Berlin Abitur Latin LK key terms

Rivalry or emulation, especially the productive competition between poets or orators to surpass a predecessor. In literary analysis it names the deliberate reworking of a model text so that the later author's independence becomes visible.

A polite refusal, typically in elegy or Augustan poetry, when a poet declines to write epic or panegyric and justifies choosing a lighter genre. The refusal itself often functions as a subtle claim to poetic independence.

The opening move of a speech or letter that wins the audience's goodwill before argument begins. Rhetorically it works through modesty, praise of the listeners, or a profession of inadequacy rather than through evidence.

The first part of a classical speech, designed to make the audience attentive, docile and well-disposed. In the school Rhetorica ad Herennium scheme it precedes narratio, argumentatio and peroratio.

The closing section of a speech, which summarises the argument and stirs the emotions of the judges. Ancient handbooks treat it as the place for indignatio and conquestio rather than for new facts.

The conventional division of a speech into exordium, narratio, argumentatio and peroratio. Candidates use the scheme to structure an analysis of Ciceronian or Sallustian prose rather than to summarise content.

A conspiracy or sworn alliance, a central theme in Sallust's Bellum Catilinae and in Cicero's Catilinarian orations. The word carries the sense of a secret pact bound by oath against the state.

Political freedom, understood in Roman discourse as freedom from the dominance of a single man rather than as a modern individual right. Late Republican writers oppose it to regnum and to servitium.

Literally 'the public thing', meaning the commonwealth or state, but also the constitutional order of offices and laws. Cicero uses it normatively for the Republic that a tyrant destroys.

Kingship or monarchical rule, in Republican political language usually a term of abuse for one-man power. Accusing an opponent of aiming at regnum was a standard move in late Republican invective.

Manly excellence or moral worth, in Roman historiography the quality that justifies a claim to leadership. Sallust contrasts it with fortuna and with the mere inherited prestige of noble families.

Chance, luck or an individual's changing fortune, often personified as a goddess. In historiographical narrative it serves as a counterweight to virtus and to deliberate planning.

Fate as an impersonal, unchangeable order of events, distinguished in epic from the will of individual gods. In Virgil and in Stoic texts it raises the problem of human responsibility.

The dutiful fulfilment of obligations towards gods, fatherland and family, Virgil's defining virtue of Aeneas. It is not mere emotional devotion but concrete performance of owed service.

Renown won by outstanding achievement and remembered by later generations. In Roman aristocratic ethics it is the public reward of virtus and the motive behind competitive political careers.

Praise, either the act of praising or the merit that deserves it. In rhetorical theory laus is the object of epideictic speech and is proved by external goods, physical qualities and character.

The deliberate imitation of earlier authors as a technique of literary production and of rhetorical training. It is not plagiarism but a recognised method of learning style by transforming a model.

A conventional argumentative place or stock motif that recurs across genres, such as the locus amoenus or the ages of man. Identifying topoi supports comparison between texts of different periods.

A literary commonplace describing an idealised pleasant place with shade, water, grass and birdsong. It appears in pastoral, epic and lyric and is often used to frame reflection or seduction.

A transformation of shape or nature, the organising principle of Ovid's epic, where bodies change into animals, plants, stones or stars. Analysis asks what the new form expresses about the preceding action.

A narrative explaining the origin of a custom, place name, ritual or natural phenomenon. Ovid frequently ends an episode with an aition, linking myth to the contemporary Roman world.

Narrative technique in hexameter epic, including narrator comment, foreshadowing, similes, speeches and the arrangement of episodes. Analysis examines how the narrator guides sympathy and creates structure.

The dactylic hexameter, the metre of Greek and Latin epic and didactic poetry, consisting of six feet with a regulated caesura and cadence. Metrical reading supports interpretation of emphasis and pace.

A metrical unit of a verse, in the dactylic hexameter either a dactyl of one long and two short syllables or a spondee of two longs. Scanning feet reveals rhythmical emphasis and verse shape.

A word boundary within a metrical foot, most importantly the main caesura dividing the hexameter after the third foot's first syllable or after the fourth trochee. Its position shapes the verse's articulation.

The repetition of initial sounds in neighbouring words, a common stylistic device in Latin poetry and archaic prose. It creates emphasis, memorability and sometimes sound symbolism.

The repetition of the same word at the beginning of successive clauses or verses. In Latin rhetoric it serves emphasis and emotional heightening and often combines with asyndeton.

The omission of conjunctions between coordinated words or clauses, producing a rapid, dense or urgent effect. Its opposite is polysyndeton, the deliberate repetition of conjunctions.

A crossed arrangement of corresponding elements, either in word order or in argument, following the pattern A-B-B-A. It is used for closure, contrast and rhetorical elegance.

The repetition of the same syntactic structure in successive clauses, often paired with antithesis or anaphora. It supports clarity and emphasis in both rhetoric and poetry.

The pointed juxtaposition of contrasting ideas or words in parallel grammatical form. In Latin prose it sharpens argument, in poetry it can expose irreconcilable positions.

A participial phrase consisting of a noun or pronoun in the ablative plus a participle in the ablative, functioning as an adverbial clause. Its temporal, causal or concessive sense must be decided from context.

The Latin case expressing separation, instrument, means, manner, cause and comparison, among other functions. Identifying its precise function is a routine translation decision.

The accusativus cum infinitivo construction, in which a subject accusative is governed by an infinitive and the whole phrase serves as object or subject of a verb of saying, thinking or perceiving. Its tense is relative to the main verb.

Any phrase built around a participle, such as the participium coniunctum or the ablative absolute. Translating it requires deciding whether it is attributive or adverbial and what relation it expresses.

The verbal noun form used in Latin for complement clauses and reported speech. Its tense shows relative time, its voice shows whether the subject acts or is acted upon.

The grammatical mood of a verb, principally indicative, subjunctive and imperative. In subordinate clauses the subjunctive signals purpose, result, cause, concession or reported thought.

The Latin subjunctive mood, used in main clauses for wish, command or potential and in subordinate clauses for a range of logical relations. Recognising the type of clause is essential for correct translation.

A rhetorical or poetic device deliberately used for effect, such as metaphor, anaphora or hyperbaton. Analysis must name the device, locate it precisely and explain its function in context.