Ides (pronounced as “eye”
connected to “ds” – sounds a little like the dreaded AIDS)
In Ancient Rome, the ides
falls approximately on the middle part of the month. Ides is English. The Latin original is “idus” which is both
plural and singular, so ides can be used with either a singular or a plural
verb. The ides falls on the 15th in
March, May, July, and October. It falls
on the 13th in other months, so today (April 13) is the Ides of April.
The Ides of March (March 15)
is notorious for the murder of Julius Caesar.
The famous line “et tu, Brute? (even you, Brutus?)” (Caesar 3.1.77) from William Shakepeare’s
play Julius Caesar originated from
this pivotal date in Roman history.
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Men in Ancient Rome usually
have -us at the end of their name, e.g., Marcus, Aurelius, et al, and many have
the same name. If you shouted “Marcus”
in a crowd, you would see many heads turning in your direction. Women have -a at the end of their name, e.g.,
Tullia, Lucretia, et al.
Latin is a dead language but
it has daughter languages still living today like Italian, French, and
Spanish. These derivatives share many
traits with their original.
In Spanish, the -us ending
has become -o, e.g., Marco, Aurelio, et al.
The feminine -a ending of Latin is retained in Spanish, e.g., Maria,
Aurelia, et al.
Marius becomes Mario or Maria in Spanish. Antonius becomes Antonio or Antonia, and so on.
If I want to Latinize my name, it would become Robertus or Roberta.
One can be creative in giving
new names or words with Latin endings -us and -a.
You can name your pug
“saratilongus” or “saratilonga.” (sarat ilong = flat-nosed)
You can call an ugly man
“pangitmotolus” (pangit mo, ‘tol =
you’re ugly, bro). You get the gist.
=
sarat = Filipino word that
usually refers to a deformed or flat nose
ilong = nose
pangit = ugly
mo = “you” in the objective
case
‘tol = short for utol =
sibling
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Shakespeare, William. “Julius
Caesar.” The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Ed. W.J. Craig. London: Henry Pordes, 1987. 899.
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Originally posted on my Facebook wall on 13
April 2018 in a slightly different form.
