Roman World
by Matthew Webb, University of Maryland
Latin Language: Colors and Animals
Welcome back! Today we're going to learn a little bit of Latin. Although very few people speak Latin today, at one time millions of people spoke it. Many languages are completely derived from Latin. These languages, which include French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, and Italian, are known as Romance Languages, from the word Roman. About two-thirds of all English words come from Latin. A good knowledge of Latin words will help you to figure out the meanings of many, many English words!
Let's start off our lesson today by learning the Latin names for the colors. You will see a series of colored boxes below, with the Latin name for the color written in the middle of each box. Try to memorize the Latin names.
Now let's take a look at some animals! The Latin names of the animals are written directly below the pictures. Try to memorize the Latin names.
The Latin verb "est" means "is" in English. Use the Latin words for colors and animals that you just learned to make real Latin sentences describing each of the animals that you see below. The first one is done for you.
Ursa est fusca.
Why is this? Some Latin nouns (like ursa) are called "feminine," which means you must change the ending of the adjective (in this case, brown, or fuscus), from "us" to "a," so that both the noun and the adjective agree. That's why, instead of writing "Ursa est fuscus," I wrote "Ursa est fusca." From now on, I will mark with a *** the pictures where you will need to use a feminine ending for your adjective.
Want to write more than one adjective? For example, is your animal more than one color? Simply use the Latin word "et," which means "and" in English. For example, if you wanted to say that "the bear is brown and black," you would write:
Ursa est fusca et atra.
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Congratulations, you have finished the fifth lesson!
