It’s Time Again for my Favorite Latin Christmas Carol

On By Jennifer Mugrage1 Comment

Adeste fideles, laeti triumphantes

“O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant”

Venite, venite in Bethlehem

“Come, come into Bethlehem”

Natum videte, regem angelorum

“Born see, the king of angels”

Venite adoremus [3x]

“O come, let us adore him” [3x]

Dominum

“The Lord”

Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine

“God from God, light from light” *(these are direct objects, so the subject and verb are coming up)

Gestant puellae viscera

“A girls’ innards carry” (the subject and verb, and by far my favorite line)

Deum verum

“True God” (and still the direct object)

genitum non factum

“Begotten, not made”

Refrain: Venite adoremus, Dominum “O come, let us adore/The Lord”

Cantet nunc io, chorus angelorum

“Now sings it, the chorus of angels”

Cantet nunc aula caelestium

“Now the heavenly court sings”

Gloria, gloria in excelsis Deo

“Glory, glory to God in the highest”

Refrain: “O come, let us adore/The Lord”

Ergo qui natus die hodierna

“Therefore, who is born on the day of today”

Jesu, tibi sit gloria

“Jesus, to you be glory”

Patris aeterni Verbum caro factum

“Word of the eternal Father made flesh”

Refrain

See how the Latin is actually more direct/efficient than the English? Kind of shockingly so?

I think because the original Latin version had so many syllables, to translate the lines into English, additional words had to be added, and sometimes even new ideas such as “Yea, Lord, we greet thee,” which is how the fourth verse begins in English and is one of my favorite lines in that version.

Amusingly Misanthropic Quote on Etruscan Pottery

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The most renowned of Etruria’s products is its pottery. Every museum abounds in it, setting the weary navigator of ceramic halls to wonder what unseen perfection exonerates these stores. Etruscan vases, when they are not clearly copies of Greek forms, are mediocre in design, crude in execution, barbarous in ornament. No other art has produced so many distortions of the human frame, so many hideous masks, uncouth animals, monstrous demons, and terrifying gods. … All in all, the robbers were justified who, when they rifled Etruscan tombs, left so much of the pottery.

–Caesar and Christ, by Will Durant, p. 9

Misanthropic Quote: A Very Parfait Knight

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Winter got this reaction a lot when he killed people. He was a well-spoken man, a man of taste and culture, a gentle man in many ways and given to fine feelings. Cold-blooded killing was not the sort of thing people expected from him. Unless they were very insightful, they did not understand the complete absence of sentimentality in his makeup. He knew there were some men so low that only death could improve their personalities. He did not hesitate to improve them when the need arose.

–After That, the Dark, by Andrew Klavan, p. 298

Well, hello, everyone!

On By Jennifer Mugrage9 Comments

I’m not sure what happened, but for some reason, on Tuesday this week Out of Babel Books got more than 400 views. That is about 3000% more than my usual 14. Most of these views were from the United States.

I don’t know whether to thank you all for visiting, or grumble that you’re going to wreck my stats. (No matter how good of a day I have after this, it will look like views are down dramatically.)

I think I’ll go with Thank You. I am so glad you visited Out of Babel. I hope you found what you were looking for. I hope you were all peoples and not botses. I hope you will all buy my books and leave breathless reviews… (O.K., no need to get greedy …)

Cheers! Have a great weekend!

What’s in My Purse?

On By Jennifer Mugrage6 Comments

I got this post idea from snapdragon .

Behold, my purse! Note the Native American-style fabric. I have long had a culture crush on American Indians.

Let’s see what’s in it …

First, the basics: wallet, lip gloss and lipstick, reading glasses, key fob with a little Minnetonka moccasin.

Now, the walking pharmacy: Two kinds of Aleve, two kinds of Claritin, Tums I forgot I had, Kleenex, dental floss picks, hand lotion, and a loose lipstick that is probably twenty years old, but I can’t bring myself to throw away. The Claritin is generally for my kids, not me.

Finally … air fresheners from the oil change place, Band-Aids and antibiotic ointment, tabs for when I simply must flag a passage in a book, business cards in case I need to give one out, and, oh, look! A pair of earrings that needs to go back to my jewelry box.

No, I don’t carry a brush. I have curly hair. One does not brush curly hair; the results are unfortunate.

I occasionally carry a comb in case one of my sons needs it, but they are getting older and starting to comb their own hair before they leave the house.

Other things that might, from time to time, get thrown on top of these: a hand-knitted hat or bonnet, a hair band, clip, or pin that I have taken off, a book that I want to have with me. And of course, the phone.

And there was also a daughter

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And there was also a daughter.

She drops out of the story very early, sacrificed

for good winds on the way to Troy.

But her mother’s revenge has made history.

And there was also a daughter

cursed to foresee the destruction of the city,

as daughters often do,

and no one believed her.

And there was also a daughter,

kidnapped (seduced?) by Shechem,

avenged (destroyed?) by her brothers,

a single chapter in Genesis.

And there was also a prophet,

a man too young to know what women suffer–

yet He did, somehow.

Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.