by Dwane | Mar 18, 2015 | Ebook, Education, English, Latin, Vocabulary
Equine: Pertaining to a horse or pertaining to the equus family. The “ine” ending is a Latin attributive feature. Equine describes items related to horses. Porcine has to do with pigs. Ovine refers to sheep. Feline refers to cats, and canine describes something...
by Dwane | Mar 18, 2015 | Ebook, Education, English, Greek, Vocabulary
Hippopotamus: an animal that inhabits the Nile and other rivers in Africa. The hippopotamus resembles a hog rather than a horse. It is thought the animal was named from his neighing voice. The Hippopotamus is the third largest land animal, weighing as much as 9,000...
by Dwane | Mar 17, 2015 | Education, Latin, Visual Latin
I received this question: Is Visual Latin 1 and 2 designed to only cover Henle 1? Same question I guess, is the online course only to cover Henle 1 then? My reply: Visual Latin covers all of the grammar in Henle 1 and some of the grammar in Henle 2. Visual...
by Dwane | Mar 17, 2015 | Education, English, Latin, Visual Latin, Vocabulary
Do I need Visual Latin to use Word Up? Do you want to sound smart? Then listen to old Earl Nightingale, who once said, “Before you do anything else, master your language.” I have taught Latin and Greek for years. I know, from experience, that these languages will...
by Dwane | Mar 17, 2015 | Ebook, Education, English, Greek, Vocabulary
Hippodrome: A theater. In ancient times, a race course for horses. This word has changed quite a bit. These days, a hippodrome is a large performance locale. In the old days, a hippodrome was a horse race track. If you have ever watched Ben Hur, you have seen a...
by Dwane | Mar 17, 2015 | Ebook, Education, English, Greek, Latin, Vocabulary
Equidae: the scientific term for the horse family. Equidae is a taxonomic family containing horses and related animals. All the related animals are extinct, except those in the family Equus. The Equus family includes horses, zebras, donkeys, and onagers. Not sure...
by Dwane | Mar 16, 2015 | Ebook, Education, English, Greek, Vocabulary
Hippocampus: a mythological creature. The hippocampus was part dolphin, part horse. Archaeologists have found paintings to the hippocampus in the ruins of Pompeii. Hippocampus may also refer to a genus of fish with a neck and head that look remarkably like a...
by Dwane | Mar 16, 2015 | Ebook, Education, English, Latin, Vocabulary
Adduce: to bring forward, present or offer for consideration. To cite as evidence. The defense adduced a to prove the fact. Adduce comes from the Latin word adduco, meaning, I lead up to. Adduco derives from two Latin words. The preposition ad: to, or toward, and the...
by Dwane | Mar 16, 2015 | Latin
I received this email: “Hi! My daughter is finishing up Lingua Latina with you this semester and she is wanting to go on to do a third year (and eventually fourth year of Latin. Some of the college requirements we have looked at prefer 4 yrs of the same foreign...
by Dwane | Mar 15, 2015 | Tip of the Week
According to Frederick Bodmer, in his book, The Loom of Language, French, Spanish, and Italian derive directly from Latin. “The deeper we delve into the past, the more French, Spanish, and Italian converge. Finally, they become one in Latin, or, to be more...
by Dwane | Mar 14, 2015 | Ebook, Education, Greek, Latin, Visual Latin, Vocabulary
Hi there! At some point in the past few years, you joined an online Latin class with me. Or, perhaps it was a Greek class. I told you then that you could repeat the class for free. I am here to remind you that I was not kidding. You can repeat the class… for...
by Dwane | Mar 14, 2015 | English, Greek, Latin, Vocabulary
Aphorism: A maxim; a precept, or principle expressed in few words containing some important truth. “While there are loads of trite and silly statements, a good aphorism is supposed to stand the test of time and remain true and elegant — a very difficult...
by Dwane | Mar 14, 2015 | Latin, Motivation, The Future
Do you spend a lot of time watching television? Turn it off. According to the United States Department of Labor, Americans spend almost 3 hours a day watching television. I have seen higher numbers on on other sites. But, hey, let’s give our fellow countrymen the...
by Dwane | Mar 13, 2015 | Ebook, Education, English, Latin, Vocabulary
Abstruse: hard to understand, difficult to comprehend. English is the clearest language I have ever studied. But, perhaps that is because I did not study English formally. English teachers, it seems, like to muddy the clear waters with their abstruse writing. ...
by Dwane | Mar 12, 2015 | Ebook, English, Greek, Vocabulary
Plerophory: full confidence; total assurance. With a plerophory of assurance, each of the Avengers spoke into some imaginary, unseen, perfectly clear audio communications system. I mean, seriously, how were they able to seamlessly communicate with each other in the...
by Dwane | Mar 12, 2015 | Education, English, Latin, Vocabulary
Perfunctory – Done only for the sake of getting rid of the duty. We perform our daily perfunctory tasks with haste and, if possible with minimum effort. For instance, we tend to greet each other with perfunctory greetings. Without genuine interest, we might...
by Dwane | Mar 11, 2015 | Ebook, Education, English, Greek, Latin, Visual Latin, Vocabulary
Years ago, my family was foreclosed on. We ended up living with my wife’s parents for some time. I was a school teacher, earning a teacher’s salary. This is not such a bad thing if you work for the government, but I was a teacher in a private school. We had...
by Dwane | Mar 10, 2015 | Ebook, Education, English, Greek, Latin, Vocabulary
I am sick and tired. Didn’t want to post the word of the day. Could not think about it. Then, one of my daughters said, “I’ll help you, dad. How about phillumenist?” I had no idea what a phillumenist was. I looked it up. So, here is the word of...
by Dwane | Mar 10, 2015 | Latin, Visual Latin
I received this inquiry on Facebook: Hope you’re doing well, and loving the classes! I’m about half way though the Visual Latin Series and had a questions. “Where do we go after?” Do you have any programs for students who complete the 60...
by Dwane | Mar 9, 2015 | Ebook, Education, Latin
I received this comment today. It made me happy. “I’m reading your book, Via, and I’m very impressed. It is a wonderful life-help book and not just for languages. I’ve never been a very disciplined person, so it will take lots of baby steps;...
by Dwane | Mar 9, 2015 | Ebook, Education, English, Greek, Vocabulary
Semaphore: A signaling system. A semaphore uses flags, lights, or mechanical arms to send messages, usually to travelers. You might see a semaphore next to the railroad tracks. The word might also refer to a system of sending messages by holding the arms or flags in...
by Dwane | Mar 9, 2015 | Education, Latin, Visual Latin
I received this email: “Thank you so much for taking time to investigate and answer my questions. I don’t know any difference between Classical Roman vocabulary and Ecclesiastical vocabulary. Do you think a child will get confused if he learns both Visual...
by Dwane | Mar 9, 2015 | Education, Latin, Visual Latin
I received this inquiry on Facebook: “Any suggestions to conquer all those confusing Pronouns in chapters 22-24 (VL1)?” Here is my reply: Oh, man. This is a tough one. I am not always thankful for English. But, when it comes to pronouns, I am super...
by Dwane | Mar 9, 2015 | Education, English, Latin, Vocabulary
Admit: to allow to enter. There are so many definitions and so many variations of this word, it is probably best to begin with the etymology. Admit comes from the Latin verb admitto, which also has many definitions. Admitto means: to urge on to spur to a gallop to...
by Dwane | Mar 7, 2015 | Motivation, The Future
Here is a reminder I could use every day. One Step Program for a Better Life By Bob Irish A few years back, author and fitness guru Dr. Marcia Hootman was in a tailspin. She was headed for divorce, her health was suffering, and her teenage son had become increasingly...
