#reading latin

My research says that this phrase; DELIRIUM EST ARS TENEBRIS HABITANDI

means; Delirium is the art of dwelling in darkness

But, I know nothing about Latin, and I only speak one language. So I'm hoping this reaches the Latin Side of Tumblr and someone can help confirm that this is accurate? Or at least not complete gibberish!

Who said learning Latin is dull?

This semester, UWM Latin instructor Deanna Wesolowski’s classes have been focusing on reading medieval Latin texts. Today she brought two of her classes, composed of beginning and 2nd-year students, to Special Collections to view examples from our extensive facsimile collection of manuscript books originally produced from the late 7th to the mid 15th centuries. The goal was to view and attempt to read a range of Latin texts in a long temporal span of paleographic hands, with their various ligatures and abbreviation conventions, and to discuss how reading Latin was transformed by the 13th century through the gradual introduction of standardized word order, spaces between words, punctuation, enlarged initial capitals, and the use of the Carolingian minuscule.

We were a bit surprised, but absolutely delighted with the level of enthusiasm  the students brought to their engagement with the texts, and with the many great questions and comments they formulated. For these students at least, learning Latin is certainly not dull!

Click on the images to find out what they’re reading.