Finding Latin throughout Millerton

Salve (pronounced Sahl-way)! Hello again! 

I love reading newspapers, physically holding a paper copy, tearing articles out to save or share with family and friends, circling ads to investigate, working on crossword puzzles. I observe that The Millerton News is growing thinner, but I hope that, as the village of Millerton itself grows and changes — how about all the new  beautiful and inviting signs of life around town — The Millerton News also will continue to be printed and sold at Terni’s, Grand Union, Cumberland Farms, CVS, Freshtown and all the other outlets in the circulation area. Reading The Millerton News, I notice in several classified ads the Latin expression PER DIEM, which means “for a day.”

PER DIEM

The Latin preposition per means “through or for,” and it shows up in other common expressions in English like per annum (for a year), percent (through or for 100), per capita (for each head or person). We also use the word per to mean “each,” as in “one per person.” Per also shows up as a prefix in many English words, like perennial (through the years) and permanent (remaining through).

The Latin word diem, meaning “day,” gives us English words like diurnal (during the day) and diary (a record of days). Remembering that Latin is also the parent of other languages like French and Spanish, the Latin word diem also gives French the word jour, meaning “day” and then English words like journey (originally a day’s work or travel) and journal (a daily paper or notebook). Spanish also has the word diario (newspaper) from the Latin word diem.

Thank you for buying, reading and supporting our hometown paper! 

STELLA VALLIS

Wandering through the Winter Market at the Methodist Church in Millerton one Saturday, I noticed a locally produced cheese with a Latin name. It is called Stella Vallis, and it is produced at Chaseholm Farm near Pine Plains. The Latin phrase Stella Vallis means “star of the valley.” I can’t help but think of happy cows munching grass in an Alpine valley when I see that name. In the beautiful and peaceful foothills of the Berkshires, our cows must be as contented as any Swiss cows.

The Latin noun stella means “star,” and you have seen this root in English words like stellar (pertaining to stars) and constellation (group of stars). The Latin noun vallis means “valley” or “of a valley,” and it gives us, in addition to valley, the scientific name of lily-of-the-valley, convallaria.

Remember, the Winter Market in Millerton is held the second and fourth Saturdays of the month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. I’ll amble through from time to time to see if any other Latin treasures are lurking among the delicious meats, cheeses, breads, cakes, vegetables, prepared foods and other natural products, but you do not need to be thinking about Latin to check out the fantastic local offerings.

INTER FOLIA FRUCTUS

As I continue to de-clutter my house by category rather than by room, I am amazed at how many tote bags I have acquired through the years. Among them is a bag from the Norfolk Library in Norfolk, Conn., surely the most beautiful public library in our area. Carved over the fireplace in the library, and represented on the tote bag in my closet, is the Latin motto INTER FOLIA FRUCTUS, which can be translated from left to right “among the leaves, fruit,” or more clearly, “fruit among the leaves.”

This is my favorite kind of motto, because it has more than one meaning. First, we can interpret the motto straightforwardly as indicating that fruit appears on a tree among the tree’s leaves. The motto becomes more interesting, because on my tote bag is a picture of a serpent encircling a fruit tree. All of a sudden we may start thinking about a fruit tree in the Garden of Eden with forbidden fruit, and a serpent who tempted Eve to taste that fruit, and the result of tasting that fruit — expulsion from Eden. Then we could interpret the meaning of INTER FOLIA FRUCTUS as among the leaves (i.e., pages, of a book), fruits (of knowledge).

The Latin preposition inter means “between two” or “among more than two,” and as a prefix in English it shows up in words like interstellar (among the stars) and interrupt (burst between). From the Latin folia, meaning “leaves,” comes the English  foliage (leaves of a plant)  and folio (a sheet of paper that, when folded in half, forms four pages of a book) and from the Latin fructus meaning “fruit, fruits” we have fructose (fruit sugar).

I hope you are enjoying the fruits of your labors in reading this column. Valete, omnes!

Millerton resident Rowena Fenstermacher is a retired teacher; she taught Latin at Hackley School in Tarrytown, N.Y., from 1990 to 2015.