New Unit: Legonarii Fulminata

[Louis XXIV]

Are you sure about that?

Although I admit I wasn't really good at Latin last year, I'm pretty sure I remember my course pronouncing video as "wideo". I noticed it because I almost always forgot to pronounce it that way.

 

[Startaff]

Well, thx superunknown but being Italian is not a sure pedigree for Latin knowledge ;-)

Anyway, I do know that actually, Latins had two very similar pronounciations - V and W - for the same written letter "V".

In fact, I recently read the "Life of twelve Caesars" of Svetonius and I discovered that one of them (could be Caligola, but I may recall wrongly) invented not less than 3 new letters to be introduced in the alphabet in order to write sounds which were not addressed by the available ones.
One of these new letters (whose shape I don't remember) was meant to be used as a U (or W, in English).

 

[Ozymandias]

... Of course, even though I chimed in with "Veni, vidi, vinci [sic]" I'm curious -- does anyone know how the knowledge of how ancient and medieval Latin were pronounced been preserved?

Thanks,

Oz

 

[Startaff]

Originally posted by ozymandias
... Of course, even though I chimed in with "Veni, vidi, vinci [sic]" I'm curious -- does anyone know how the knowledge of how ancient and medieval Latin were pronounced been preserved?

Thanks,

Oz

Good question!
I read several times about this thing of the U vs. V pronounciation but NEVER about how they discovered it!

 

[loseth]

Originally posted by ozymandias
... Of course, even though I chimed in with "Veni, vidi, vinci [sic]" I'm curious -- does anyone know how the knowledge of how ancient and medieval Latin were pronounced been preserved?

Thanks,

Oz

Some primary methods of discovering how ancient Latin was pronounced are...

i) Regressive analysis--starting with our knowledge of all languages which derive from Latin, and then trying to work backwards.

ii) Poetry analysis--looking at what words alliterated or rhymed in Latin poetry and using that to figure out how they were pronounced.

iii) Comparative analysis--looking at how speakers of other languages (e.g. ancient Greek) used their alphabets to render Latin words.

That having been said, ancient Latin pronunciation is still a matter of considerable debate.

As to the 'v', I believe that it was a voiced bi-labial fricative. In other words, similar to an English 'w' sound, but with the lips lightly touching (instead of in the 'whistling' position), producing a sound half-way between the English 'w' (bi-labial approximant) and the English 'v' (voiced labio-dental fricative).

 

[Ozymandias]

@Ioseth -- Thank you!

-Oz

 

[jzsf]

Nice unit but the pistol dont pass for a Roman Legionarie...

 

[Xen]

what? this unit is supposed to be a "what if" unit- in this case, whjat if the Roman empire, and attached culture of the time pf Trajan had survived, what a possible musket man would look like for it

 

[Startaff]

Originally posted by jzsf
Nice unit but the pistol dont pass for a Roman Legionarie...

If this is a "modern" unit, the pistol is OK.

The problem is (IF we want to be picky about the realistic correctness) the shield!

The shield (and particularly the big Roman one) is the first thing dropped from a regular uniform once you get firearms because it totally impedes your movement, expecially in reloading.
And, obviously, it's completely useless vs. enemies armed with firearms too.
In Renaissance, the infamous Swiss Lanzichenecchi (sorry, I don't know the English version of their name), which were the "modern" version of the Macedonian Phalanx, made do with piques alone and no shield, as there was no way to defend themselves against firearms, apart from having a supporting body of cavalry or arquebusiers.

In any case, I drop my hat in front of DP2, the creator of this unit, as I will NEVER be able to "draw" like that!

 

[Xen]

tyhe reasoning behind the sehild is because this guy rewpresents the earlyiest of gun me, the tyoe whos guns need to be on a small platfrom to operate- which in this case is the sheild

 

[Kal-el]

Think of the shield as a pavis, similar to what crossbowmen used.

 

[stgelven]

i just finished to read all the post, very funny, there is a lot of specialist of old latin language over there! if you really want to have knowledge about latin or latin languages, you can find many information on the web, for the problem of how to pronunce V, i think that if you don't speak very well one latin language ( french, italian, spanish for ex.) it's very hard to feel the deep difference and consequences in the language- no offence-
am i clear?
anyway the unit is very nice, i think it could upgrade legionary to the equivalent of Musketman that it replace ( my legionary have the hability of building roads so the upgrade too)

 

[Startaff]

Originally posted by stgelven
... my legionary have the hability of building roads...

Great idea!
The "building" abilities of the Legion was one (not the only one, obviously) of the things that made them superior.

Actually, they could perform other tasks too (at least building fortresses).

My only concern is: would this make it too strong as an UU?

 

[stgelven]

if it replace the musketman, same A D value, with a cost a little highter, it should be cool. no?

 

[Xen]

why woudl the cost be high for the same stats? though you could balence it out by giving him (the fulminata) an extra point of life

 

[stgelven]

the cost is high for the same stas that's right, but the legionary have the ability of road builing, may be fortress...

 

[Xen]

but this one dosetn have the building animations...

 

[stgelven]

i know, but is it impossible to use it even if there is not the animation?

 

[Xen]

yes, you can put it in, it just wont show anywork being done

 

[Gogf]

I think that was fixed in 1.22.