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IT is nearly 40 years since I studied Latin for my Junior Cert (Inter Cert as it was then!) in St Brendan’s College in Killarney. Latin and Greek in language terms were known as ‘the classics’ and all I can say is tempus fugit (time flies).
Honesty is the best policy here and to this end I must admit that I didn’t appreciate the finer aspects of this language at that time, nor the insights that it would give me into dealing with life’s issues later on.
A prime example of this is the word personality. A good question to ask is – What is the origin of the word personality?….. Answer: It comes from the Latin word ‘persona’ meaning ‘a mask’. So when some asks you – “And how are you today?” The automatic answer out of most people’s lips is “I’m fine” even though that is often far from the truth.
Fine stands for
F….ecked up (polite version !)
I…nsecure
N…..eurotic
E…..motional
So in truth the answer ‘fine’ is often a mask of how we really are. The real feelings are those that are hidden behind the mask which represent how we really are. As a life-coach, those are the feelings that really interest me i.e. what is really going on behind that mask.
So the Latin language really comes up trumps here in that it opens up the real meaning of the word personality.
As a side note I found it very interesting to see that Pieta House was using the image of ‘The mask’ recently in its campaign for prevention of suicide.
Just like the Irish language Latin has a very rich cultural heritage and we now use many of these phrases in the everyday English language. Here are some prime examples.
Vice versa – The other way around.
Persona non grata – Unwelcome person
Ad nauseam – repeating or continuing to the point of boredom
Mea culpa – My fault
Et cetera – And the others.
These are obviously only a few examples (Exempli gratia) of the common phrases used in everyday English so we all have every reason to show true gratitude to this wonderful language. Latin is now regarded as a ‘dead language’ yet in a funny way it remains very much alive in today’s world.
Next week I am going to write about – Music: A window to our souls.
