Domitia's dinner
Personajes:
Tema: Lexicon
Competencias
Competencia en Comunicación Lingüística
Competencia Plurilingüe
Competencia Personal, social y de aprender a aprender
Competencia en conciencia y expresiones culturales
Materias y cursos por Sistema Educativo
España > Cultura Clásica > 1º ESO > Pervivencia de las lenguas clásicas. Lengua y léxico
Enunciado
Viria Acte, born in Valentia Edetanorum, present-day Valencia, ca. 90 AD, was an extraordinary woman who, went from been a slave, to a successful businesswoman. She was the owner of a statue workshop that she run herself and that became very prestigious. She was praised and honoured for her work and her contributions to the city of Valencia.
In this activity, we will imagine Viria, still incredibly young, as a slave in a Roman tavern, where she is responsible for cooking. Today her mistress, Domitia, has guests for dinner, so Viria will tell us what she plans to cook for dinner. We suggest that you identify and relate the Latin terms related to Roman food to those of your own language and that you contribute with other terms that are derived from them.
Read the text and look at the words in bold and in italics. Then answer the questions.
1- Domitia's dinner.
Today Domitia closes her establishment early, a tavern where there are no tables or chairs, only a counter, as only fast food is served. She has sent her slave Viria home to prepare dinner, as she is expecting guests, while she closes up, checks the supplies and counts the money collected during the day. The hours pass like a breath.
Viria, on the other hand, does not feel the same way: her day has been as long and tiring as usual, and now she must prepare a special dinner. Tonight, the mistress is hosting her father, her mother and some friends at home.
For the gustatio he will prepare vegetables, including lettuce, cucumbers, asparagus, fava beans and olives; he will also prepare eggs and cheese. He would have liked to serve mussels or salmon but it was too expensive. For the prima mensa, a pork stuffed with pears and dates and seasoned with garum sauce. Domitia had asked for venison but could not find any; for the secunda mensa she has planned an excellent platter of exotic fruits, which she bought at the market, although they were a bit expensive. There will be plenty of wine, and of course, water.
The decision as to what will be served at the dinner has been Domitia's and Viria thinks she has spent a lot of money, for it is not as if her mistress is swimming in plenty like the patricians. Domitia, however, though of plebeian origin, is a free and independent woman, who earns her own money and can afford a slave even if she is not rich. So, she intends to give her parents to understand that she is doing well.
2- Fill in the table by writing the Latin word that you think corresponds to each of the words by selecting it from the list. Then try to give at least one derivative of each Latin word in your language. This etymological dictionary can help you: https://www.etymonline.com/
| English | Latin | Derived |
| Establishment | ||
| Tavern | ||
| Table | ||
| Chair | ||
| Dinner | ||
| Money | ||
| Hours | ||
| Vegetables | ||
| Lettuce | ||
| Cucumbers | ||
| Asparagus | ||
| Fava beans | ||
| Olives | ||
| Cheese | ||
| Mussels | ||
| Salmon | ||
| Pork | ||
| Pears | ||
| Dates | ||
| Venison | ||
| Exotic fruits | ||
| Market | ||
| Expensive | ||
| Win | ||
| Slave |
Latin terms: dis-ieiunare (Late Latin) / cena, stabilire + -mentum, pirum, lactuca, caseus, oliva, tabula, moneta, vegetabilis, porcus, sclava (Medieval Latin), musculus, asparagus, venatio, salmo (salmonis), dactylus, vinum, faba, cathedra, taberna, cucumis (cucumer-), fructus, mercatus, expendere, exoticus, hora.
3- Write down the Latin terms in italics which appear in the text and, based on what you have understood, try to give their meaning. Consult a dictionary if you need to.
Observaciones y contexto
1- Observations
Viria Acte's past as a slave gives us the opportunity to study the working conditions of slaves. On this occasion, we will use a fictional slave dedicated to cooking in a Roman tavern. This activity represents only a brief introduction to food-related vocabulary and other everyday terms. It is also a first approach to the Latin lexicon and its derivatives and, therefore, to etymology.
It has been attributed to the 1st ESO Classical Culture course because of its simplicity and introductory nature. The interesting thing about this activity is to be able to relate Latin etymologies with their corresponding derivatives and to study their evolution in our language. The activity could also be implemented in other courses of Classical Culture, in the Block on the preservation of classical languages. Language.
2- Context
One of the key factors which led to the greater independence of Roman women in the Imperial period was their ability to own and manage their own money.
The epigraphy of Roman Hispania in the 2nd century offers numerous examples of professions carried out by women who were also, in some cases, owners of their own businesses. To cite just a few names, we can find wet nurses (nutrices), such as Secundilla (Gades) or Clovatia Irena (Emerita Augusta); hairdressers (ornatrices), such as Philtates (Lucus Augusti, Lugo) or Turpa Thyce (Gades); menders (sarcinatrices), such as Latinia Da[.... ] (Corduba); professionals related to the production, dissemination and trade of olive oil, especially in Baetica, such as Accilia Felicissima, Caecilia Charitosa, Cornelia Placida or Caecilia Trophime, among many others; owners of land in production, such as C. Plancia Romana (Fiñana, Almería) or Aurelia Iuventiana (Arauzo de Torre, Burgos); owners of artisan workshops of all kinds _from gilding, textile and footwear workshops to the manufacture of marble pieces, like our Viria Acte _, such as Aurelia Vivia Sabina (domina fabricae marmorariae) (Terena, Portugal), Cornelia Cruseidis (domina inauratoris) (Tarraco) or Valeria Severina, who was also patroness of the guild, (domina fabricae textilis et calceamenti) (Segisama Iulia, Burgos) to women who practised medicine and obstetrics, such as the Hispanic Julia Saturnina (Emerita Augusta) or later women, such as those belonging to other times and places, Primila, Empiria and Venuleya Sosis, qualified as medici; Salustia Ateneis, obstetrix; Naevia Clara, medicaphilologa or Aurelia Alexandra Zozima, cited ‘for her medical knowledge’.
We also find other professions: caementarius (bricklayer): Iulia (Conimbriga, Coimbra); purpuraria (manufacture of purple): Baebia Veneria (Gades); lintearia (weaver or linen merchant): Fulvia (Tarraco); pictor or pistor (painter or baker): Caecilia M [...] (Maresme, Barcino), etc.
Descripción
We look at some aspects of Food in Roman times by reading a text through which we " dinner” at the house of Domitia, Viria's mistress. We ask the students link Latin terms related to Roman food with terms in our language that are derived from those terms. Then, they must name other terms of Latin origin in their mother tongue.