by Pierre D. Habel, Latin Teacher
Foreign Language study forms a window onto the values and mindset of other cultures. When language instruction is done right, the window turns into a windowed door, allowing the student not only to step through and experience that culture, but also to turn about and assess the values of one’s own culture, as well.
Two items of vocabulary under recent study in Latin 3 offer a case in point. In the fall, students learned the unremarkable adjective commūnis, meaning “common” or “shared.” Certainly no biggie. No one remarked on the derivatives commune or communism as, they seemed too ho-hum and, well, common. The teacher felt the need to make the point that in such social structure, most or all property is, theoretically, shared and owned in common by the citizens of that society.
Last month we met the root noun from which commūnis is derived. That noun, mūnus, mūneris was initially a head-scratcher, as its definitions are “duty”, “service,” or “gift.” In discussion we were able to reflect on prior study of the early Roman Republic, a government system in which prominent citizens sought and earned high elected office. It was a system which favored those with substantial wealth, as the Romans relied much less on taxation for government operations than we do: soon students recalled that the officeholder incurred the duty or obligation (mūnus) to use his wealth for a structure such as a temple, aqueduct, or road, a public religious festival such as games, feast day, or theatrical performances, or even subsidized grain if Rome was experiencing a market shortage. Ordinary Romans came to view such a structure, festival, or sustenance as an essential service (mūnus) provided by the government, and thus the elected official was, in effect, giving the citizens of Rome a gift (mūnus) in fulfillment of his duty.
Derivatives of mūnus abound: to remunerate is to render payment for services received; a munificent person gives generous gifts; one who is immune has no duty to respond to a challenge or threat; a municipal government has the role of providing services such as policing, sanitation, etc. Then, too, the prefix com-, meaning “together” or “with” paired with mūnus to give us commune and communism. As social systems go, they’re easy to spurn. But don’t overlook or undervalue their positive cousin, which is community. To most today, a community is merely a group of people who live or work near each other with more or less meaningful connection. What a diminishment of the original Latin word which denotes a group of people bound together by sharing in the mutual performance of duty and offering of service! Latin study allows one to see the original grandeur of the idea of community. When students look to the language of our Roman past and acquire its wisdom, the D’Evelyn community and the communities of our alumni and alumnae will be all the richer for their learning the letter and the spirit of these Latin words.
The PHurrowed Brow 