Vocabulary, grammar and text exercises

1. Find in the text the compound nouns and translate them.

II. Analyze the structure of the following words, define the parts of speech. Translate the words.

purely anciently interpenetration

recognizable inscription venture

antiquity sparsely reliable

III. Make up pairs of synonyms.

1. general, neighbour, casual, evident, exclude

2. nearby, obvious, main, except, occasion

IV. Translate the following into Russian.

A large number of the inscriptions, coins, historical grounds, actual settlements or strongholds, oblivion, to emerge from, the historical framework, to be inscribed on, except for, so far as is known, purely casual, philological terminology, literate neighbours, some insular dwellers, incorporating Celtic words and names

5. Translate the following into English.

В отношении, насколько известно, за исключением, становится ясным, вожди и племена, археологические и исторические данные, выпускать, взаимопроникновение, выживание, чисто случайно, самое могущественное племя варваров, в течение четырех веков, который можно узнать.

6. Read the following sentences, find the predicates and define the tense-voice forms. Translate the sentences into Russian.

1. This evidence is based on much later sources than Herodotus.

a) Present Indefinite Active b) Present indefinite Passive c) Present Continuous

Active

2. The name “Celtic” was never applied to the peoples of Britain and Ireland by ancient writers.

a) Past Indefinite Active b) Past Perfect Passive c) Past Indefinite

Passive

3. This body of linguistic material falls within the Celtic branch of the Indo-European family.

a) Present Continuous Active b) Present Indefinite Active c) Present Perfect

Active

4. In the first there is the existence of a large number of inscriptions incorporating Celtic words and names.

a) Present Continuous Active b) Present Continuous Passive c) Present Indefinite

Active

5. The vestiges of barbaric civilization are firmly linked with known Celtic tribes in Northern Italy from the fourth century BC.

a) Present Indefinite Passive b) Present Indefinite Active

c) Present Continuous Passive

7. Arrange the points of the plan according to the content of the text.

1. Three primary sources which provide information concerning the language of the ancient Celts.

2. The archeological approach (the aim of modern archeological research in regard to the Celts)

3. The third primary source of the language of the Celts.

4. The second primary source concerning the language of the Celts

5. The first primary source dealing with the language of the Celts.

6. The Celts of antiquity actually spoke the tongues related to the surviving languages.

7. Factors that are general and may easily be misinterpreted.

8. Find the passage where it is told about the connections between the Celtic language and surviving languages, read it and translate.

9. Answer the following questions.

1. What tribes were considered to be the most powerful?

2. Was the name “Celts” ever applied to the peoples of Britain and Ireland? By whom?

3. How can it be shown that the Celts of antiquity spoke tongues that in philological terminology are described as Celtic?

4. What kind of inscription are still existing?

5. Where were they inscribed on?

6. What source is particularly valuable? Give the details.

7. In what regions did the Celts influence last longest?

8. In what part have Celtic place-names survived apart from the British Isles?

Text 5

BRITAIN AND THE COMING OF THE ROMANS

By 55 BC Caesar had conquered all Gaul – i.e., roughly what we know as modern France and Belgium. In the summer of that year his armies had reached and even crossed the Rhine into Germany. They now looked from the harbour at Boulogne to the white cliffs across the Channel. What made Caesar to conquer Britain? It was not a wealthy country, nor was it powerful enough to threaten Roman Gaul. Its climate was damp and unattractive. But as long as Britain remained free, discontented Gauls could escape there and plot rebellion in exile, and rebellion was a real danger to the Roman power in Gaul.

Britain was also a centre of the religion on of the Druids. In the Celtic tribes of Britain and Gaul these priests had a position of authority almost equal to that of the kings and chieftains. The religion of the Druids was mysterious and sinister. Their sacred places were not temples but groves of trees, usually oak-trees. Among these oaks the Druids performed magic rites designed to ensure the fertility of fields and flocks and success in the battle for the tribe. Sacrifices were very important in such ceremonies and the Romans believed that the Druids practised human sacrifices. At any rate, perhaps because of the horror of human sacrifices, and certainly because of resentment at the Druids’ influence on both sides of the Channel, the Romans were anxious to root out the Druids, and the Druids in return did all they could to foster hatred of the Romans.

Caesar’s first expedition to Britain in 55 BC – an expedition consisting of about 10,000 men carried in nearly 100 ships – was not meant to be a full-scale invasion. It was designed to prepare the way for an invasion in the following years by exploring the ground, by finding suitable harbours and landing-places, and by testing the Britons’ tactics and fighting spirit in battle. Caesar landed against stiff opposition on a beach between Walmer and Deal. The landing itself was successful, but the Roman ship captains, coming from the Mediterranean, were not used to the tides and the ways of the sea round the coast of Britain. They had beached some of their ships on an exposed coast and left the rest at anchor a little way out to sea. On the night of the full moon, when the spring tides were at their height, a storm suddenly sprang up. The beached ships were filled with water and the ones at anchor battered. Many were totally lost.

Caesar was now in a very difficult position. He had to get his men back to Gaul, for they had no provisions for the winter. Not only was his fleet wrecked, but the British chiefs, seeing his trouble and the small size of his army, were beginning to attack him again. Caesar did not lose his nerve. He had the least damaged ships refitted with timber from the wrecks, and then enjoyed the good fortune of a spell of calm weather before the autumn storms. His army returned safely to Gaul, but though he had successfully accomplished most of his immediate objects, he had not found a harbour.

For the invasion of 54 BC Caesar mobilized an enormous force. Forty thousand men were carried across in nearly six hundred transports, equipped this time with oars as well as sails. They landed on the same sort of open beach that had proved so disastrous the year before, but this time there was no resistance. Caesar hurried inland to find the enemy, and defeated them. While he was away, his fleet lying at anchor off the open beach was again almost wrecked by a storm. Caesar had to return to his ships. They were hauled up on the shore above the high-water mark and surrounded with a rampart to protect them from attack. This took up ten days of the short campaigning season, and during that time Cassivellaunus, by agreement with the southern chiefs, took over control of all the British forces. Caesar soon realized that he was up against a skillful and dangerous enemy. He determined to pursue Cassivellaunus to his capital, though he did not yet know where the capital was. Pressing on into unknown territory, he forced a crossing of the Thames, north of which lay the kingdom of Cassivellaunus. Caesar now found his rout deserted. His enemy had driven away all the inhabitants and their herds and with a force of four thousand chariots shadowed Caesar’s army as it advanced, preventing his men from collecting food. For the Roman leader the situation was becoming increasingly difficult.

Cassivelaunus, however, had other enemies besides the Romans. The most important of these was the non-Belgic tribe of the Trinovantes, who lived in what are now Essex and Suffolk. At this point a delegation came to Caesar from the Trinovantes. They offered their submission to Caesar and help in the form of provision. Moreover, they were able to tell him the whereabouts of the Belgic capital – which he soon stormed. But he was to go no further. News of a rebellion in Gaul sent him hastening back to his ships. In token of conquest he made Cassivelaunus promise to pay tribute to Rome and refrain from attacking the Tirnovantes. But as he set sail for France, he must have known that his invasion had achieved no lasting results.

PHONETIC EXERCISES

1. Read the following words aloud paying attention to the pronunciation of the stressed vowels.

/)/ conquer/k/, horror

/ /\ / roughly, country, enough, among, trouble, above, southern

/a:/ harbour

/au/ powerful

/e/ threaten, discontented, rebellion, exile /ai/, resentment

/æ/ damp, unattractive, magic, sacrifice, battle, anxious, anchor, rampart, chariot, shadow

/ei/ danger, sacred, invasion, campaigning, hastening

/ai/ tribe, designed

/i:/ priest, chieftain

/):/ authority, autumn, enormous, oar, hauled, shore

/i/ equal, sinister, fertility /:/, influence, inland

/i/ mysterious

/ou/ grove, oak, exposed, coast

/u/ ensure

/ju:/ human, suitable

/u/ prove, rout

2. Read the following words paying attention to the way of pronunciation of consonants and combinations of consonants.

/k/ conquer, anchor

/f/ roughly, enough

/dζ/ religion, magic, damaged

/-/ designed, wrecked, calm, campaigning

/t∫/ fortune

3. Read the following proper names correctly.

Caesar/’si:z/, Gaul /g):l/, France /fra:ns/, Belgium /’beldζm/, Rhine, Germany, Boulogne /bu:’loin/, Channel, Druids, Celtic, Walmer, Deal, Mediterranean, Cassivelaunus /,ksiv’l):ns/, Trinovantes /,train’vænts/, non-Belgic, Essex, Suffolk /’s/\f)lk/.