English to Latin Downtime

First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who so quickly reported problems with the English to Latin section of the website. It's great to know that this tool is important and being utilized.

Second, it should only be down for a short time. It will be back up and running soon.

Thanks for using the site!

X-Rays Open Secrets Of Ancient Scrolls

NPR has a piece on new techniques for looking into scrolls that were charred and turned into (essentially) lignite in Pompeii during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E.

X-Rays Open Secrets of Ancient Scrolls

I remember when I was in graduate school, we were all very hopeful that someday such technology would exist and be viable. New original texts of Ancient Latin and Greek would be amazing.

One of the most amazing things about this technology is that the texts would indeed be untouched by the hands of monks and scribes during the middle ages. Why does that matter? The Latin and Greek texts we have today are copies of copies of copies. And like all copies, errors have been introduced. In addition to errors, semi-literate monks may have made corrections that were based on incorrect assumptions about Latin in the centuries prior to their births.

Why not simply unroll the scrolls? Because they are essentially ash. Since the discovery of the scrolls in Pompeii, experts have ruined countless scrolls trying to unroll them. At some point, they were essentially locked in a vault in the hopes that someday technology would advance. It would appear that such a day has nearly arrived. 

ilearnlatin

ilearnlatin is a journal/blog covering resources for learning Latin. Check it out!

Saving the Latinitas Recens Lexicon (Update)

I recently searched for latinitas recens (a Latin Lexicon of modern terms such as "bicycle" et cetera) and came across a post on alt.language.latin saying that it was missing. The original blog post is here: Saving the Latinitas Recens Lexicon.

I'm sad to see that it has gone missing from the web. Unfortunately, the Google Cache has also expired. Since this very important resource is in danger of extinction, I took the liberty of mirroring the Latin-English portion of the site (including sigla). I will keep the page posted until the original maintainer (Florus) can re-upload his version.

Here is the link: Latinitas Recens (Speculum)

Seeing as how one group-member suggested a one-page version, that's what this mirror is. Keep in mind it's about 430K.

Two notes: I am missing pages 8 and 9 (no longer in cache, not in archive). If you have them, please email them to me so I can include them. Also, I will do the English-Latin as time permits.

I hope you all find it useful. Feedback is appreciated.

Update: Thanks go to Rodericius who has generously provided page 9.