Below is this week's catch-up post to help you review any lesson(s) you missed over the past two weeks of lessons and/or to work on whatever kind of practice is most useful to you as you review the 1st and 2nd conjugation verbs:
And this is 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!
The focus for today's lesson is more practice with the 2nd conjugation, which has e as its theme vowel, as you can see in the endings -et and -etur for the active and passive, -ere for the infinitive, and -e for the imperative. You'll see examples of all those verbs forms in today's sayings!
Plus, you know almost all of the words in today's sayings; here is the slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
And here are today's sayings:
1. Ultimam time. Fear (the) l, iast (hour).
UL-timam time.
You know all the words in this saying, and you also know the implied word that is the key to its meaning: hora.
The word ultimam is the accusative form of the adjective ultima, and it is feminine to agree with the implied horam.
The verb time is the imperative form: "fear!" The idea is to fear the last hour, which means the last hour of life, which means: death.
This is a memento mori saying, and it is one you can find inscribed on sundials, as you can see here. For another sundial motto, see #3 below.
2. Mons cum monte non miscetur.
Mountain doesn't mix with mountain.
mons cum monte non mis-CE-tur.
The verb miscetur is the passive form of miscet, and mons is the subject.
The word monte is the ablative form of mons with the preposition cum.
Erasmus included this in his book of Adagia, explaining that the mountain here stands for a great person, a lofty person, and the idea is that when people are extremely powerful, they are loners; they cannot mingle with others of equal power.
3. Transit hora sed lux permanet.
(The) hour passes, but (the) light remains.
transit hora sed lux PER-manet.
The verb permanet means "remains, lasts," as in English "permanent." You haven't seen this verb before, but you have seen the uncontracted form: manet. This is another sundial motto: in the case of a sundial, it literally means that the hour (or time) passes, but the light, i.e. the sunlight, remains. Metaphorically, it also suggests that while the mortal things of the world pass away in time, the light of the spirit, the divine light, remains.
4. Noli de mortuo inimico tuo gaudere.
Don't rejoice about your dead enemy.
noli de MOR-tuo ini-MI-co tuo gau-DE-re.
The word gaudere is the infinitive of gaudet, and it is used here with noli to create a negative imperative: don't rejoice.
The word inimico is the ablative form of inimico with the preposition de. The adjectives mortuo and tuo agree with the masculine ablative inimico.
The words come from the Biblical Book of Ecclesiasticus (also known as the Book of Sirach).
5. Fructus amarus avi saturatae saepe videtur.
Fruit often seems bitter to-the-bird (who is) well-fed.
fructus a-MA-rus avi satu-RA-tae saepe vi-DE-tur.
The verb videtur is the passive form of videt, and as you may recall, it has a special meaning: "seem." The subject is fructus, and the predicate is amarus: "fruit seems bitter," fructus videtur amarus.
The word avi is the dative form of avis, used with videtur: "seems to the bird."
The adjective saturatae, "full, well-find," is also dative, and it is feminine, agreeing with avi. You haven't seen this adjective before, but you have seen the related masculine adjective: satur, as in a similar saying you have seen before: Mel nimium saturo muri censetur amarum.
The focus for today's lesson is a review of 2nd conjugation verbs. Last week, you review the 1st conjugation, which had a as its theme vowel. The 2nd conjugation has e as its theme vowel, and you will see all of these forms in today's sayings: the present active form, passive form, imperative, and infinitive.
mordet — she bites / he bites / it bites
mordetur — is bitten
morde! — bite! (command)
mordere — to bite
To get started, here is the slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before, and you've seen almost all of the words in today's sayings before!
And here are today's proverbs:
1. Ave atque vale.
Be-well and be-strong.
ave atque vale.
This is a famous Latin phrase which is often rendered in English as "Hail and farewell."
The word ave is the infinitive form of the verb avet, "be well." So the infinitive means "be well!" and it was also used as a salutation in Latin, either as a greeting or as a goodbye. This word famously appears in the Christian phrase Ave, Maria ("Hail, Mary!"), which you can read about at Wikipedia: Ave Maria.
The word vale is also an imperative of a verb you have seen before: valet.
The Roman poet Catullus used these words to close a poem in which he mourned the death of his brother; you can find the poem in Latin and English at Wikipedia: Catullus 101.
The word habe is the imperative form of the verb habet.
The word Fortunam is the object of the verb, and reverenter is an adverb meaning "respectfully, with respect." This same Latin root gives us English words like "revere" and "reverend." You've also seen the Latin verb based on this same root: veretur; in the Roman world, the basis of respect was fear!
The phrase comes from a poem by the Roman poet Ausonius, writing about Agathocles of Syracuse, who was born as the son of a potter but rose to immense power and wealth; even when he was wealthy, he kept reminders of his poverty around him so that he would treat his good luck with respect. You can see Ausonius's poem here: Exhortation to Modesty.
3. Etiam tacere est respondere.
Even to-be-silent is to-reply.
ET-iam ta-CE-re est respon-DE-re.
The word tacere is the infinitive form of the verb tacet, and the word respondere is the infinitive form of respondet, "answers, responds." You haven't seen this noun before, but you have seen a related noun: responsio.
As often, the infinitive is more like a verb than a noun, so you could also render this saying in English as: "Silence is also an answer."
The verb tondetur is the passive form of the verb tondet. The word facile, "easily," is an adverb modifying this verb. You haven't seen this adverb before, but it is the neuter form of an adjective you have seen before: facilis.
You've also seen the adjective rara before, meaning "uncommon, rare," but in this saying it has a slightly different meaning: "sparse, thin. " A beard that is not thick with hair is a rara barba.
Metaphorically, then, this means that something that is not fully developed is easily managed or even undone. If you wait until a beard gets thick and long, it is going to be a lot harder to shave!
5. Plus valet passer in dextra quam quattuor extra.
(A) sparrow in the-hand is-worth more than four outside (the hand).
plus valet passer in dextra quam QUAT-tuor extra.
The only new word in this saying is passer, which means "sparrow." You can see this Latin root in the scientific word "passerine," and Latin passer is also the origin of Spanish pájaro, meaning "bird."
The verb valet is the same verb whose imperative you saw above: Ave atque vale.
You've already seen another version of this same saying in Latin already: Est avis in dextra melior quam quattuor extra, both equivalent to the English "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."
The dextra...extra rhyme shows that this is a medieval Latin proverb (the ancient Romans did not like rhyme, but it is frequently found in medieval Latin poetry and proverbs).
This week the quiz-slideshow focuses on dative forms: -ae for the 1st declension, -o for the 2nd declension, and -i for the 3rd declension. The forms are easy; what can be hard about the dative is the many different ways that Latin uses the dative. You might remember that you've seen the dative for possession and also the dative used with body parts.
Using the quiz-slideshow, 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.
Here is a link to the full-size quiz-show, and the show is embedded in the blog post here too:
If you want to do even more reviewing (you cannot review too much!), here are the vocabulary review slideshows from previous weeks.
And here is the Week 59 Crosswordfor you to download and print. Screenshots:
And... here's a random cat (with a new cat when you reload the page):
The focus for today's lesson is one more review day for the 1st conjugation — the active and passive verbs, plus the imperative and the infinitive — which has a as its theme vowel. (Next week, we'll do a review of the 2nd conjugation, which has e as its theme vowel.)
And here is the slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before; almost all the words today are familiar ones:
And here are today's proverbs:
1. Fricantem refrica.
Scratch-in-return (the one) scratching (you).
fri-CAN-tem RE-frica.
You've seen the verb fricat, "scratches," before, and both of these words are formed from that verb.
The word fricantem is the accusative form of the participle fricans, "scratching."
The word refrica is the imperative form of the verb refricat, "re-scratch, scratch in return."
The scratching here is all good, as in the English saying, "You scratch my back; I'll scratch yours." Or, in other words, "One good turn deserves another."
2. Dormitat et Homerus.
Even Homer nods.
DOR-mitat et Ho-ME-rus.
You've seen the verb dormit before, and dormitat is a variation on that verb: it means "naps, nods, feel sleepy."
The word et here is being used adverbially, like English "too, also, even."
Homer, of course, was the great founding poet of the European tradition, the composer of the Iliad and the Odyssey. But just because he was a great poet does not mean that his compositions were perfect, and this phrase refers to how Homer has his weak points, inconsistencies, etc. The words come from the Roman poet Horace; you can find out more about this saying at the Wiktionary, where it has its own entry.
3. Caritas non cogitat malum.
Love doesn't think evil.
CA-ritas non CO-gitat malum.
You already know all the words in this saying!
The form malum is a neuter adjective being used substantively as a noun: "(a) bad, evil (thing)." It could be either nominative or accusative because those forms are identical for all neuter nouns and adjectives, so it could be either the subject or the object of the verb. In this saying, however, you can tell from context that it must be the object: caritas is unambiguously in the nominative case, so it is the subject of the verb, while malum is the object.
I found this photograph of a mosaic from a church in Brighton, England which displays these words:
4. Mel nulli sine felle datur.
Honey without bile is-given to-nobody.
mel nulli sine felle datur.
You also know all the words in this saying already, and you've seen other Latin sayings that depend for their appeal on the sound-play of mel and fel, for example: Ubi mel, ibi fel, and Mel in ore, fel in corde.
The verb datur is passive: "is given" (from dat, "gives"). The word nulli is the dative form of nullus, "to nobody." The subject of the verb is mel. It makes sense to give the dative case used with the verb datur, right? That is what gives the "dative" case its name.
The form felle is the ablative form of fel used here with the preposition sine.
5. Nobilitare potest virtus, doctrina coronat.
Excellence can ennoble (you); learning crowns (you).
nobili-TA-re potest virtus, doc-TRI-na co-RO-nat.
You have two new verbs in this saying, but they are both related to words you have seen before.
The word nobilitare is the infinitive form of the word nobilitat, "makes noble, ennobles," from the adjective nobilis. The infinitive is being used here with the verb potest.
The verb coronat you can recognize from the noun corona.
You've learned so much about Latin verbs now! You've got present tense forms, both active and passive, plus imperative forms and infinitives too (which are partly like verbs and partly like nouns). Those Latin verbs come in four conjugations, so for the next four weeks, you'll be reviewing those different forms in the four conjugations, starting with the 1st conjugation:
amat — she loves / he loves / it loves
amatur — is loved
ama! — love! (command)
amare — to love
Today's sayings contain at least one example of each of those forms, and to get ready, here is the slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before, and almost all of the words in today's saying are familiar ones you've had before.
And here are today's proverbs:
1. Da dextram misero.
Give (a) hand to-(an)-unfortunate-(person).
da dextram MI-sero.
The 1st conjugation verb da is imperative in form: "give!"
The word dextram is the accusative form of dextra, which is short for dextra manus, "right hand." That is why the word dextram can mean "hand" here: da dextram, "give a hand, lend a hand!"
The word misero is the dative form of the adjective miser, which is being used here substantively, as a noun: misero, "to (a) miserable (person)."
The 1st conjugation verb cavat is active in form. The word lapidem is the accusative form of the noun lapis, and it is the object of the verb.
The new word here is gutta, which means "drop," as in a drop of liquid. This Latin root word gives us English "gutter."
This saying is literally true, because water really can wear away stone, and metaphorically it refers to the paradoxical way that something small, something soft, something gentle, can actually overcome something that seems big and hard and strong.
3. In medio stat veritas.
(The) truth stand in (the) middle.
in ME-dio stat VE-ritas.
The 1st conjugation verb stat is active in form, but this verb is intransitive; it does not take a direct object.
The word medio is the ablative form of the word medium, being used here with the preposition in.
Compare the English saying, "The truth is somewhere in the middle."
The 1st conjugation verb obumbratur, "is obscured, overshadowed, darkened," is passive in form. You haven't seen this verb before, but you know the noun it is formed from: umbra.
The word vino is the ablative form of vinum, being used here with the passive verb: obumbratur vino, "is obscured by wine." In English we have to use the preposition "by" with passive verbs, but in Latin, the ablative case can express that idea on its own without a preposition.
The metaphorical context here is that wisdom is something that is bright with light, but the effect of alcohol casts a shadow on that light.
The 1st conjugation verb iudicare is an infinitive, and you can use the infinitive like this to make a negative imperative: noli iudicare. The word noli literally means "don't-want," which is why you use an infinitive here: "don't-want to-judge," i.e. "don't judge."
The new word here is the preposition secundum, which means "according to." This is one of those prepositions that takes the accusative case, so faciem is the accusative form of facies. Remember: facies can mean "face," but it can also mean "surface, appearance," which is the meaning here.
Compare the English saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover." (The cover of a book is like its face!)
Below is this week's catch-up post to help you review any lesson(s) you missed over the past two weeks of lessons and/or to work on whatever kind of practice is most useful to you as you get familiar with these deponent verbs:
And this is 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!
