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Product Description
Product Description
Beginning with what the Romans themselves had to say about far-flung Britain, "Britannica Latina" presents Latin selections from British writers covering a period of 2000 years in the same user-friendly format as "Annus Horribilis" and "Annus Mirabilis". This fascinating miscellany of Anglo-Latin includes tales of King Arthur from the histories by Nennius and Geoffrey of Monmouth: the wizardry of Merlin from Geoffrey of Monmouth's Vita Merlini; the martyrdom of St Alban as told by the Venerable Bede; extracts from Domesday Book and Magna Carta; and, the Laws of Motion explained by Isaac Newton in his Principia Mathematica. Each chapter includes historical and biographical background information and informative grammatical notes, making translation fun for all Latinists. Full English translations are given at the back of the book. It's time for British Latinists to reclaim their heritage.
About the Author
Mark Walker is the author of Annus Horribilis: Latin for Everyday Life and Annus Mirabilis: More Latin for Everyday Life.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
British Latin!,
By
This review is from: Britannica Latina: 2000 Years of British Latin (Hardcover)
This book should be obligatory reading for all Latin students, especially those who have so far been taught to believe that Latin is just the dead language of the ancient Romans. As Walker demonstrates here, Latin thrived in Britain for many centuries, and still lives on today. Latin is a vital part of our native British heritage. And that's one great reason for learning the language.
With grammar and background notes, and full English translations at the back, this book follows the same format as Walker's Annus Mirabilis: More Latin for Everyday Life, but concentrates solely on Latin from the British Isles. The first chapter does have extracts from Caesar and Suetonius, but from then on it is British authors all the way to the 21st century, with some examples of brand-new Latin poetry in the last chapter. The author doesn't claim that his choice of texts is in any way exhaustive or even representative -- what seems to have guided him is simply their "readability" and "enjoyability". Specific events such as the Battle of Hastings and the signing of the Magna Carta are covered, alongside Lady Godiva's nude ride through Coventry and other miscellanea. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on "Science and Superstition" which begin with medieval tales of Vampires and the Man on the Moon, then proceed to the scientific thinking of Roger Bacon, then (in a new chapter) Francis Bacon, William Harvey and Isaac Newton. Most fun is the extract from the comedy "Ignoramus", which is written in amusing and absurd Latin-ese. There are also lives of saints (with some irreverent editorial comments), British history from "the usual suspects" (Bede, Gildas et al), and a whole chapter on "Arthurian" Latin - not only Geoffrey of Monmouth, but other writers too. Scotland is represented by George Buchanan, Ireland by Saint Patrick himself. Here's hoping that more Latinists will discover the delights of British Latin thanks to this timely book.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Great content, shame about the typeface.,
By
This review is from: Britannica Latina: 2000 Years of British Latin (Hardcover)
I bought this immediately after reading the author's Annus Horribilis: Latin for Everyday Life (which I loved.)
If I were reviewing this book on content alone, I would have no problems giving it a 4 or 5 star review. It's important to say that first. However, faced with how unpleasant it was to actually READ this book, I felt I had to mark it down severely. Unless you have perfect vision and are reading this book in a good light, you'll find the Latin sections of the book very uncomfortable to read. They're printed in a font size that isn't just 'small'. It's tiny. It's minute. I honestly don't think I've seen such small print in the main text of any book, ever. It's smaller than the text you find in little footnotes in other books. As if this wasn't bad enough and there's any danger of you still being able to decipher it, the publisher has italicised the font, making it even more unpleasant to read. Then, just in case anyone can still manage it, the tiny italicised font is presented in huge blocks of text without paragraphs, indents, or anything else to make the reading experience less of an effort. Honestly, I don't think I've ever encountered a book that looked so much as if it had been designed to frustrate the reader. If you're a fan of Annus Horribilus and are thinking of purchasing this, I strongly recommend that you browse it in a bookshop first. I wish I had.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Britannica Latina,
By
This review is from: Britannica Latina: 2000 Years of British Latin (Hardcover)
Well chosen passages, each with a short but informative introduction and with following notes on the Latin. The notes are a little idiosyncratic, though in constructing notes like these it is always difficult to know what will help the reader and what is superfluous. Anyway, there are very helpful, fairly literal translations at the back of the book. The only real problem with the book is the very small size of the text, especially of the Latin passages, which are italicised and this makes the problem worse. Ageing eyes like mine need a magnifier.
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