I received this question:
My son is loving the Latin course! He’s programming a game show to review the concepts and vocabulary learned in each lesson. It’s so fun! And it’s especially helpful for me. 😀
He’s trying to determine the best way to say “game show” in Latin. Ludus? Ludus Ostende? Ludus Fabula? Certamen? 🤷🏼♀️ We need an expert to tell us.
Here is my reply:
I am happy to hear your son is enjoying Visual Latin. Please tell him I said, “Salve!”
Sooo, his question threw me for a loop. The Romans didn’t have such a thing as a game show, so I was stumped. In this situation, I always take a look at the Romance languages for insight.
Here’s what I found:
- Italian: spettacolo di gioco
- French: jeu télévisé
- Spanish: programa de juegos
- Romanian: spectacol de joc
- Portuguese: game show
Portuguese made me smile. They didn’t even bother.
Italian and Romanian used a form of the old Latin word, spectaculum (spectacle), so I went with that.
Italian gioco, Spanish juegos, and Romanian joc all come from the Latin word ludum, so I went with that.
In the end, I came up with, Spectaculum Ludi.
Thanks! This was fun!
Hope you are having a great day!
