Latin in Translation: St. Jerome and Latin
By Mia Rahner
I hope you're still proud of that nine percent you translated from Vergil's Aeneid in AP Latin
Pop quiz: is this word 2nd declension nominative singular, or some case in the 4th declension? Or - better yet - a perfect passive participle? Sorry, you’re wrong: it’s 3rd declension neuter. Now you get to figure out if it’s nominative or accusative. Have fun.
Latin students are all too familiar with the feeling of stumbling through a translation of Caesar or Vergil far in mediam noctem. What is not so common any more is translating into Latin. That, however, was the work of Eusebius Hieronymus, more commonly known as St. Jerome.
Jerome, born around 345 A.D., was himself a scholar of Latin, studying in Rome from the age of twelve. Later he discerned a call to monastic life, using his extensive years of study to translate nearly the entire Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin, the common language of the time. This translation was known as the Vulgate, and it was critical for the spread of Christianity through the early Middle Ages. (Vulgate, by the way, comes from vulgus, vulgī, meaning crowd. Yes, it looks masculine, but it’s neuter. Lingua accidit.)
St. Jerome in his Study by Jan van Eyck