We at the North American Institute for Living Latin Studies are grateful to the Tribune and to Jon Anderson for his participation in our recent meeting in Chicago and for his article “Lovers of language seek to give Latin new life” (Metro, Oct. 8).
However well-intentioned the article, a misattribution and several errors of transcription crept into it, which have the unfortunate effect of undermining the credibility of our organization.
The statement that “. . . some 220,000 students in public schools study Latin. . . ,” attributed to me, was actually made by Sally Davis, who is an authority in Latin pedagogy and the author of the textbook “Latin in American schools: Teaching in the Ancient World” (Scholars Press, 1991).
The question “Non interrogata?” is meaningless; Prof. Terentius Tunberg’s actual question will have been “Suntne interroganda?” (“Are there any questions?”); moreover, he hails from the “Universitas Kentuckiana” (not “Kentuckianem”). The translation of Los Angeles is “Angelopolis,” not “Angelopoli.”
The conference was indeed pleasant; however, the word for pleasant is “jucundum,” not “jocumbum,” a non-existent word. “Mica, mica, parva (not “carva”) stella” is simply the Latin translation of “Twinkle, twinkle, little star.”
Additionally, the point of Alice Mulberry’s comment on Ionic and Doric columns was not that these have anything intrinsically to do with the study of the Latin language, as seems to be implied, but rather that studying Latin contributes to students’ enthusiasm for all things ancient.
Also, a typographical error put “haeo” in place of “haec” in the phrase “haec tunica pediculosa” (“this lousy T-shirt”).
Most regrettable is the omission of any mention of James Dobreff, vice president of NAILLS and graduate student in the University of Chicago’s Committee on the Ancient Mediterranean World, who organized the entire meeting.
