Reading Latin, Peter V. Jones and Keith C. Sidwell
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A Review by Jennifer Marshall
Reading Latin (Cambridge University Press, 1986), by Peter V. Jones
and Keith C. Sidwell, consists of two books: the Text, and Grammar,
Vocabulary and Exercises. An Independent Study Guide to "Reading Latin"
(Cambridge University Press, 2000), is also available. The course is intended
for students in years 11-12 or university, and takes one to two years.
The texts are carefully graded, and adapted at the start.
They are from Classical Latin writers, and are divided into two parts:
Plautus and the Roman comic tradition (dialogues in colloquial Latin from
three of Plautus' plays), and The demise of the Roman Republic (prose by
Cicero, Sallust, Caelius, and Caesar, and poetry by Catullus, Lucretius, Virgil,
Horace, and Ovid).
For most of the book, each section of the Grammar, Vocabulary and
Exercises contains:
- Running vocabulary: all the words not yet learned that are needed to
read the section in the Text;
- Learning vocabulary;
- Grammar: new forms and explanations, followed by exercises to reinforce
them (e.g. declining, conjugating, forming comparatives and superlatives);
includes cross-references to places where similar concepts have been/will be
explained;
- Further exercises: e.g. translating, reading, and deciding the function
of particular words in a sentence (some exercises are optional);
- Deliciae Latinae ("Latin Delights"),
with several of the following in each section:
- Word exercise: giving Latin connections for English words derived
from the section's vocabulary;
- Word building: explanations and examples of Latin or English
affixes, e.g. how various Latin nouns are formed from adjectives or
verbs;
- Everyday Latin: common abbreviations and sayings from Latin;
- Word study: how various Latin words have come into English directly
from Latin or via French, and also how more Latin words have been formed
from the root word (e.g. in section 3C the word studied is pes,
pedis meaning "foot". It is related to the Greek pous,
podos, from which come our words octopus and antipodes.
The Latin word ped is a root of expedio = "I free my
foot from a trap", from which we get expedient; and
of impedio = "I put feet in shackles", from
which comes impedimentum = "hindrance". Piedmont
literally means "at the foot of the mountains"; and pedigree is
from the French pié de grue from Latin pes de grus, which
means "foot of a crane", and got its meaning from the mark like a bird's
foot used to show succession.);
- Real Latin: short passages from the Vulgate; sayings or short
passages from Roman writers; mottoes; and more.
Towards the end of the book, some of these things are not included. The
exercises at the end are mostly scanning poetry, grammar having been covered.
The student is taught right from the start to read Latin in the order in
which it is written, rather than hunting for the subject, then verb, then
object, and trying to sort out all the other words.
No previous knowledge of Latin (or English) grammar is necessary, though it
is a great help to understand the basics. There is a glossary of grammatical
terms at the beginning of the Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises, and a
reference grammar at the end. There is also a list of vocabulary, and an
appendix containing a brief history of the Latin language, including how it
developed into the Romance languages (French, Italian, etc.), and how it has
come into English.
An Independent Study Guide to "Reading Latin" is for students working
with little or no help from a teacher, and for students working rapidly and
intensively through the course. It includes notes on and translations of the
texts, answers to all exercises except the optional ones, and translations of
the Deliciae Latinae where necessary.
Copyright © Jennifer Marshall 2004
