Latin Lesson #211: Vult plus the infinitive

The focus for today's lesson is again the verb vult, and this time all the vult sayings take a complementary infinitive: want to (verb). You will see a 1st-conjugation infinitive — potare, “to drink” — and two 2nd-conjugation infinitives — docere, “to teach” and studere, “to study” (with a long e: do-CE-re, stu-DE-re)— and a 3rd-conjugation infinitive — tangere, “to touch" (with a short e: TAN-gere). 

There is also something new: a 1st-conjugation passive infinitive: imitari, which means “to imitate.” The meaning is active in English because this is one of those deponent verbs: remember those? Those are the verbs that have only passive forms. You haven’t learned the passive infinitives yet, but we’ll get to those eventually!

To get started, here is the slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:

And here are today's proverbs:

1. Inops, potentem dum vult imitari, perit.
(A) poor (person), when he wants to-imitate (a) powerful (person), perishes.
inops, po-TEN-tem dum vult imi-TA-ri, perit.

Here is that passive infinitive: imitari, and it is passive in form but active in meaning, so it takes a direct object: imitari potentem, "to imitate a powerful person," where potentem is the accusative form of the adjective potens, being used substantively as a noun. You haven't seen this adjective before, but you have seen a related noun: potentia.

The word perit, "perish," is a compound form of the verb it, "goes." Literally it means "goes all the way, goes to the end," i.e. to the end of life! This is where we get the English word "perish." 

These words come from the Roman poet Phaedrus, who wrotes Aesop's fables in verse. This is from the fable of the frog who was jealous of the large size of the bull, so she puffed herself up and puffed herself up, trying to be as big as an ox... and then she exploded. Metaphorically, the frog is a poor, small person trying to imitate a big, important person, an attempt which ends in disaster.


2. Esuriens venter non vult studere libenter.
(A) hungry stomach doesn’t freely want to-study.
e-SU-riens venter non vult stu-DE-re li-BEN-ter.

The word studere, "to study," is the infinitive form of the verb studet, "studies," which is the origin of English "study," "student," etc.

That's your only new word in this saying; you know all the other words, and you've seen a similar saying about singing rather than studying: Ieiunus venter non vult cantare libenter.

Both of those sayings feature the same rhyme, venter-libenter, a sure sign that they are medieval Latin proverbs.

3. Felis amat piscem, sed non vult tangere flumen.
(The) cat loves fish, but doesn’t want to-touch (the) water.
felis amat piscem, sed non vult TAN-gere flumen.

The word tangere, "to touch," is the infinitive form of tangit, "touches," as in English "tangible."

That's your only new word in this saying; the others are all words you have seen before.

This is a famous English saying, and it even has an echo in the words of Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth, who mocks her husband with these words: "Like the poor cat i' the adage?" In other words, Macbeth would like to be king, just as the cat would like to eat some fish, but he is reluctant to commit the act of killing the king, just as the cat doesn't want to get her feet wet.


4. Bos ad aquam tractus non vult potare coactus.
(An) ox led to water doesn’t want to-drink, coerced.
bos ad aquam tractus non vult po-TA-re co-AC-tus.

The word potare, "to drink" is the infinitive of the verb potat, "drinks." This is a new word, but you have seen the related noun: potus.

The word bos is a masculine noun here, and so the adjectives are also masculine: tractus, "dragged," and coactus, "coerced." The word tractus is from the verb trahit, "drags" (think: "tractor"). 
The word aquam is the accusative form of aqua, used with the preposition ad, which takes the accusative case.

Compare the English saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."

The rhyme tractus-coactus is your clue that this is another medieval Latin proverb.


5. Error in orbe gravis: vult porca docere Minervam.
(A) great delusion in (the) world: when a-pig wants to-teach Minerva.
error in orbe gravis: vult porca do-CE-re Mi-NER-vam.

The word porca means "pig" as in English "pork." You've actually seen a much reduced form of this saying: Sus Minervam. Now you can see a fuller form, with the verb included: sus (=porca) vult docere Minervam. The word Minervam is in the accusative case, the object of the infinitive docere.

The first half of the saying uses the phrase in orbe, literally "in the world," in the sense of "the world over" or "all over the world." The word gravis, "heavy,  serious," is new, but you've seen the comparative form already: gravior, "heavier."


Here's a recap:

• Inops, potentem dum vult imitari, perit.
• Esuriens venter non vult studere libenter.
• Felis amat piscem, sed non vult tangere flumen.
• Bos ad aquam tractus non vult potare coactus.
• Error in orbe gravis: vult porca docere Minervam.

And here is today's audio:



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Week 70 Catch-Up Day

Here is the new catch-up day post for the fero and volo verbs over the past two weeks. So, today there is a slideshow (with cats) of the past two weeks' sayings, plus a link to the crossword as usual (which you can download and print), and then... the self-quiz!

• #207: Fert and fertur
• #208: Infinitive ferre
• Week 69 Vocabulary Review
• #209: Volo-Malo-Nolo
• #210: Vult and mavult

So, let's start with the slideshow with all the sayings from the week. You can read out loud, first with the English to remind you of the vocabulary... and then read out loud again with the cat!

I also made a printable crossword PDF as usual, and the same prompts for the crossword are used in the quiz questions below. Enjoy!

Tempus ipsum affert ______.
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consilium

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Granum frumenti mortuum multum affert ______.
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fructum

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Differt, non aufert, ______ longissima vita.
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mortem

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Occasio aegre offertur, ______ amittitur.
fill in the blank:

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facile

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Esuriens stomachus fertur coquus ______ esse.
fill in the blank:

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optimus

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Nemo enim potest ______ diu ferre.
fill in the blank:

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personam

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Necessitatem ______, non flere addecet.
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ferre

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______ est iniuriam ferre quam inferre.
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melius

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Quid gravissimum est ferre? ______ hominis.
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cor

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______ minori parcere, maiori cedere, ferre parem.
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disce

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______, non valeo.
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volo

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Valere ______ quam dives esse.
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malo

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______ parum, nimium non volo: sat mihi sat.
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nolo

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Malo hic esse primus quam ______ secundus.
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Romae

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Malo ad campanam ______ ad tubae surgere clangorem.
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quam

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Spiritus flat ubi ______.
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vult

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Vult et non vult ______.
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piger

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______ feli tintinnabulum annectere vult.
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nemo

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Asinus stramen mavult quam ______.
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aurum

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Ieiunus ______ non vult cantare libenter.
fill in the blank:

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venter

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And here's a random cat:

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Latin Lesson #210: Vult and mavult

The focus for today's lesson is more about the irregular verb volo which you saw yesterday, along with the compounds mavolo (= magis volo) and nolo (= non volo).

Today you will learn the 3rd-person form: vult, "wants, is willing, will." There is also a compound form, mavult, "wants more, prefers" (= magis vult).

For nolo, the 3rd-person form is just non vult. You actually saw that in one of the sayings yesterday: Nolo parum, nimium non volo: sat mihi sat.

And here is the slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:

And here are today's proverbs:

1. Spiritus flat ubi vult.
(The) Spirit blows where (it) wants.
SPI-ritus flat ubi vult.

The word spiritus is from the verb spirat, "breathe." The basic meaning of spiritus is "breath, breathing," but of course it later took on new meanings in the Christian tradition, giving us English "spirit," and also "Spirit," a person of the Holy Trinity. You can read more about the history of this word at Wikipedia: Spirit.

This phrase is a variation on the Gospel of John: Spiritus ubi vult spirat. 


2. Vult et non vult piger.
(The) lazy (man) wants and doesn’t want.
vult et non vult piger.

You already know all the words in this saying! 

Here you can see how the verb nolo has non vult as the 3rd-person form.

The idea is that a lazy person does want things, vult, but because he is not willing to do the work, non vult.

This saying also comes from the Bible, this time from the Hebrew Bible's Book of Proverbs. The King James Version reads: 'The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing."


3. Asinus stramen mavult quam aurum.
(A) donkey wants straw more-than gold.
A-sinus stramen mavult quam aurum.

The word stramen is a neuter noun, so it is the same form in both nominative and accusative; in this sentence, it is accusative because it is the object of the verb mavult: The donkey wants straw, asinus mavult stramen.

The donkey wants that straw more than, quam, the donkey wants gold, aurum, another neuter noun in the accusative.
Do you think the donkey is foolish? This kind of saying is meant to make fun of the donkey, as if the donkey doesn't realize the value of gold... but you can't eat gold!


4. Nemo feli tintinnabulum annectere vult.
Nobody is-willing to-tie (the) bell (onto the) cat.
nemo feli tintin-NA-bulum an-NEC-tere vult.

Here the verb vult takes a complementary infinitive, vult annectere, "wants to die." The root of that word is nexus, "binding, joining."

The word tintinnabulum, "bell," is a neuter noun, so it could be nominative or accusative here; it's accusative because it is the object of the infinitive: to tie on the bell, annectere tintinnabulum. You can see this same Latin root in the medical term "tinnitus."

The word feli is the dative form of the noun feles, "for the cat, to the cat, onto the cat."

This saying was turned into an Aesop's fable, Belling the Cat. The idea is that the mice want to put a bell on the cat... but none of the mice will do it!


5. Ieiunus venter non vult cantare libenter.
(An) empty stomach isn’t willing to-sing gladly.
ie-IU-nus venter non vult can-TA-re li-BEN-ter.

The word venter is a masculine 3rd-declension noun, "stomach." You can see this Latin word in "ventriloquism," speaking-from-the-stomach. 

The masculine adjective ieiunus, "empty, fasting," which gives us English "jejune," meaning empty in a metaphorical sense, insipid, without substance.
The adverb libenter means "gladly, happily," and it is related to the Latin word libido, which gives us English "libido."
In other words: food first! If you are hungry, nothing else is going to go well, especially performing on command.

As you can guess from the internal rhyme, venter-libenter, this is a medieval Latin proverb.


Here's a recap:

• Spiritus flat ubi vult.
• Vult et non vult piger.
• Asinus stramen mavult quam aurum.
• Nemo feli tintinnabulum annectere vult.
• Ieiunus venter non vult cantare libenter.

And here is today's audio:



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Latin Lesson #209: Volo-Malo-Nolo

The focus for today's lesson is another set of irregular verbs: volo, "I want," malo, "I prefer," and nolo, "I don't want."

The words malo and nolo are actually contractions: malo is magis volo, "I want more," and nolo is non volo, "I don't want." You've actually seen a form of nolo before; do you remember those negative imperatives with noli, like Noli tristis esse, "Don't be sad," and Noli trepidare, "Don't be afraid." 

Each of today's sayings has a form of volo, malo, and nolo, and then later this week, you'll see some other forms of these verbs.

And here is the slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:

And here are today's proverbs:

1. Volo, non valeo.
I-want, I'm-not able.
volo, non VA-leo.

This sentence plays with the verb volo, "I want, I am willing," and the sound-alike verb valeo, "I am able, I have the power." It often happens that you might want something or want to do something, but not be able to.

Contrast the affirmative English saying, "ready, willing, and able."

This is the family motto of the Earl of Carlisle, reportedly awarded by King Charles II as a rebuke for the Howards not having rallied to the defense of Charles I; the Howards were allowed to retain their title but had to endure the ignominy of this motto.


2. Valere malo quam dives esse.
I-prefer to-be-well than to-be wealthy.
va-LE-re malo quam dives esse.

Here you get the verb malo, "I prefer," i.e. magis volo, "I want more."

This verb takes a complementary infinitive, and you have two infinitives here: valere and esse.

The infinitive valere here has a different meaning that in the previous saying; in this context, valere means "to be strong, to be well" (as in the phrase ave atque vale that you've seen before).

The infinitive esse, "to be," takes a predicate nominative: esse dives, "to be wealthy."

So, you can put it all together with the comparative adverb quam: "I prefer to be healthy," malo valere, "rather than," quam, "to be rich," esse dives.

You can find this sentiment expressed in the writings of the Roman author Cicero.


3. Nolo parum, nimium non volo: sat mihi sat.
I-refuse too-little, I-don't want too-much: enough is-enough for-me.
nolo parum, NI-mium non volo: sat mihi sat.

You know all the words in this saying except for one: mihi, which is the dative form of the pronoun ego, meaning "to me, for me."

The contrast is between nolo and non volo, both of which mean "I don't want, I refuse." Using the two different expresses is what gives the saying its charm.

Once again, it's a recommendation of the Golden Mean: not too little, parum, and not too much, nimium, but just enough: sat. 


4. Malo hic esse primus quam Romae secundus.
I-prefer to-be first here than second in-Rome.
malo hic esse primus quam Romae se-CUN-dus.

The word hic here is an adverb meaning "here, in this place." The word Romae is also expressing location; it means "at Rome, in Rome."

As you saw above, the verb malo takes a complementary infinitive: malo esse, "I prefer to be."

So, the idea is that in some humble place, wherever "here" might be, I prefer to be primus, "first," rather than to be secundus, "second" in Rome.
Plutarch attributes these words to Julius Caesar, spoken when he was passing through a remote village in the high Alps. Of course, Caesar eventually did make himself primus in Rome too, but he paid the ultimate price for that ascent!


5. Malo ad campanam quam ad tubae surgere clangorem.
I-prefer to-awake to a-bell than to the-blare of-a-war-trumpet.
malo ad CAM-panam quam ad tubae SUR-gere clan-GO-rem.

Again, the verb malo takes a complementary infinitive: malo surgere, "I prefer to rise, to wake up."

The word campanam is the accusative form of campana, "bell," as in the bell of a church peacefully tolling the hours. The word comes from Campania, the region where Naples is located; it was famous for bell-making, and so the name came to mean "bell" itself. You can see this word in the English word "campanile," a bell-tower.

The word clangorem is the accusative form of clangor, a loud or blaring sound, especially the sound of the war-trumpet; the word tubae is the genitive form of tuba, which was a very long trumpet (over a meter long!) used in times of war.
Both campanam and clangorem are in the accusative with the preposition ad, "to, towards," which takes the accusative case.

The saying plays on the metaphorical contrast between the campana which sounds in a time of peace and the clangor of the trumpet which blows in the time of war.


Here's a recap:

• Volo, non valeo.
• Valere malo quam dives esse.
• Nolo parum, nimium non volo: sat mihi sat.
• Malo hic esse primus quam Romae secundus.
• Malo ad campanam quam ad tubae surgere clangorem.

And here is today's audio:



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Week 69 Vocabulary Review

The review this week is... the accusative case! There's a quiz slideshow, a crossword, and a self-check quiz afterwards too. :-)

For each saying, you will try to supply the missing accusative noun or adjective. You can check yourself by looking at the cat slide that follows the slide with the missing word(s). 

You can also begin at the end and work backwards, giving yourself a different kind of quiz: seeing the slide without English and trying to supply the English, checking your answer on the next slide, reviewing with the cat slide, and then seeing if you can fill in the blank. Plus don't forget: on the slides that contain the English translation, the English is linked to the original blog post if you want some help in understanding the grammar of the saying.

I also made a printable crossword PDF as usual, and the same prompts for the crossword are used in the quiz questions below. Enjoy!

Timeo naufragus ______ fretum.
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omne

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______ cauda teneo.
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Anguillam

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Hirundo ______ loquitur.
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aestatem

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Sequitur ver ______.
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hiemem

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Vitulus sequitur vaccam, filia ______.
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matrem

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Ovis ______ sequitur.
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ovem

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______ equus insequitur.
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Testudinem

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Cogitationis ______ nemo meretur.
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poenam

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Ars imitatur ______.
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naturam

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Caritas non cogitat ______.
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malum

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Da ______ misero.
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dextram

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______ mediocritatem diligo.
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Auream

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______ nocens veretur, fortunam innocens.
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Legem

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______ reverenter habe.
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Fortunam

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______ spero.
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Lucem

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______ suum vulpecula mutare nescit.
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Ingenium

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Fraus meretur ______.
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fraudem

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Pacis nomine ______ involutum reformido.
fill in the blank:

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bellum

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Irrideo ______.
fill in the blank:

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tempestatem

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Tempus ______ manet.
fill in the blank:

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neminem

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And here's a random cat:

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Latin Lesson #208: The infinitive ferre

The focus for today's lesson is the infinitive form of fert, which is also irregular: ferre. Unlike the other verbs you have studied, with infinitives that end in -are, -ere, and -ire, this infinitive is lacking a theme vowel. But it does still end in -re, so you can let that clue help you recognize it as an infinitive. Each of today's sayings has either the infinitive ferre or a -ferre compound.

And here is the slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:

And now here are today's proverbs:

1. Nemo enim potest personam diu ferre.
Nobody in-fact can wear a-mask for-a-long-time.
nemo enim potest per-SO-nam diu ferre.

You already know all the words in this saying!

The word ferre is an infinitive complementing the verb potest.

The word personam is the accusative form of persona, and it is the object of the infinitive ferre.

The idea here is that the truth will come out sooner or later; eventually, the mask comes off!

The words come from the Roman philosopher and politician Seneca.

2. Necessitatem ferre, non flere addecet.
It-is-appropriate to-endure necessity, not bewail (it).
necessi-TA-tem ferre, non flere AD-decet.

The words fere and flere are both complementing the verb addecet, "it is fitting, is appropriate." The verb is a compound of a verb you have seen before: ad-decet.

The charm of this saying is in the similar-sounding infinitives: ferre and flere. I can't come up with two rhyming words in English to express that similarity: maybe "praise" and "protest"...? They are at least a little bit similar!

This is another one of the sayings of Publilius Syrus.

3. Melius est iniuriam ferre quam inferre.
(It) is better to-endure a-wrong rather-than inflict (it).
ME-lius est in-IU-riam ferre quam in-FER-re.

The word inferre is from the compound verb, in-fert, "bring in, inflict."

The infinitives inferre and ferre are being compared with the phrase melius quam, "better than." The rhetorical charm of the saying is in the contrast between these two verbs; I can't think of a pair of verbs that work the same way in English; endure/inflict was the best I could do, with en-/in-.

The word iniuriam is the accusative form of the noun iniuria, and it is the object of both of the infinitives.

This is similar to a saying you have seen before, but without the wordplay between the two verbs: Melius est iniuriam accipere quam facere.


4. Quid gravissimum est ferre? Cor hominis.
What is the-heaviest-thing to-bear? (A) human's heart.
quid gra-VIS-simum est ferre? Cor HO-minis.
 
The word gravissimum, "heaviest," is the superlative form of a word you have seen before: grave. The adjective is being used as a noun here, "(the) heaviest (thing)." The word could be nominative or accusative; in this saying, it is in the accusative case, the object of the infinitive ferre.

The word cor is also a neuter noun, either nominative or accusative (remember: those neuter nouns are always identical in the nominative and accusative); it is also the accusative, like gravissimum.

The word quid is also neuter accusative, so all three of the key words here are neuter accusatives: quid ... gravissimum ... cor.

The word hominis is the genitive form of homo, with cor: "the heart of a human," i.e. a human heart.

Although this is more like a riddle than a proverb, you can see how a riddle can rely on metaphor just as proverbs often do. A human heart is, literally, not heavy to carry (you carry your heart with you all the time), but metaphorically, your heart can be very heavy indeed.

5. Disce minori parcere, maiori cedere, ferre parem.
Learn to-show-mercy to-a-lesser-person, to-yield to-a-greater, to-endure an-equal.
disce mi-NO-ri PAR-cere, ma-IO-ri CE-dere, ferre parem.

You have three infinitives here, all of which complement the verb disce, the imperative form of the verb discit. The infinitives are: parere, cedere, and ferre.

The word minori  is the dative of minor, with the verb parcit which takes a dative complement: minori parcere.

The word maiori is the dative of maior, with the verb cedit which takes a dative complement: minori cedere.
The word parem is the accusative form of par, "equal, even," which we use as an English word too. It is the direct object of the infinitive ferre.

Here's a recap:

• Nemo enim potest personam diu ferre.
• Necessitatem ferre, non flere addecet.
• Melius est iniuriam ferre quam inferre.
• Quid gravissimum est ferre? Cor hominis.
• Disce minori parcere, maiori cedere, ferre parem.

And here is today's audio:



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