Latin 2: Some of the Trickier Small Words

I suspect with any language you will have a number or words that are trickier to remember, due to how similar they are. For me, Latin is no exception. Here is a short list of words that I have found to be trickier to remember their definition, due to similarities. These are found within the first 12 lessons in the book Latin By The Natural Method 1, which can be found at archive.org.

• a/ab. from
• itaque. and so
• enim. for
• iam. already
• erant. were
• etiam. also, even
• sunt. are
• quia. because
• de. about
• fere. almost
• rursus. again
• posuit. put

Note: I haven't listed any declensions here. I am just using them the way they are in the source material, for now.

The motto of the United States, E pluribus unum (Out of Many, One), uses the word unum, which is similar to enim, but means something different. Also, enim (for the untrained eye) is similar to etiam. For these reasons, some of the vocabulary can be difficult to initially memorize.

Side note about a Latin motto: it does make sense that an old and foreign language motto would be employed, given that the early days of universities here in the United States were geared towards the classics and teaching Latin and Greek. In fact, from what I have gathered, some schools would not even admit new students if they were not already able to read and make sense of passages in Latin.

Until next time.

Valete

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