Latin down, but not out

Lain may well qualify as a dead language given it does not have native speakers anymore, but it’s certainly not extinct.

Paulyne Pogorelske has no regrets about learning Latin in Year 7 at Kew East Central School, with that ubiquitous Latin textbook, Latin for Today.

“While the language might have been “dead” for some, it was excitingly “alive” for me as a Carlton Football Club fan,” says Paulyne, from East Melbourne.

“That year, I started attending weekly matches with my father and cousins, inspired by translating the club’s Latin motto: “Mens Sana in Corpore Sano”- a sound mind in a sound body.

“It became a guide for good health I tried to adhere to ever since”.

With Carlton now topping the AFL premiership table (alongside Essendon) with 16 flags, Paulyne reckons the Latin motto has kept its players successfully “sound” for well over 100 years.

“Likewise, I too have been “sound” enough to see and enjoy the club win eight of those flags during my life,” she says.

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