When Faustus and Mephistophilis disrupt the Pope’s dinner in Act III, the monks who curse them have two bits of Latin, the first repeated half a dozen times:<\/p>\n
III.1.831:<\/p>\n
Màledí<\/u>cat Dóminus.<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n This is basically three and a half trochees: Mah-leh-DEE-caht DOM-i-Nuss<\/b>. Dominus<\/i> is ‘Lord’ or ‘the Lord’ – there’s no definite or indefinite article in Latin, so it can be either. Maledicat<\/i> is 3rd person singular present subjunctive active of male-dicere<\/i>, ‘to speak badly (of someone), to curse’, so the whole phrase means ‘May the Lord curse (object unspecified)’. It’s an inversion of the usual prayer Benedicat Dominus<\/i>, ‘(May) God bless (x)’. The phrase should sound something like this<\/a>. I would be very tempted to make it sound like a Gregorian chant, something like this<\/a>. I think I’ve heard it done that way in other productions.<\/p>\n III.1.838:<\/p>\n Et Ómne<\/u>s Sáncti<\/u>.<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n This is basically two and a half iambs: et OM-nayce SAHNK-tee<\/b>. Et<\/i> is ‘and’, omnes<\/i> ‘all’, sancti<\/i> ‘saints’ (of both sexes), so ‘And all the saints’. It’s not a complete sentence, but the previous curse is implied: ‘(May the Lord curse him) and (may) all the saints (curse him, too)’. Here’s the plain prose reading<\/a>. And here’s the Gregorian chant reading<\/a>. I trust trained actors can make that sound a lot better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Faustus and Mephistophilis disrupt the Pope’s dinner in Act III, the monks who curse them have two bits of Latin, the first repeated half a dozen times: III.1.831: Màledícat Dóminus. This is basically three and a half trochees: Mah-leh-DEE-caht … Continue reading