I thought he did pick up some Latin during the Rheinsberg years, though?
My impression is that he picked up some vocab (probably aided by French being a Romance language) and phrases, but little to no grammar. So he could drop Latin tags and quotes when he wanted, but composing was beyond him. Again, it also depends on how much we trust Catt, but Catt has him being unable to form a simple noun plural. I admit I was surprised at the fic having him being able to make heads or tails of Latin conversation that wasn't a quote he'd recognize, but I could be wrong. He did constantly lament not having learned Latin, but of course, the standards were higher in the 18th century, so that could mean anything.
(I do regret we don't have an AW quote on this since at eight he was old enough to know what "Fritz is dead! No he's not!" was about, and because his own relationship with FW was so much better, seeing him like this, whaling Wilhelmine, lashing out at everyone must have shocked him to the core.)
No kidding. Traumatic amnesia is a very real possibility. (So, of course, is just not wanting to talk about it.)
ETA: For instance, Algarotti is the one who, upon request, composes the one-liner inscriptions for the new buildings in Berlin: "Federicus Borussorum Rex compositis armis Apollini et Musis donum dedit," "Federicus Borussorum Rex Germania pacata Minervae reduci aedes sacravit", "Federicus Borussorum Rex amplificato imperio sibi et Urbi." If he needed help with that, then his Latin is minimal. And that's 1742, so whatever he did at Rheinsberg would still have been fresh.
Notice, by the way, how every one of those can be summed up with the epic rap battle's "I've got creative talents and battle malice." ;)
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Re: The Katte War Tribunal Protocol
Date: 2020-01-11 05:43 pm (UTC)My impression is that he picked up some vocab (probably aided by French being a Romance language) and phrases, but little to no grammar. So he could drop Latin tags and quotes when he wanted, but composing was beyond him. Again, it also depends on how much we trust Catt, but Catt has him being unable to form a simple noun plural. I admit I was surprised at the fic having him being able to make heads or tails of Latin conversation that wasn't a quote he'd recognize, but I could be wrong. He did constantly lament not having learned Latin, but of course, the standards were higher in the 18th century, so that could mean anything.
(I do regret we don't have an AW quote on this since at eight he was old enough to know what "Fritz is dead! No he's not!" was about, and because his own relationship with FW was so much better, seeing him like this, whaling Wilhelmine, lashing out at everyone must have shocked him to the core.)
No kidding. Traumatic amnesia is a very real possibility. (So, of course, is just not wanting to talk about it.)
ETA: For instance, Algarotti is the one who, upon request, composes the one-liner inscriptions for the new buildings in Berlin: "Federicus Borussorum Rex compositis armis Apollini et Musis donum dedit," "Federicus Borussorum Rex Germania pacata Minervae reduci aedes sacravit", "Federicus Borussorum Rex amplificato imperio sibi et Urbi." If he needed help with that, then his Latin is minimal. And that's 1742, so whatever he did at Rheinsberg would still have been fresh.
Notice, by the way, how every one of those can be summed up with the epic rap battle's "I've got creative talents and battle malice." ;)