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Ancient Roman Tunes

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chadu1/31/2013 7:21:19 pm PST

My Latin I/IV teacher in HS was fond of using music to help us learn the language.

This extended to translating modern songs into Latin.

My favorite was “Jingle Bells” (apologies for misremembered spelling or declension; it’s been 30+ years):

Nantes per nives,
In aperta trahea,
Trans agros imus,
Omnes ridentes (ha, ha, ha!).

Tinniti tinnant,
Animose sic,
Laetissime nos canimus,
Canticum hoc nocte (oh!).

Tinnitus, tinnitus,
Semper tinnitus,
O tantum est gaudium
Dum sedemus in traha!

Tinnitus, tinnitus,
Semper tinnitus,
O tantum est gaudium
Dum sedemus in traha!

(I probably butchered that.)