Words matter.
Magistra’s sixth grade Prima Lingua class has shared links to some interesting ways to think about words.
Schedule your test
Dies Irae
Download the Word document or read the text below.
(1) Dies irae, dies illa,
solvet saeclum in favilla,
teste David cum Sibylla. *
(2) Quantus tremor est futurus,
quando iudex est venturus,
cuncta stricte discussurus! *
(3) Tuba mirum spargens sonum
per sepulchra regionum,
coget omnes ante thronum. *
(4) Mors stupebit et natura
cum resurget creatura
iudicanti responsura.*
(5) Liber scriptus proferetur,
in quo totum continetur,
unde mundus iudicetur. *
(6) Iudex ergo cum censebit,
quidquid latet apparebit:
nil inultum remanebit. *
(7) Quid sum miser tunc dicturus,
quem patronum rogaturus,
dum vix iustus sit securus?
(8) Rex tremendae maiestatis,
qui salvandos salvas gratis,
salva me, fons pietatis! *
(9) Recordare, Iesu pie,
Quod sum causa tuae viae;
Ne me perdas illa die.*
(10) Quarens me sedisti lassus ;
Redemisti, crucem passus ;
Tantus labor non sit cassus.*
(11) Iuste iudex ultionis,
donum fac remissionis
ante diem rationis.
(12) Ingemisco tamquam reus,
culpa rubet vultus meus:
supplicanti parce, Deus. *
(13) Qui Mariam absolvisti
et latronem exaudisti,
mihi quoque spem dedisti. *
(14) Preces meae non sunt dignae
sed tu, bonus, fac benigne,
ne perenni cremer igne. *
(15) Inter oves locum praesta
et ab haedis me sequestra
statuens in parte dextra.
(16) Confutatis maledictis,
flammis acribus addictis,
voca me cum benedictis.
(17) Oro supplex et acclinis,
cor contritum quasi cinis.
gere curam mei finis. *
(18) Lacrimosa dies illa
Qua resurget ex favilla
Iudicandus homo reus;
Huic ergo parce Deus. *
* 1. lIla — “that famous,” “that dreadful”
3. David — genitive of an indeclinable noun
* 4—6 These rhyming periphrastics should be translated as simple futures. stricte – “thoroughly”
* 7. tuba — the trumpet at the end of the world (Matthew 24:3 1)
8. regionum — “of the world”
9. thronum — “the throne” (of the Judge)
* 10. mors…et natura each is the subject of stupebit and a personification (Revelations 20:13)
* 13. liber scriptus — i.e. the Book of Life
15. unde — “by which”
16. censebit in some texts sedebit appears
* 21. iustus — “the just man”
23. salvas — a verb; salvandos — the object of salvas, “those who have to be saved”; gratis — same as English
* 25. recordare — imperative
26. viae — via crucis: the “way of the cross,” or all of Jesus’ life on earth
27. ne….perdas — negative command
* 29. supply me as object of redemisti
* 34. reus — “as one condemned”
* 37. Mariam — Mary Magdalene. In the Middle Ages she was the prototype of the great sinner who did great penance after her sins were forgiven by Jesus.
38. latronem — the thief on the cross (Luke 23:42). He was assigned the name Dismas and several legends arose concerning him.
* 41. fac benigne — “kindly grant”
* 51. gere curam “have a care for” (with genitive)
* 53. qua — “on which,” “when”
Oh, the power of translation…
I have two things to share with you before our Genesis test on Monday:
First, a joke. Read Genesis in the lolcat bible. It’s good for a laugh while you are working hard, preparing for the test.
Second, an invitation. This year marks the 400th anniversary of the King James version of the Bible. To mark this special occasion, Dr. Choon-Leong Seow from Princeton Theological Seminary will be giving a presentation about “Bible Translations and Their Effects.” It should be a really interesting lecture, and all are welcome to attend. The event will be on Wednesday, November 2nd (the first evening of our fall Service Days), hosted by the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. A light dinner will be served at 6:30, the lecture will begin at 7:00. All are invited! Details are online here.
Lines 14-15
14. However God said: let there be lights in the expanse of the sky in order that they may divide the day and the night and that they may be signs into times and days and years
15. so they may be bright in the expanse of the sky and illuminate the land and thus it was made
Lines 30-31
30. And to all the living things of the earth and all birds of the sky and all those who are moved on the earth and in whom there is a living spirit, so that they may have (something) to eat, and thus it was made.
31. And god saw all that he made and they were very good, and in the morning and the evening the sixth day was made.
Genesis 20-21
20 He also said: let the waters produce a crawling thing and a flying thing of a living spirit above the Earth and below the expanse of the sky
21 and God created great whales and every living and moving spirit which the waters had produced in their own kind and every flying thing according to its own kind and God saw that it was good.
Lines 28-29
28. And God blessed them and he said “Grow and be multiplied and fill the earth and subject it, and rule the fish of the sea and the flying things of the sky and all living things which are moved above the earth.”
29. And God said “Behold, I gave to you every grass bearing forth seed over the land and all woods which have in themselves the seed of its own kind so that they may be for you as food.”
Lines 26-27
26. And he said let us make man according to our own form and likeness and let him be in charge of the fish of the sea and the flying things of the sky and the wild animals and the entire land and every crawling thing which is moved on land.
27. And God created man according to his own image and according to the image of God, he created that man and woman and he created them.
Genesis Lines 8-9
8. And God called the expanse Sky: and in the morning and in the evening, the second day was made.
9. And God truly said: let the waters be brought together, which were under the sky, into one place; and let dry land appear. And thus it was made.