Tentative Grades

Here are the tentative grades for the two parts of the final exam and then for the year. Once again, because of university privacy regulations, the student numbers have been reduced to their final four digits and then sorted in ascending order. That means that if your number were 1234567 it would be given here as 4567.

                Unseen Trans.       Final Exam     Final Grade

4061                   D                   A-                 C+
5150 B-                  B+                 A-
5846 A                   A                  A
6269 A                   A+                 A+
6272 A                   A+                 A+
6360 C                   C                   C
6739 B-                  C                   B-
7298 B+                 A+                 A
7969 D                   D+                 C+
8453 C                   C                   C+
8645 B                   C                   C+
9149 A-                  A-                 A-

Final Grades

I will not be able to post the tentative final grades until Saturday. They are tentative because they will take several days to work their way through the system and become official.

If, after the grades are posted, you wish to see your exam, send me an e-pistle and we can make an appointment.

Nunc dimittis

I wish everyone a sound sleep (very very important for processing information--brain specialists advise putting sleep above cramming) and a fresh morning.

I regret the need to have final exams, believe me. As an undergraduate I suffered from monstrous exam anxiety, and, after waking up on the morning of an exam one of the first things I would do was go into the bathroom and throw up. I wish there were another way to assess each student's individual ability at the end of the year, without any opportunity for collaboration or using resources. Virtually every language studied at university expects students to learn some grammar and vocabulary by heart, and the final exam is intended to test that knowledge. I believe it's an unpleasant necessity.

So I will see you tomorrow. I won't wish anyone good luck, since I think you make you own luck. But I will hope that everyone finds calmness and clarity of mind tomorrow morning.

Office hours

My office hours for next week will be Wed., Thurs., Fri. (April 9 - 11), 8:30-10:30.

You may, of course, always send questions to be by e-mail.

Oh yes....

Don't forget to look at my extra notes while reviewing for the exam. They were intended to help you understand the texts and they deal with most of the more difficult bits. So even if you did not use them to help you prepare for class (which seemed to be the case with most students today), they can still be of use.

Final Exam Information

The exam is scheduled for Apr. 14, 9:00 a.m. (3 hours), KIN 205. But check the official schedule closer to the date in case there is any change to the room. Of course those of you who need special accommodation will have received from the Exam's Office specific information about the duration of the exam and the room.

It will cover everything we have read since the last exam, with the exception of the "Epitaph of Agapius". That means:

R.M.L. 9.1: Charlemagne’s Capitulare episcoporum.
9:3 Paul the Deacon
11.1: William of Poitiers
11.3: The book of Winchester
13.1: Baudri of Bourgueil

M.M. 148-150: Robert the Monk

R.M.L. 17.3: Peter Abelard
17.4: Heloise

R.M.L. 15.1: Carmina Cantabrigensia
M.M. 136-7 Cambridge Songs
M.M. 224 ff.: Carmina Burana [I - IV]

As I have said before, don't try to second-guess me. If it is on the list above, it could appear on the exam.

The format will be the same as the previous exams: Latin 327 students will have three passages to translate, plus questions to answer, and Latin 411 students will have on extra passage. As before, I want you to know the authors, titles, and rough dates of all that we have read: once again, you will have to use your intelligence to deal with apparent anomalous information (i.e., if the work doesn't have an author, you can't know it; if a work is dated to a wide possible period, then that's all you can give, etc.). The other questions will be like those on the previous three exams.

In addition, there will be one passage for unseen translation. I expect you to know all vocabulary on the list I gave you at the start of the year [the first link in the first blog entry takes you to an electronic version; here is the link again ]. Words that have occurred several times in what we have covered in class will generally not be glossed, unless they are very strange. Some other words whose definitions you can be expected to deduce from their roots, Latin cognates, English derivatives, etc. will also not be glossed, nor will typical medieval orthographical divergences from classical Latin.

The prepared part of the exam will be worth approximately 70%, and the sight 30%.

I have not decided on my office hours for the exam period: I will post those by the weekend. Of course you are, as always, welcome to send me questions by e-mail, and I will (within reason) answer as many as you need to ask.

Two very short poems from the Carmina Burana

Here are two of my favourites, perfect in their simplicity.

Stetit puella

Stetit puella    rufa tunica;
si quis eam tetigit    tunica crepuit.
Eia!

Stetit puella,    tamquam rosula;
facie splenduit,    os eius floruit.
Eia!

A girl stood in a red dress;
if anyone touched her, the tunic rustled.
Ahhh!

A girl stood, like a rose;
Her face shone, her mouth bloomed.
Ahhh!


Dulcissime

Dulcissime,
totam tibi subdo me!

Oh my sweetest,
I give myself completely to you.

In taberna

NOTE: We did not cover this in class, and so it will not appear on the exam.

Here is some help (much needed--sorry about that) for In taberna quando sumus.

VII. In taberna quando sumus

2. humus: G. is almost certainly wrong here--humus means “earth” and by an easy metonymy, the grave.
sit: why?
4. cui: dative after insudamus: “sweat over.”
5. agatur: why subj.?
6. picerna: I would not put the semi-colon in, since Quid agatur in taberna is almost certainly the subject of quaeratur. That is, the word order in English would go roughly as follows: Est opus ut quaeratur hoc: quid agatur in taberna. 
7. Hoc est opus ut: opus est = “it is necessary.” Hoc can be seen either as nom. with est opus or with quaeratur.
Quaeratur: I would put a period after this.
8. loquar: why subj.?
12. ex his: ludus (which sort of has a plural aspect--gaming)
16. pro Baccho: the bets are drinks.
mittunt sortem: “they cast their lot,” perhaps. It surely refers to throwing dice.
17. Primo ... libertini: “At first, as free men (i.e., men freed from care), because of the price of the wine (ex hac: hac refers to nummata), they drink to the price of the wine.” Here pro is our “to” (drink to [“for, on behalf of”]). In the context nummata might best be translated as “cheap price.”
19. semel: “once again,” i.e., the second time. This is also possibly “plus one more,” that is, they drink twice, or have two drinks, for the captivi. The numbers here could be either “a fourth time, a fifth time...” or “four times, five times....” The former seems more reasonable, and the latter is more outrageous.
captivis: probably prisoners of war.
23. sororibus vanis: given the context, this is probably something the drinkers are happy for, so if the nuns are “worthless” as G. says, it must be that they are worthless as nuns. I would say “naughty nuns.”
24. pro militibus silvanis: for unemployed knights.
25. perversis: probably a play on conversi. The monks have not converted, but been perverted (turned aside from their proper path). Perhaps “straying,” or “errant”.
49. Parum ...: "Six hundred coins last too little when everyone drinks immoderately without limit...”

Carmina Burana

Here are the extra notes for the first four excerpts from the Carmina Burana in Medieval Mosaic. On Wednesday, we will do only I - IV, and VI and VII. We will not do V.

I will post notes on VI and VII later in the day.

Extra extra notes for Heloise ii

I have slightly expanded my notes on the second section of Heloise, to try to help things go more smoothly in class. Here they are....

1. Nichil: ML
te pure: take with concupiscens
tua: there is no noun this could modify, therefore it is a substantive.
2. federa: ML
expectavi: effectively ends one clause, leaving non denique meas voluptates aut voluntates ... adimplere studui.
3. nosti: cf. i.1
4: sanctius ac validius: "too ...."
dulcius: trans. as regular comparative
extitit: <exsto
4. amice: ML (amica has a very specific connotation--Cassell's, s.v. amicus -a -um)
5. vocabulum: "name"
ut: in that
6: consequor: Cassell's, s.v., 2.
7. excellentie: ML spelling; not best trans. as "excellence" here--see your dictionaries.
Quod: rel. pron. referring to the previous idea; trans. "this." For its case, note that the verb is oblitus ... fuisti.
8. ea: + epistola
ad amicum: with ea ... epistola, since quam supra memini is a relative clause
epistola .... directa: directa modifies epistola, so pro consolatione must be part of this phrase.
9. quibus: rel. pron. introduces rel. clause that ends with next finite verb; this leaves ubi et rationes nonnullas .... exponere non es dedignatus....

Extra notes for end of Abelard, and Heloise

Here are some extra notes for Abelard v and Heloise i and ii.

Fourth Assignment

These are the main points I will reconsider if anyone wishes to hand back in the fourth assignment.

line 1: a: this use is buried deeply in your Cassell's, and even then is still not clearly spelled out. It is common in Latin (cf. line 14: a fronte) but I should not have deducted a full mark for getting it wrong.
5: prope mutuum: as the key says, "nearly equal advance", but I believe I marked wrong some instances where people essentially got this.
6: lateri: as the key says, "to the flank," but here again I think I marked some wrong that were right.
12: interiaciencium: should be interiacencium (as in the third line from the end); I think some tried to translate it as if it were from interiacio, and I should have taken the typographical error into account.
18: altitudinem longitudinis hominis: I should have included a note on this in the assignment and accepted more attempts to deal with this awkward phrase than I did.

Final adjustment to list of readings

It tears a piece out of my heart to have to say this, but we will omit Hildegard of Bingen (and St. Francis), and after Heloise go straight to the Carmina Cantibrigensia in R.M.L. So our final readings will be:

RML 15.1: Carmina Cantibrigensia
MM 136-7: Cambridge Songs
RML 20.2: Carmina Burana
MM 224 ff.: Carmina Burana
[Possibly Walter of Chatillon]

Extra notes for Abelard, sections iii and iv

iii.
2. itaque: put it at the start of the sentence when you translate [it is often second]
discipline: learning, instruction
vaccabamus: ML spelling = CL vaco; L&S s.v., II.A.2. "Vacare alicui rei, to be free to attend, apply, or devote one's self to something; to have leisure or time for a thing (cf. studeo):"
3. studium: subject (Abelard seems very fond of postponing the subject until late in the clause (which he does in the next one)
4. ingerebant: needs a plural subject, third person, so it must be what?
6. quo: Cassell's, s.v., (adv.) "transf." b.
8. denique: Cassell's, s.v. 2.b.
9. cupidis: don't confuse this with cupidinis. It is a form of cupidus.

iv.
2. secretis ... vigiliis ... celebratis: by all means trans. as S. suggests, but note that this is a straightforward ablative absolute, and since the participle is perfect, its action must precede that of the main verb (hence S.'s "after").
9. anathematizare et jurare: sc. the proper form of coepi (coepit) from the previous clause.
10. afficiebat: Cassell's, s.v. 2.

Assignment 4

It has come to my attention that there were four or five spots in the assignment where I regularly marked something acceptable as wrong--I think I was relying too much on my memory (increasingly faulty, alas) of what the text actually said. There was also one typo that I did not notice and which I realize now some people tried to translate: no deduction should have been made in that case, either.

So I will ask everyone to hand in their assignments again to me on Monday, and I will re-examine these spots and, where necessary, adjust the final grades.

I will try to post in the next few days an explanation of these points so you can decide if you want to hand your assignment back in, but I recommend that everyone do so.

Mea maxima culpa!

Extra notes for Abelard, RML 17.3.ii

Remember that tomorrow we will start the excerpts from Abelard's Story of my misfortunes.

Here are the extra notes for the second passage.

line 2. qua: relative clause of purpose
domestica ... conversatione: what case?
4. intervenientibus: as go-betweens, etc.
5. procurationis: perhaps something like "goal," "result", "achievement."
7. familie: ML; remember that this rarely means "family" in our sense of the word.
praepediret: subjunctive because of causal clause starting with quod;
9. studiosus: not "studious." Look again at the definitions for studeo.
11. totus: best trans. here as an adv.
11-12. inhiaret ... crederet:  parse; why are they what mood they are?
12. percepturam: sc. esse (infin. after crederet)
13. accessit: Cassell's s.v. "Transf." 5; for the case of votis meis, note that this is ad + cedo.
14. consulit: a bit sarcastic in tone: Cassell's, s.v., 1 ... "esp. w. dat."
15. vaccaret: impersonal passive
docende: ML spelling
16. sentirem ... constringerem: parts of what construction? Parse.
18, quam: adv., not rel. pronoun; take with ut
21. ut: introducing what type of clause?
quam: rel. pronoun
22. eum: Heloise's uncle
24. neptis: a textbook obj. genitive
continentie mee: ML spellings

Extra notes for Abelard RML 17.3.i

Line 3. qua: quā (adv.)
4. que: ML spelling
habundantiam: see O.3
5. bonum: I would translate "gift".
7. circunspectis: ML spelling; Cassell's, s.v. 1, "Transf."
que: ML
8. id: obj. of posse.
10. preminebam: < CL praeemineo.
ut: I would put a comma after this.
quamcunque: ML spelling; forms a phrase with feminarum; obj. of dignarer (look carefully in your Cassell's for what type of construction goes with this). Note that this is a type of relative pronoun.... 
amore: I would put a comma after this.
12. eam: Heloise (easily to be understood, since puellam is the last sing. fem. noun)
nos: for its case, look to presentare.
13. liceret: Cassell's "the action permitted is expressed by a n. pronoun or by an infin. or clause, acting as subject of the verb...."
14. interesse: Cassell's, s.v. 2.

Treaty of Arbroath (for 410 students)

I have already had two questions about the extra material, so I'm posting them, and my answers, here for the other students.

1. line 33: suis ... liberandis: in my note, I say probably suis probably = ipsis. It could be suis and refer to Robert, who is the subject of this clause. We have here a simple case of 1 + 1 = 2, that is, it could be viewed as "pro populo suo et hereditate sua ....," but the two together form a plural, hence liberandis.

2. Line 49: geritis < gero. For vices, see my note.

Arbroath Abbey, Angus.

An original version of the treaty, with the signatories' seals.

Fourth Assignment

I forgot to put the grade spread on the key to the assignment, so here it is:

A/A+, A, A-, A-, B+, B-, B-, C+, C+, C+, C, C-

About half of the class went down a letter grade from their average on the previous assignments, and about half remained the same. The passage was a bit more difficult than the previous ones, but I know of no language course where the material does not become more challenging as the course progresses.

I will hand out a key as I return the exams--I have only marked in the assignments where there were mistakes--you will have to consult the key to see what the mistake is. And if something is not clear, please see me (or e-mail me).

Notes for rest of Robert the Monk

Here are the extra notes for the remainder of Robert the Monk.

29: carus: adj., and it could modify only one word in this clause
36: circumdata: modifies terra (l. 35). Note that if you separate the relative clause (quam inhabitatis), you are left with a phrase that starts with quoniam terra in line 35 and ends with circumdata and a comma. Since circumdata is a form of adjective, it comfortably brackets the whole phrase that starts with its noun terra.
37: copia: for its case, compare clausura, iugis, and numerositate. It is possible that it is the subject of exuberat, but that seems odd and pleonastic.
38: exupero: Cassell's doesn't have this under exu-, but compare what it says about exul and apply that here.
alimenta: Cassell's, s.v. 1.
38: sola: "alone"; put after alimenta in your trans.
48: I would say "span of life" or just "life" for conversatione.
49: understand a quotation mark after insignavit.
49: plurima: I would put a comma after this.
50: qui aderant: relative clause, separating omnium and affectus, which should, therefore, be taken together.
59: congressio: any meeting of people, so here something like "contest"; the genitive is of quality: "an attack comprising a warlike onslaught."