Do Not Seize the Day

It seems today is the day for classical literacy. Behold this humorous take on the whole carpe diem theme:

ad nauseam

I came across "ad nauseam" twice this morning in my readings. The Latin phrase means "to the point of sickness or disgust," particularly referring to seasickness, that wretching result experienced by those sailing upon a fitful sea. It is used adverbially (I never stopped to think about its part of speech) to indicate that some action has gone on far too long and is beginning to make the recipient ill, or wish they were sick to make a hasty exit.

Attempting to find a classical source for this phrase, I entered into the Perseus Digital Library which holds allows scholars to search Greek and Latin texts for words exactly like this, and I found no such occurrence from the ancient world.

The online Merriam-Webster Dictionary indicates that the phrase was first used in 1644, but does not cite any context or source. Furthermore, the entry for ad nauseam in the online Collins Dictionary offers this nifty chart of how often this phrase appears throughout the history of literature:

Who would have thought that ad nauseam would have its hey-day in the early to mid-20th century?

This phrase sounds a but hyperbolic, but I have had the experience of enduring a situation which lasted well to the point of sickness. I once was in Rome with my students on a guided tour, on which the clueless tour guide marched us directly up the stairs in the Colosseum to a sunny, open spot in a ruined vault and then lectured us about the history of Rome. We stood crowded together in the hot, Italian sun for nearly an hour. At the end of this history lesson which droned on ad nauseam, we were hot, a little burned, sweating, becoming dizzy, and a bit nauseous. Needless to say, we had to nudge him along from this lecturn and move us on to more interesting things.

Finally, while rooting around and looking for interesting things about ad nauseam, I came across a fun entry from Heidi Stevens at the Chicago Tribune: give it a read.

Amore, More, Ore, Re

While looking online recently for a good Latin quote on love, I found

amore, more, ore, re

I stopped. I reread the quote. I thought this was the most ingenious thing I had ever found! The quote was attributed to Vergil (actually it said "Virgilius") and I assumed that this was something very few people knew. Boy, was I wrong! When I googled the phrase, I discovered that lots of people already knew this phrase, called it their favorite Latin quote, used it on their blogs, and even had it tatooed on their wrists! Thirty years ago this fall I stepped into a Latin classroom for the very first time. Since that time I have been learning, studying, translating, reading, and teaching the language and literature and never came across this clever item. I felt like I had missed out on something!

Next I started to search for the source. Several people attributed this ditty to Vergil but it didn't seem very Vergilian. It doesn't sound like something Vergil would say and the meter doesn't work. Nevertheless, I began a search on the internet and had very little success. At one point I was directed toward the story of Nisus and Euryalus in the Aeneid and thought that I was making progress, but skimming the lines in the text produced nothing. I remembered that I had A Vergil Concordance and pulled that out, but soon found nothing there as well. I was beginning to have my doubts that this quote was classical at all.

I did find that the entire quote was

Verus amicus amore, more, ore, re cognoscitur

but again there was no citation... so I posted the request on LatinTeach and received a wealth of information. I should have started there!

*Robert Maier found

Amore, more, ore, re, Iunguntur amicitiae!

and suggested that it was medieval. He was among the first to mention that it didn't fit a meter.

*Dennis McHenry II found

Ob id ergo maximas agimus gratias vestrae amori et labore verus enim amicus cognoscitur labore, amore, more, ore, re.

and cited the closing of a letter by the Dutch cartographer Nicolaas Witsen (1641-1717).

*Laura Gibbs revealed: "About the widely used and re-used amore more ore re, you are not likely to find a specific literary source (i.e. in the sense of who said it "first"), and that kind of word play is not the sort of thing you would expect from Vergil or a classical Roman writer. It is much more typical of later Latin - and it shows up in the work of the Jesuit author and scholar Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) in an even more elaborate form, with clamore added in as a first term in the series: Tibi vero gratias agam quo clamore? Amore more ore re.

For the friend version - verus amicus noscitur ex amore more ore re (and also: amore, more, ore re iunguntur amicitiae), see #1436 in this marvelous collection: Philosophia patrum versibus praesertim leoninis, rhythmis Germanicis adiectis, iuventuti studiosae hilariter tradita by Julius Wegeler (1869).

It's online at Google Books - and it is a treasure trove of fun stuff (hilariter tradita indeed!). You can download the PDF of the book, or read it online - just click the "read this book" tab. http://books.google.com/books?id=iGcCAAAAQAAJ.

There are all kinds of delightful word play represented here. I especially like all the rhyming verses. Here are just a few:
- Dum canis os rodit, socium - quem diligit - odit.
- Res satis est nota, foetent plus stercora mota.
- Non de ponte cadit, quocum sapientia vadit.
- Vultus fortunae mutatur imagine lunae: Crescit, decrescit, in eodem sistere nescit.
etc.
It's a shame the ancient Romans did not go in for rhyme!"

I thoroughly enjoyed my little foray into finding "who dunnit". The bottom line? The quote isn't classical but much later. It's still ingenious, and my students love it! I noticed a couple have already written it on the cover of their notebooks or textbooks where they record and preserve those lyrics from a special song or meaningful comments or notes from friends. The phrase lives on!

Classical Literacy

One of the activities in my classroom which has made me very proud and provided much satisfaction is the teaching of what I call "classical literacy." One is classically literate when he recognizes and understands those Greek and Latin mottoes, abbreviations, phrases, terms, and Greek and Roman mythological, historical, and literary references and allusions found in everyday, modern English.

When I was a student, I felt very awkward (and even a bit foolish) when someone discovered that I was learning Latin and he would toss out a sine qua non or an illegitimi non carborundum [sic] and I would just have to shrug, not having a clue as to what he meant. I didn't want my own students to have that same feeling of inadequacy, so I began teaching these tid-bits on a daily basis.

The process goes like this:

• Every class period I introduce two items of classical literacy (There used to be only one a day until we moved to block scheduling and then needed to double up in order to cover the same amount of material). These items can be selected at random or (even better) come from being heard or seen in the recent media. At times, the "Jeopardy" game show can provide the suggestion.
• All classes and all levels are taught the same items. These items do not repeat during the same school year but may repeat in subsequent years. I have found that after a student has taken Latin with me for four years, he or she has become quite the expert and should be called "classically literate."
• I keep a running list on the side board in my classroom so that these items can always be seen by my students. I have them keep a complete list with explanations and examples in their notebooks. [Sample of Classical Literacy Items]
• When we reach twenty items (evey ten class periods), we have a "Classical Literacy Quiz." This is almost always a matching quiz designed to boost confidence in learning and provide a less-stressful (read "easy") quiz grade. Most students perform quite well on this quiz but, surprisingly, some do fail. I attribute the failing grades to those students who do not pay attention in class and/or do not make an attempt to review or study. [Sample Classical Literacy Quiz]
• At the end of the semester, we have usually accumulated around 80 items. About three days before the semester exam, I offer an "Optional, Extra-Credit, Classical Literacy Test." Every item presented during the semester is included on the test. The format is fill-in-the-blank WITHOUT a word bank. The only thing the student is given is a translation, a request for translation, a description, example, or suggestion. The student is awarded 1/10th of a point for every correct answer for up to +8 points on the semester exam. I round up at every 0.5 points, so a score of a 37 earns +4 points on the exam. Most students earn around +3 or +4 points, but some do earn a +5 or +6, and even a very few a +7 or +8 (there were two students who earned the maximum amount the first semester of 2005-2006, one with a score of 76, the other with a 79! She will always remember that one item she missed which prevented her from getting a perfect score!). [Sample Classical Literacy Test]