he/she/it goes out.  From the verb exeo conjugated in 3rd person singular
Modern Meaning: A verb with the meaning to leave, or a noun meaning a place to leave.


alter ego
Literal: the other/a second I/me
Modern Meaning: another self, a second identity

ad hoc
Literal: for this
Modern Meaning: for this purpose only

sic
Literal: thus
Modern Meaning: Used to show that some mistake in writing was already there and isn't a typo.

via
Literal: road, journey, method. In the ablative, by way of
Modern Meaning: by way of

That's it for now. I don't want to give away all my knowledge. I have to have something left for next week you know.

* See side panel "Explanation of Grammar Terms"