Week 8: Physiologus. 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.

1. Cuius testiculi medicinae apti sunt?
2. Quare venator ab castore discedit?
3. Quid manducat vulpis?
4. Quare vulpis quasi cruentata videtur?
5. Quare aves vulpem mortuam esse putant?
6. Quid elephans fugit?
7. Ubi invenitur mandragora?
8. Quare elephans parturiens custodi debet?
9. Quare non potest surgere elephans?
10. Quare venator arborem incidit?

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 5 sentences that are each at least four words long each. Please please do not use an English-Latin dictionary. You should have plenty of vocabulary from this week's reading to write your description!

• Beaver (Aberdeen bestiary)
• Beaver (Flanders bestiary)
• Fox (Aberdeen bestiary)

Dialogue/Monologue: Choose one of the following scenes and write the words you can imagine the characters saying. You should write 5 sentences that are each at least four words long each. Please please do not use an English-Latin dictionary. You should have plenty of vocabulary from this week's reading to write your description!

• Castor venatori loquitur. In the story, the beaver who has already gotten rid of his testicles, has to "show" the hunter that his testicles are gone. This depends on the hunter noticing what is missing. Imagine the beaver had the ability to talk to the hunter: how would he explain the situation? how would he persuade the hunter to go away and leave him alone?
• Femina masculum suum seducit. What do you think the female elephant might say to the male elephant as she seduces him with the mandrake fruit? (You can also write this as a dialogue, and have the male elephant reply, if you want!)