The Elements of Meaning
Some concepts are basic for literacy. The alphabet is one example: if one does not know the English alphabet, one will be unable to read English. Likewise, if one doesn't know the forms of English verbs, it will be very hard to make sense of what one is trying to read.
Latin is the same, with a twist: it has more than a hundred more forms for its verbs than English has. And it is not only the verbs that have a variety of forms that have to be learned: nouns, adjectives, pronouns: these all change their form to match different situations. And, like the alphabet, the reader unfamiliar or insufficiently confident with these forms is not going to get very far reading the language.
Acquiring these forms is a task that takes time and effort. Indeed, one of the greatest challenge for the student learning Latin for the first time is that one is engaged in two distinct tasks at once: learning all of these forms and learning syntax.
This course is designed to aid the student of the language by separating the morphology out into a separate task. Through in-class exercises, examples, and drills, combined with out of class assignments, this course aims to develop the strong mastery of Latin morphology required for confident progress in learning Latin grammar.
This course is the beginning of the Learning Latin Track. Students wishing to complete their study of the language should go on to Foundations of Latin Grammar and Intermediate Latin Grammar. All three courses may be taken for a discounted price.
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7:00-8:00 pm CT
March 18 - April 17, 2025
$200 / student
part of the Learning Latin Track
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Dr. Johnson’s personal, innovative, and engaging instruction has helped me, even as a longtime Latin teacher, to think about Latin in new and surprising ways, which has infused my teaching. I have been humbled and yet inspired anew to value the process more than the result and to share that vital perspective with my students.
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Junius Johnson is one of the best professors I have ever encountered. He is deeply knowledgeable and qualified, but also uses humor and a sense of play to foster a collaborative and engaging learning environment — all while pushing his students to do and be their best. He equipped me with the essential skills of nuanced Latin translation, and perhaps just as importantly instilled in me a love for the language and appreciation for its historical development and contexts. More than a decade after studying with him, I continue to benefit from Professor Johnson’s instruction and in fact am currently translating a ninth-century text for publication.
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With humor, intelligent discussion, and deep insights, Junius Johnson gives you more than an overview or introduction to Latin, he inspires you to keep learning hard things while giving you a vision and much fuller picture of Latin.
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Junius has such a robust understanding of the language, and his passion is contagious. His approach invites parents, educators, and students to re-imagine how they think about Latin, moving from merely transactional to experiential. He’s also not afraid to address many of the “why” questions that all too often go unanswered. Highly recommend!
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Simply put, Junius Johnson is the best Latin teacher I have ever experienced in my many years of supervising education. He is a true scholar of the Latin language from the classical period to the neo-Latin present; he has success teaching every age and skill level. Junius is compassionate with those who are less gifted than he, but still manages to stretch his students in a friendly and inviting manner. I wholeheartedly recommend him to you as your teacher. Trust me, the encounter will be memorable.