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Language:
Lingua latina
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Published:
2025-07-04
Completed:
2025-07-05
Words:
1,617
Chapters:
2/2
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65
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65
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LINGUA LATINA CUM PARVO ALEXANDULO

Summary:

Salve! Greg is the Taskmaster, and Alex is the Assistant - this time in Classical Latin!
Learn Latin with 'parvo Alexandulo' in this little illustrated minizine I made for no discernable reason!
Inspired by the book "Cambridge Latin Course Book 1, Fourth Edition". Includes extensive translation notes after the images that explain word choices, costume/clothing decisions, and even explains the ridiculous, Latin language only, pun included as the punchline to parvo Alexandulo's banter section.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Please see below for the written version, complete with EXTENSIVE translation notes!

Front Cover

LINGUA·LATINA CUM PARVUS·ALEXANDULO

AB·AMANDA·FACTUM

Page 1

Ecce Gregorium!

Gregorius est Dominus.

[translation and notes]

Ecce Gregorium! = Behold, Greg!
A very bold and reverent way to announce Greg! Gregorius is an old name, and was around during when Latin was used. However, "Gregorius" is a special case, second declension male name, and as such while the nominative is "Gregorius", and the accusative is "Gregorium" (and are the only two versions we use here), the genitive case would be "Gregorii".

Gregorius est Dominus = Greg is the Taskmaster. Now, I know what you're thinking - Dominus looks a lot like Dom/Dominant. But dominus can mean: master, possessor, ruler, lord, owner of a residence, master of his servants and slaves, master of a feast, an entertainer, a host, a master of a play or public games, employer of players or gladiators, or finally, 'sir'. What better word could there be? Oh, and 'est' is 'is' but you probably guessed that.

Page 2

Alexander est.

Alexander vilis miser hirsutus est Adiutor.

[translation and notes]

Alexander est. = It's Alex.
An attempt at the least excited someone could introduce someone - by simply saying "Alex is."

Some fun words here used as adjectives for Alex, and then crossed out. 'vilis' means cheap, common, worthless. 'miser' means miserable, wretched, or sick. 'hirsutus' you probably already guessed, but means rough, shaggy, hairy and rude. Instead, we go with 'Adiutor', which straight up translates to assistant, secretary, or supporter. Pretty good!

Page 3

Alexander in carpentum munus scribit.

Alexander Dominum amat.

[translation and notes]

Alexander in carpentum munus scribit = Alex is in the caravan, writing tasks.
Obviously, there isn't a word for 'caravan' as we know it, so 'carpentum' will serve. It means wagon, cart, two-wheeled covered carriage (apparently for women), and chariot. Good enough. Munus, on the other hand - well, 'task' is a tricky word to find a translation for. I went with 'munus' because it's short, and because it can mean: a service, office or employment, a burden, duty or obligation, a favour, a spectacle or public show, or - my favourite - a gift.

Alexander Dominum amat = Alex loves the Taskmaster. Yeah he does. I have been capitalizing both Dominus and Adiutor, for Taskmaster and the Assistant, but Latin really dgaf about upper and lower case letters. Dominus is Dominum because the case is accusative (Taskmaster is the object). Amat means love <3.

Page 4

Gregorius in bibliotheca epulatur.

Gregorius Adiutorem... tolerat.

[translation and notes]

Gregorius in bibliotheca epulatur = Greg is in the library, feasting. I originally didn't plan for the library setting, but I wanted to put him in the Taskmaster house somewhere. The three plain rectangles are the windows and glass door of the library in the TM house, so I changed it. Also, everyone has to know how to say 'library' in a new language. It's the law. Epulatur is a bit of a mystery word and hard to guess, so I hope you enjoyed the illustration!

Gregorius Adiutorem... tolerat. = Greg... tolerates the Assistant. Probably easy to work that one out. We have the accusative version of Adiutor for Assistant, as the object of the sentence. Note that word order in Latin is whatever. Just as valid to do 'Gregorius tolerat Adiutorem - but that wouldn't get me that nice pause for suspense at the end of the sentence! Lots of fun with making Latin do what you want.

Page 5

PARS·IOCOSA

Gregorius: A sinistra, ecce homo. Currit, titubat, luctatur, tanqum mus in matella, est… parvus Alexaaaaandulus!!!
Alexander: Tibi gratias ago, Gregorius.
Gregorius: Perge ergo!
Alexander: Dificulter de festus die decerno. Difficillimum.
Gregorius: Ita est?
Alexander: Vere! Navigabo an pomarium visitem? Ascendam in arborem? Submergerer?
Gregorius: Prohibitum est.
Alexander: Verum est. Ibo ad pomarium. Malo malo malo malo.
[auditores rident]
Gregorius: Mehercule… Dic primum munus, o homo molestus!

[translation and notes]

Most of the translation is on page 7, but a few notes here about the pun and word choices.

First, let's talk "Alexaaaaandulus!!" Alexander is a very proper, good, first declension masculine Latin name - Alexander the Great doing a lot of heavy lifting for us there. But the "-ulus" suffix is one that is used to make things cute or diminutive - or little! There are three versions -ulus, -olus, and -lus, depending on the ending of the previous word. So I am having Greg here call Alex little in two ways - first with the adjective "parvus" which means small, puny, or unimportant, and then with the diminutive suffix.

Note: in neither case did I fuck with Latin style three names for Greg. I have drawn Alex in slave clothing, so he wouldn't have three names, but Greg really ought to have them. I just couldn't be bothered including them all here.
In fact, I have given Greg special 'senator' clothing with one major difference - the base colour is black. The robes and the red stripes and very specifically - the red shoes - are all very specific for a super important senator in Rome, but in all instances, the base colour of the clothes are white. I have taken liberty here to shift them black instead, for more Taskmaster vibes.

And while I'm here! The throne I've drawn Greg on is a recreation of a throne of a priest of Bacchus! God of wine, fertility, festivity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre! Also I made it gold coloured as opposed to the white stone that it actually is, because Taskmaster (and it made the illustration a bit plain.

Also, earlier you saw me use "Ecce" as "behold!" and very important and grand it was too! But why, then, would Greg use it for Alex? Because the actual quote "Ecce homo" is from the Bible, where it is used derisively against Jesus by a Roman. Basically instead of someone saying "Wow! What a man!", they are instead saying "Get a load of this guy!" Very different vibe if you knew the context from the bible quote. Also as a leftie, I always love seeing 'sinister' or variations of it linking back to things on the left.

Okay, the pun. "Malo malo malo malo", is a famous pun in Latin circles (I discovered). The first 'malo' translates to "I would rather", or more specifically "I more greatly wish for", which is great. The second 'malo' is the ablative case (I think) of 'malus' which can mean apple tree. So you're saying "I more greatly wish for" + "in/on/towards apple tree". The third 'malo' is going to be our noun - a masculine noun version of 'malus' that means 'wicked person'. And finally, the last 'malo' is a version of 'malum' which means adversity, punishment, etc. again using the ablative case so it's "wicked man" + "in adversity". Absolute wankery!

I struggled to find a good equivalent for Greg's outraged "Fuck off!" so I went with "By Hercules!" or "Merhercule!" instead. It seems it was a commonly used curse with male speakers, and there's about four versions of it of various lengths. This length felt right and satisfying to say out loud for Greg.

And finally - yes, I picked "o homo molestus" because it sounds rude and naughty. Hehehe - he said homo molestus. I am very mature.

Page 6

[illustration]

Page 7

THE·BANTER·BIT

Greg: To my left, a ‘man’. He runs back and forth with a stupid expression, jittery as a rat in a roasting pot, it’s… Little Alex Horne!
Alex: Thank you, Greg.
Greg: Go on then!
Alex: I have been struggling to decide on a holiday. It is very difficult.
Greg: Is it?
Alex: Yes! Should I go on a cruise, or should I visit an orchard? Maybe I could climb a tree? What if I drown?
Greg: That’s not allowed.
Alex: That’s true. I have decided on the orchard. I would rather be in an apple tree than a wicked man in adversity.
[audience laughs]
Greg: By Hercules… Tell me the first task, you annoying man!

Chapter 2: Zine Files for A4 and US Letter

Chapter Text

Mini-zine layouts for both a single page of A4 paper, or a single page of US Letter sized paper.
To use, simply print out on the size of paper you have, and follow standard mini-zine folding/cutting instructions. 

Note that this includes a few sneaky little grammar fixes pointed out to me by a Latin language tutor commentor! I am very grateful for their advice. Fixes include

  • To the title of the fic and the zine. From "...parvus Alexandulo" to "...parvo Alexandulo" because I didn't realise that adjectives needed to have the same case as the noun they're for. Doh!
  • "Alexander in carpentum..." to "Alexander in carpento..." because I hadn't read up about ablative cases - which is used for when something is by/with/from/in something. Alex is IN the caravan, thus it must be the ablative case. (I got away with the same problem with "Gregorius in bibliotheca..." because the suffix is the same in both cases! Noice.
  • While I quipped in the translation notes on the first chapter here that Gregorius was a special case masculine noun that had "Gregorii" in the genitive case, but that I didn't need the genitive case here! Well guess what - I didn't need vocative but I did need vocative and it has the same suffix here. This case is used for stating someone's name directly. It's often described as "O [name]!" but here it's used with "thank you, Greg". The Greg there is vocative, thus "Gregorii". Whoops.

Always learning! Anyway. Have fun - I have my own little printed and folded copy of the minizine, and it makes me happy.

Gaude lectores!

(Which I think means "Enjoy, readers!")

JPG of the A4 paper size mini-zine for Taskmaster in Latin

Latin-Taskmaster-A401.pdf

US Letter paper sized mini-zine layout for Latin Taskmaster.

Latin-Taskmaster-Letter01.pdf

 

 

Notes:

Feel free to ask any questions! This was a lot of fun to do.
(I'll probably go back and edit this to include a printable link for A4 and Letter paper, soon - just need to tweak the layout a bit).
Lastly - if you have any corrections for my beginner Latin - please let me know! Gently, if possible, but it seems like it could be fun to discuss - a bit like The Life of Brian.