WAGS 03.03.2021: The Latin Question?

John writes:

When I finished my Silves contribution to last week´s Blog with a Latin tag about enjoying memories, I had intended to finish it off with a bit of music from YouTube. YouTube, however, had other ideas and refused to play along, so to speak. But I now find that, although I can´t put the music into a Blog that is already under way, I can "share " the music in a new Blog edition. So, at the risk of upsetting our Blogger- in-Chief, I will jump right in this week and start with last week´s intended music, "Memories of You" with Benny Goodman and one of the Swing Era´s greatest pianists, Teddy Wilson.

Goodman helped racial integration in America. In the early 1930s, black and white musicians could not play together in most clubs and concerts. In the Southern states, racial segregation was enforced by Jim Crow laws. Goodman hired Teddy Wilson for his trio and later added vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, another coloured musician,  for his quartet. Good to see Goodman and Wilson enjoying their music together fifty years on. 

                                    Olim meminisse iuvabit.

Paul replies:

   I had very little during this last week to inspire me, apart from a personal newsflash that I will impart later. Then I received the above from John with a repeat of his Latin tag from the end of last week's 'Hold the Press', which at the time, for those without a Classical Education he offered the translation 

 “One day maybe we shall enjoy remembering even these things.”

    I felt I had to look this up, because as you know, most Latin tags have a plethora of possible translations depending on whether you gave up Latin in the 3rd form or  studied Greats and beyond at Oxford or Cambridge. Learned Professors and Great Scholars have almost come to blows over translations.

    This quote is no exception.  It centers on the word iuvabit - brace yourself - the third-person singular future active indicative of 'iuvo' to delight, gratify or please   Did Virgil really mean Aeneas to imply that we would enjoy remembering traumatic times?  The context is important. When Aeneas included this in his rousing speech to the Trojans, they had lost to the Greeks, fled from their burning city of Troy, and wandered round the Mediterranean, hoping to find another place to found a city and on the voyage, endured an horrifying  ordeal at sea. Once back on dry land, Aeneas made his speech to try and raise morale among his disheartened troops, and included those words.

    It cannot be that he thought that one day the traumatic memories would be enjoyed. Sure, you can enjoy overcoming a challenge, and how well you came out of it, but this was a real trauma they had been through. Our modern Woke/Snowflake society, would have been screaming about how their mental health had suffered, and insisting on compensation so they could get 'help'! 

And that is where it is: another viable translation of 'iuvo' is to help or assist.

   How about "One day perhaps it will help to remember this as well". This also uses an alternative translation of 'et' as 'too'or 'as well' rather than 'even as John cited.

 Virgil was perhaps suggesting that it would be a relief to recall the memory.  Now modern psychiatry has it that it is helpful to relive a traumatic memory. They did not have the many professional counsellors that the modern world boasts. Strangely in Virgil's day, the general opinion seemed to be that you should forget or suppress painful memories.

   Cicero said

" Fools are tormented by the memory of bad times; good times from the past bring joy to wise people when they relive pleasant memories. We have the capacity to bury adversity almost into perpetual oblivion and to recall favorable events with pleasure and fondness. But when we focus our keen mind and attention on prior events, then pain follows if they are bad, happiness if they are good. "  Of course he said it in Latin, but it won't serve much to read the original.

      A hundred years later, Seneca, another Roman Philosopher supported this idea. For him, enduring the suffering bravely was the source of pleasure, not the traumatic memory.

"It is pleasant to have endured that which was painful to live through. It is natural to have joy as something bad ends. Therefore two things must be cut out: fear of the future and the memory of past suffering,"

  Now in the times of PTSD and enforced holidays from school causing mental disorders, therapists offer the solution that it is helpful. 

 “Emotional memories (are) persistent, loitering even when asked to leave.” Suppressing memories is not just an ineffective way to diminish suffering. It can also make matters worse."

Aeneas’ words make the most sense as a remedy for his fellow Trojans, instead of a suggestion that somehow the worst days of their lives will be a source of future pleasure.  It might not be pleasant for the memories to be lingering in the Trojans’ minds immediately after their shipwreck, but deleting them is not a solution either. Instead, it will be helpful one day to integrate these experiences into their personal and collective experience and identity. In telling his men forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit, Aeneas provides an alternative to suppressing these memories and deleting part of their personal and collective history. Through these words, he gives his men hope for a future in which the events will be available as a memory they can recall at will instead of a nightmare they relive involuntarily.

   Anyone else have nightmares - apart from reading the above recurrently?

Well that got that off my chest:  Now some more relevant music!

Whoops - got the wrong one! Cant find the delete button, so I will add what I meant by way of apology to those that found it too much to handle!

Pheww!! That takes me back!!

    This week, Myriam has not been concentrating on Wednesday for her walk, but wanders off around 5 pm, mainly to avoid witnessing the devastation she expects to occur in the kitchen when I get to grips with yet another Gourmet Dinner. It's a strategy that brings us both relief. 

      While out, she went, as many Lacobrigensians do, for a passeio (saunter) along the Avenida. During the walk, she noticed two signs, one at each end of the 1500m Boulevard.

    

Beginning heading SW

End looking NE.

      I don't know who dreamed up this idea, but if you can't take your daily saunter along the broad, open space of the Avenida Boulevard, what has happened to Burlington Bertie?  Needless to say this is largely ignored by the population, who are licensed to take their daily Saunter even though they may not have a dog.

   Apropos to John starting it all with his Latin quote, the question arises are Portuguese of Latin (Latino) extraction or are they white Hispanic? I prefer to think of them (us) as just Portuguese, but to delve into the technicalities, the answer should be yes if your definition of Latin(o)/ Latin(a) is a person who comes from one of the Nations that have Latin-based or Romance languages

The Latin Countries: 

Yes Portugal is there!

However I am pretty confident that most Portuguese don't consider themselves Latinos but white Europeans. Latino is most commonly applied to Latin Americans.

Definitions can confuse things.

Hispania: A province of the Roman Empire which covered modern-day Iberia (a.k.a. Spain and Portugal). Spain was named after that province when Castille and Aragon united to cover most of Hispania as the Empire of Spain.

Hispanic: In the literal sense, this is meant to be someone who is of Hispanic, meaning Portuguese or Spanish, descent. The literal term is scarcely used, albeit it is often used in reference to the Spanish-speaking immigrants from Latin America who live in the USA. This meaning is wrong because a lot of people living in Latin America have in reality no descendants from Portugal or Spain.

A rational answer is "It depends what you mean by “Latino”. If you simply mean people who speak a Latin-derived language, then yes. However, in the Americas “Latino” usually refers to the Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking people from Latin American countries. Most of these people are or mixed European and Native South American/Native Central American ancestry.

The US being the centre of the world actually defines Hispanic and Latino.

The U.S. Census Bureau defines the ethnonym Hispanic or Latino to refer to "a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race" and states that Hispanics or Latinos can be of any race, any ancestry, any ethnicity.

You can and likely will interpret this as you wish but it appears to me that if you wish to be Hispanic or Latino there is virtually no reason to say you are not.

However by the magic of Google I encountered the definitive conclusion, playing the science card,

The R1b is the most common male haplogroup in Western Europe, this is commonly known as the Celtic signature. Several genetic tests have been carried out throughout Portugal in the last 20 years. The most prominent gene in Portugal is the R1b. In the North of Portugal it accounts to over 90% of the population, especially in Miranda Do Douro. In the South of Portugal it accounts to about 60% of the population. If you look at the map below, Northern Spain, Northern Portugal, Ireland, Wales and Western France have the heaviest percentage distribution of R1b DNA in Western Europe.

However, many Portuguese have other ad mixtures from Germanic tribes, Vikings, Moorish, Jewish, Greek, Roman, etc background all mixed together, but they are a minority in comparison to the R1b gene. And now with big waves of immigration from the 4 corners of the World, this is going to change again. Not just in Portugal but in the whole of Western and Northern Europe. Eg. The Prime Minister of Portugal is of Indian background! More than half of the Portuguese football team are not native Portuguese. The only native Portuguese team we have is our rugby team!

One or two to keep the ladies interested:

Real Portuguese!!

Portuguese National Rugby Team

So much for the men. What about some equality¬

Maria and Maria - buy them a beer!

And finally for the Strictly Fans - a Latin Dance!!

And last but not least: The news I promised at the beginning: I have now at least two further dependents to support.  Two of my Zebra Finches, Bert and Mildred have successfully raised a brood of chicks. So far two have emerged from the nest but it was always difficult to see inside the way they pile up the nest material, and I had omitted to have a removable roof on the home-made nesting box. Myriam thinks there are 4 in there, but so far only two made there way out and flutter to the floor of the cage, and with a lot of parental encouragement have just gone up to the nest box, and bedded down for the night. Fledglings have black beaks until they turn orange at about 3 months.

First one out being scrutinised by Mildred

She is on her own now!