Week 2: Vulgata: Moses. Background | Background Quiz | Starting Assumptions | Resources | Extras Vocabulary | Etymology | Grammar | Perseus Dictionary | Perseus Tool Reading Overview | Reading Quiz: English | Reading Quiz: Latin Discussion Questions | Latin Composition | Weekly Checklist

Latin Composition

A draft of your composition work (A and B) is due by Friday midnight. It will be returned to your with comments, corrections, hints and suggestions on Saturday. The final draft is due by Monday midnight. Note: This first draft is required: if you do not turn in a draft of the composition by Friday midnight, you will receive no composition credit for the week.

** If you are not an OU student, I will try to mark your compositions as well; send it to laura-gibbs@ou.edu and make sure you put MEDIEVAL LATIN in the subject line **

A. Answer the questions - in Latin...! Please make sure that your email contains both the question and the answer. If you are having trouble with this exercise, check out these Hints for Answering Questions in Latin.

B. Write a small Latin composition on your own. You will choose either to describe a picture or to write a small monologue/dialogue. If you are having trouble with this exercise, check out these Hints for Free Composition in Latin.

• When describing a picture, do not say "in the picture" or "the picture shows"... instead, imagine you are looking at the actual scene itself, and describe the scene ("the sheep are sleeping", "the fox is dead", "the woman is very beautiful"). Examples.
• When writing a dialogue, do not use indirect speech ("Samson says... Delilah says..."), but just write out what the characters say - don't worry, I should be able to figure out who's talking! Examples.

A. Question-and-answer in Latin.

1. Quo fiscella linita est?
2. Quis procul stabat, infantulo exposito?
3. Quis puerum nutrivit?
4. Quis puerum adoptavit?
5. Cuius clamor ad Deum ascendit?
6. Cuius oves pascebat Moses?
7. Quare Moses calciamentum solvere debuit?
8. Quid Moses in manu tenebat?
9. Quare Moses fugit?
10. Ubi Moses Deo immolabit, populo de Aegypto educto?

B. Latin composition.

Choose either one description or one dialogue/monologue to write in Latin.

Description: Choose one of the following images and describe the scene in Latin. You should write 3-4 sentences that are each at least four words long. Please please do not use an English-Latin dictionary. You should have plenty of vocabulary from this week's reading to write your description!

• Pharao. Michiel van der Borch, 1332.
• Moses expositus. Utrecht, c. 1467.
• Deus et Moses. Michiel van der Borch, 1332.

Dialogue/Monologue: Choose one of the following scenes and write the words you can imagine the characters saying. You should write 3-4 sentences that are each at least four words long. Please please do not use an English-Latin dictionary. You should have plenty of vocabulary from this week's reading to write your description!

• Mater puero. What would the mother say to her baby after she has been given the child to nurse and raise? The baby is too small to speak: but what do you think the mother might say? How would she explain to the baby what has happened? What does she want the baby to know about his origins?
• Quid oves cogitant? What do you think is going through the mind of the sheep (plural: oves) while Moses is having his discussion with God? What do the sheep think about Moses? about the burning bush? (Remember: don't write "the sheep think that...", but just leap right into it: you're in the mind of the sheep! If it makes it easier you can imagine the sheep reporting on the day's events to the sheep who stayed back at home.)