We learned this in phonetic Latin in 5th grade at Straw School in 1963. I wondered if they had chosen Latin because John Kennedy was Catholic and it seemed a way to honor him. Such is the way that 10-year-olds think.
There's quite the descant starting at about the three minute mark. Descants rapidly move me to tears.
When I looked at Caesar's Commentaries in Latin, I concluded that Latin is definitely a dead language, as my Spanish didn't help parse much meaning out of it. By contrast, I can parse most meaning out of Italian or Portuguese passages. But from Adeste Fideles, there is an oft-used phrase using words that many Spanish speakers use in everyday language: "Venite adoremos."
ReplyDeleteAll Spanish speakers will understand "adoremos:" let us worship.
"Venite" (2nd person imperative with a reflexive emphasis) is used only in Voseo speaking areas- areas that use "vos" as the second person singular familiar pronoun. Standard Spanish uses "tú" as the second person singular pronoun. "Vos" also has different verb conjugations.
"Vos" is archaic, as it used to be the second person singular formal pronoun in Spain. You can find "vos" in the Quixote. Backwater areas of the Spanish Empire kept "vos," though changing it from formal to familiar.
Coincidentally the areas I worked in Latin America used "vos," which remains my preference over "tú," as the verb conjugations sound better to me.