ON THE CUTTING EDGE: In Acie MMVII
Reader Qwerty the Cucumber, whose home school curricula included Latin, brought this article about Vicipaedia Latina from The Wall Street Journal to the attention of Stilusum (being educated in public school, ego ne unum quidem verbum intellego):
It's not that ancient Romans didn't know a thing or two about wild sex. They had their Bacchanalia, after all. But lacking video technology, they had no expression for "sex tape." And that is why writing about Paris Hilton in Latin can sometimes be so difficillimum.
The editors of Vicipaedia Latina, the Latin version of the popular Wikipedia Internet reference site, were thus forced to wing it. In their article about the hotel heiress, they described Ms. Hilton's famous X-rated Web video as pellicula in interrete vulgate de coitu Paridis.
Which means, more or less, "the widely disseminated Internet movie of
Improvising like that is necessary when using the language of chariots and togas to account for the world of SUVs and navel piercings. Vicipaedia is a labor of love for a small group of Latin buffs and weekend philologists whose motto might well be "What would Julius do?"
Their goal is a Latin reference work that is hip and alive - or at least as much as can be expected from a tongue long since given up for dead. They write in authentic classical Latin, too, not in the kitschy feastus maximus stuff you might see at
Bartholomaeus Simpson is a skateboarder experto. As a pre-teen, Britannia Spears apparuit in Canali Disneyi cum Christina Aguilera et Iustino Timberlake in Sodalitate Mici Muris. …
Professional Latinists say they're generally impressed with Vicipaedia. While articles written by beginning Latin students often contain errata, "the articles that are good are in fact very good," said Robert Gurval, chairman of the UCLA classics department.
Technically, you didn't need the "ego" - but a fine grammatical Latin sentence you did indeed make!
My mother once said that there are only seven people in the world who have a good command of Latin. Looks like there are now eight :D
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Your mother was right. Alas, The Stiletto's erudition is the product of several of hours spent consulting Latin grammar and vocabulary texts. It was a learning experience, however, and when she next visited Vicipaedia Latina she was able to "read" and understand more than she did the first time. So thanks, Qwerty, for giving The Stiletto's gray matter a workout!
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