Anyone here speak Latin?

[Australis]

Well, a lot of tv these days seems to me like the gladiatorial games, so the latin for that or circus might work.

ANd a lot is ludicrous, so that fits too.

Maybe a phrase that combines these things rather than one word: sometimes ludicrous, sometimes dangerous, sometimes a fable.

 

[John Picard]

I took four years of Latin in Junior High and High School, but we never actually spoke it. While, as a writer, I enjoy language in general, I stuck with it mainly because of the teacher we had in High School, and his ramblings and digressions and asides-- to this day, he is the single smartest person I have ever met face to face. He's even smarter than me.

As for translating "entertainment" into Latin, you could always use panem et circenses, of course; but for a less cynical approach there's also effectus, theatrum or fabula.

Medieval Latin was the most fun. The Latin teacher spent three years teaching us proper Latin and then on the fourth year, we have to translate stuff that looks like it was written by first year students

 

[Non Sync]

I took two years of Latin in high school so that I wouldn't have to worry about bumping into someone that actually spoke it!

 

[scotpens]

I recall my former Latin teacher saying that one of oral Latin exams she had to pass involved debating a topic involving modern things using Latin. So she had to translate concepts like television, telephones, etc, etc into a plausible Latin equivalent while discussing whatever the topic was, all on-the-fly. So I guess it can still relevantly be used as a spoken language, if you need to, though some of the phrasing would be clunky (stuff like "viewing box" for TV, for instance).

That would be an interesting exam... Adaptive translation of concepts into a language which predates them combined with the BS quotient necessary of a debate/positioning oral presentation. Sounds like fun.

That's essentially what the creators of modern Hebrew did. Hebrew was revived and modernized by forward-thinking Zionists in the 19th century, in anticipation of its becoming the vernacular tongue of the future State of Israel. Although based on the classical Hebrew of the Bible and Talmud, modern Hebrew is as much a constructed language as Esperanto.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

My Collins Latin dictionary has "acroama" (entertainment or entertainer), "oblectamentum" (amusement), and "hospitium" (hospitality).

As for the Latin word for television, I don't think the Romans would have felt it beneath them to call it the partly Greek "televisiorum" rather than "tenuvisiorum". The movies could be "kinema" -- again from Greek.

 

[Goliath]

I took two years of Latin in high school so that I wouldn't have to worry about bumping into someone that actually spoke it!

What--you were worried that you'd be walking down a dark alley some night, and a mugger would jump out, and say: "Da mihi tuam peram, irrumator!"



(I probably got that all wrong. My Latin crumbled into a pile of rust years ago.)

 

[John Picard]

I took two years of Latin in high school so that I wouldn't have to worry about bumping into someone that actually spoke it!

What--you were worried that you'd be walking down a dark alley some night, and a mugger would jump out, and say: "Da mihi tuam peram, irrumator!"



(I probably got that all wrong. My Latin crumbled into a pile of rust years ago.)

An apt response would be "Abi in malem crucem!"

 

[Brent]

I took 2 years of Latin in HS, and I can't remember a thing about it now, except how to properly pronounce Ceaser.

 

[Goliath]

^That can be a disadvantage in real life.

"You want a what salad?"

 

[John Picard]

^That can be a disadvantage in real life.

"You want a what salad?"

Et tu, Brute?

 

[trampledamage]

Just how is Caesar correctly pronounced then?

 

[John Picard]

Just how is Caesar correctly pronounced then?

Ky-sar

 

[trampledamage]

As in "Soze"? Hmm...

 

[Goliath]

Just how is Caesar correctly pronounced then?

Ky-sar

Ah, but IIRC, that's how it's pronounced in classical Latin.

In ecclesiastical Latin, it's something like "chess-ar"

 

[CaptainKen]

Sometimes the answer is closer than we realize. The English word "entertainment" is derived from Latin! The word came into English through Norman/French influence, the verb form being entretenir from the Latin tenere, meaning "to hold." To entertain is to hold attention or keep the audience's attention. An entertaining movie is one that keeps you glued to the screen, on the edge of your seat, totally captivated. So you actually answered your own question!

"Entertainment" is from Latin, but if you want it to sound more Latin, maybe one of the Latin students on this thread can convert tenere into a noun of result. If I was to take a stab at it I would guess something like tenerementum, but I'm only guessing based on knowledge of Greek, French and English. To convey the same basic meaning as the English word entertainment, I think what you want is a Latin noun meaning "that which holds/keeps (attention)."

I'm surprised your not out in the Forum looking for a Vulcan or Klingon translation of the word!

 

[Timby]

Just how is Caesar correctly pronounced then?

Ky-sar

Ah, but IIRC, that's how it's pronounced in classical Latin.

In ecclesiastical Latin, it's something like "chess-ar"

Correct. In classical Latin, all "C" and "G" sounds are pronounced hard, and all "V" sounds are pronounced like a "W." In ecclesiastical Latin, "C" in front of a vowel (except "o") or diphthong is pronounced with a "ch" sound, as in "chess," and "G" in front of certain vowels ("E," "I" or "Y," if my memory is correct) is pronounced like a "J."

 

[Lookingglassman]

Semper Fi

 

[Zulu Romeo]

^That can be a disadvantage in real life.

"You want a what salad?"

Et tu, Brute?

... but I couldn't manage a third one.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I studied Latin pretty well in high school and I still practiced it through college, but nowadays I'm afraid it's a bit rusty. Having Italian as my first language, however, still gives me a bit of an edge.

As Count Zero and others already suggested, my translation would be "ludi". "Acroama" would be good, too, but it would sound very prententious. "Entertainment business" would be something like "industria ludorum".

Just how is Caesar correctly pronounced then?

Kaeh-sar in Classical Latin, Cheh-sar in Ecclesiastical Latin. Stress on the first syllable.

 

[Brent]

Ky-sar

Ah, but IIRC, that's how it's pronounced in classical Latin.

In ecclesiastical Latin, it's something like "chess-ar"

Correct. In classical Latin, all "C" and "G" sounds are pronounced hard, and all "V" sounds are pronounced like a "W." In ecclesiastical Latin, "C" in front of a vowel (except "o") or diphthong is pronounced with a "ch" sound, as in "chess," and "G" in front of certain vowels ("E," "I" or "Y," if my memory is correct) is pronounced like a "J."

I learned the Classical then, cause that is what I learned, all those letters are hard.