30370 - Latin Grammar (1) (LM)

Academic Year 2022/2023

Learning outcomes

Upon a successful completion of the course the students will acquire thorough knowledges of the Latin morphology and syntax; they will be able to translate Latin text from different literary genres and/or historical periods from Latin into Italian and to conduct an in depth analysis of its stylistic and linguistic shape.

Course contents

I. Classes

  • Elements of Latin grammar, with a main focus on syntax and its connections with style
  • The Kings of Rome: readings from Livy, book I.

II. Individual work

  • Livio, Ab Urbe condita, praefatio and book I (in Latin)
  • Latin syntaxis (handbook + 2 articles)

Readings/Bibliography

  • Latin texts will be delivered during class and will be uploaded among the on-line teaching materials.
  • Tito Livio, Ab urbe condita, I praef. - 31. The recommended editions are: Tito Livio, Storia di Roma dalla sua fondazione. Volume I. Libri I-II, con un saggio di R. Syme, introduzione e note di C. Moreschini, traduzione di M. Scandola, Milano, BUR, 1982 (variously reprinted); Livio. Storia di Roma, libri I-II: dai re alla repubblica, a cura di G. Reverdito, con un saggio di E. Pianezzola, Milano, Garzanti, 1993 (variously reprinted). Non-italian speakers can ask the teacher for information about English / French / Spanish editions.
  • For the study of the syntax the reading of:
  1. A. Traina- T. Bertotti, Sintassi normativa della lingua latina, Bologna 1993, as well as the study of chapters I-VII of A.Traina-G.Bernardi Perini, Propedeutica al latino universitario, Bologna (Pàtron)1995.
  2. A. Traina, Riflessioni sulla storia della lingua latina, in F. Stolz, A. Debrunner, W.P. Schmid, Storia della lingua latina, Bologna 1993 (4 ed.), VII-XXV.
  3. C. Shuttleworth Kraus, The Language of Latin Historiography, in A companion to the latin language, edited by James Clackson, Malden (MA)-Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011, pp. 408-425

The reading of A. Ernout- F. Thomas, Syntaxe latine, Paris 1953 (2a ed., variously reprinted) is just recommended.

NB: Students not joining classes are supposed to preparethe same program (Livy, praefatio and book I; Sintassi normativa + the essays of Traina and Kraus) with the addition of:

  • two chapters from Syntaxis del Latín Clásico, ed. J.M. Baños Baños, Madrid, 2009: § 14 Tiempo y Aspecto (pp. 405-439); § 15 Modo y Modalidad (pp. 443-464)
  • alternatively, two chpaters from A Companion to the Latin Language, ed. by J. Clackson, Malden (MA) - Oxford, 2011: J. Clackson, Classical Latin (pp. 236-256); C. Shuttleworth Kraus, The Language of Latin Historiography (pp. 408-425)


Teaching methods

Lectures in class.

Assessment methods

Viva voce examination (30 minutes), which , through reading and translating from the Latin texts dealt with in class and listed in the program, will test the ability of understanding and translating the studied texts and the main linguistic aspects (phonetics, morphology and syntax) of Latin.

Assessment guidelines:

  • failing grades: lack of basic linguistic knowledge and inability to produce a correct translation and interpretation of th text.
  • passing grades: language proficiency at an intermediate level; translation and interpretation of the texts mostly correct, but inaccurate and lacking autonomy
  • excellent grades: language proficiency at an upper-mid level; translation and interpretation of the texts not only correct, but performed with autonomy and precision

Teaching tools

Online teaching materials (see webpage above).

Office hours

See the website of Daniele Pellacani