Re:Global Latinists
by Jun8 on Monday February 05, 2018 @02:33AM
(#16307214)
Fascinating article! I wish a similar change had come over Ancient Greek studies, too. My experience was that intro classes was an impatient way to half-read Platon. I once asked our instructor, a TA who was wrapping up his PhD in Classics, how to say “It’s raining” in A. Greek and he didn’t have a clue, such a question never occurred to him. And studying later texts, such as the Souda was not even considered.
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Re:Global Latinists
by thaumasiotes on Monday February 05, 2018 @05:54AM
(#16307986)
> such a question never occurred to him
This question is basically just "what's the verb for 'rain'?". The syntax is exactly what you'd expect.
As it happens, the word is very well documented ( http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%... ), but it's not obvious that your TA should have been reading about rain. You know the words you use frequently.
If you asked someone who specialized in the Eleusinian mysteries, which involved the command "rain!" given to the sky by the participants, they would have had no trouble telling you how to say "it's raining". If you asked someone who had been reading the Iliad, they'd be able to tell you all kinds of words for spears, fighting, armor, walls, and viscera, but rain might not come up as frequently.