Latin Lesson #244: 2nd-Declension Neuter Plural

So far you have had the plural of feminine nouns and adjectives of the 1st declension: bona, singular, becomes bonae, plural. You have also seen the plural of masculine nouns and adjectives of the 2nd declension: bonus, singular, becomes boni.

For today,  you will learn the plural of neuter nouns and adjectives of the 2nd declension: bonum, "good (thing)," singular, becomes bona, "good (things)." You actually know this neuter ending already because we sometimes use it to make Latin plurals in English: "medium" gives us plural "media," "datum" gives us plural "data, " bacterium" gives us plural "bacteria," and "curriculum" gives us plural "curricula."

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

And here are today's proverbs:

1. Non nova sed nove.
Not new (things), but in-a-new-way.
non nova sed nove.

The word nova is the plural form of novum.
The word nove is an adverb formed from this same adjective: "newly, in a new way."

2. Ne verba pro farina.
Don't (offer) words instead-of flour.
ne verba pro fa-RI-na.

The word verba is the plural form of verbum. It could be either nominative or accusative, and you have to decided based on context. In this saying, it is the accusative object of an implied verb.

The word ne is a conjunction in Latin that goes with an imperative or a subjunctive verb, so even though there is no explicit verb in this saying, you can supply a verb based on the context: "Don't (offer, give, provide, etc.) words instead of flour." In other words: when someone is hungry, words will not fill their stomach.

The word farina, "flour" or "meal" (i.e. cornmeal, oatmeal, etc.) refers metaphorically to bread, and to food in general. The form here is ablative (farinā), the form needed for the preposition pro.

This is one of the sayings that Erasmus included in his Adagia.


3. Stipendia peccati mors.
The-wages of-sin (are) death.
sti-PEN-dia pec-CA-ti mors.

The word stipendia is the plural form of stipendium, which gives us English "stipend."

The word peccati is the genitive form of peccatum, "mistake, error" or, in this Christian saying, "sin." You haven't seen this noun before, but you have seen the verb peccat, and you can see this root in English "impeccable" and "peccadillo."

The words come from the Biblical Letter to the Romans.

4. Vestigia nulla retrorsum.
Not-any footprints going-back-out.
ves-TI-gia nulla retr-OR-sum.

The word vestigia is the plural form of vestigium, "footprint, track," as in English "vestige" and also "investigate." The adjective nulla is neuter plural, agreeing with vestigia.

This saying alludes to a famous Aesop's fable about a lion who pretends to be sick, and when his loyal subjects come to visit their king, he gobbles them up. The fox, however, is skeptical and refuses to come in. When the lion asks why, she says its because vestigia nulla retrorsum; she can see lots of footprints going in, but no footprints coming out.

5. Non semper Bacchanalia.
(It's) not always a-Bacchanalia.
non semper Baccha-NA-lia.

The word Bacchanalia is a noun used only in the plural. It is a wild feast in honor of the the Greco-Roman god Bacchus, who presides over wine. You can read more about this old Roman festival at Wikipedia: Bacchanalia.

The idea is that, sooner or the later, the party's over! Compare the English saying "Christmas comes but once a year."

Here's a recap:

• Non nova sed nove.
• Ne verba pro farina.
• Stipendia peccati mors.
• Vestigia nulla retrorsum.
• Non semper Bacchanalia.

And here is today's audio:



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Latin Lesson #243: Plural 2nd Declension, Masculine

The focus for today's lesson is more plurals. You had the plural of the 1st declension last week (like divitiae, "riches"), and this week, it will be the nominative plurals of 2nd-declension nouns, starting with the masculine nouns: the plural ending is -i.

So, if you have a -us masculine noun or adjective, you remove the -us and add the -i ending: bonus, "good," boni.

If you have a masculine noun or adjective ending -r, you just add the -i: liber, "free," becomes liberi.

Notice that in English, we do have a distinctive ending for plural nouns: a "book" becomes "books." But we do not have an ending for plural adjectives in English: a "good book" becomes "good books." In Latin, on the other hand, both nouns and adjectives have plural endings. (So far, you are just learning the nominative plural endings, and later you will have plural endings for all the cases: genitive, accusative, dative, and ablative.)

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

And here are today's proverbs:

1. Tantali horti.
The gardens of Tantalus.
TAN-tali horti.

You know all the words in this saying! The word horti is the plural of hortus, while the word Tantali is the genitive of Tantalus. 

Just like with the 1st declension, there are some ambiguous endings. It is only from context that you know Tantali is genitive singular and horti is nominative plural.

You have encountered the story of Tantalus before in the saying: In medio Tantalus amne sitit. For his outrageous crimes, Tantalus was punished in the afterlife by standing in water he could never drink, and also by standing in sight of fruit trees where the fruit was always out of reach. Hence, the Tantali horti are a curse, not a blessing: you will starve to death in those gardens.


2. Beati pacifici.
Blessed (are) the peacemakers.
Be-A-ti pa-CI-fici.

You also know all the words in this saying! The word beati is the plural of beatus, and pacifici is the plural of pacificus.

This saying comes from the Gospel of Matthew in the "Sermon on the Mount." It comes specifically from the "Beatitudes," which gets its name from the series of sayings that being with the word beati. You can find out more at Wikipedia.

3. Pauci sed boni.
Few (men), but good.
Pauci sed boni.

The word boni is the plural of bonus. 

The word pauci is new: it is the plural of paucus. In the singular, paucus means "small, little," but it is very rarely used; the more common word for "small" is paulus. (Both words, in fact, come from the same root.) In the plural, however, pauci means "few, a few," and it is very commonly used! It is not technically a "plural-only" word like divitiae, but it is very nearly only in the plural.

You can see this root in English "paucity," and it also gives us Spanish poco.

Compare the English saying, "A few good men," which was first used for recruiting soldiers into the U.S. Marines in 1779, which was then revived by the Marines in the 1970s.

4. Montani semper liberi.
Mountain-men (are) always free.
Mon-TA-ni semper LI-beri.

The word liberi is the plural form of the adjective liber, "free" (as in "liberty"), and the word montani is the plural of montanus, an adjective meaning "mountain," so montani means "mountain (men)." You haven't seen this word before, but you do know mons already, the noun "mountain."

This phrase is the state motto of West Virginia.

5. Si radix sancta, et rami.
If the root is holy, the branches (are) too.
Si radix sancta, et rami.

The word rami is the plural of ramus, "branch." You can see this Latin word in English "ramifications."

Meanwhile, the word radix is singular; it means "root," and gives us both English "radical" and "radish." It is a feminine noun, so it takes a feminine adjective: sancta. You haven't seen this form before, but you have seen the masculine form: sanctus.

This Biblical saying comes from the Letter to the Romans.


Here's a recap:

• Tantali horti.
• Beati pacifici.
• Pauci sed boni.
• Montani semper liberi.
• Si radix sancta, et rami.

And here is today's audio:



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Week 86 Catch-Up Day

Here is the new catch-up day post for the past two weeks: more 5th-declension nouns... and then the start of the plural nouns! (Just one lesson of plurals so far; we're just getting started.) As usual, there is a cat-show of those sayings, plus a link to the downloadable crossword and the self-quiz.

Meanwhile, the very weird but fun Vergil project carries on; we're now on Lesson 52: A New Beginner's Latin: THE AENEID. Take a look if you are curious! 

Now here are the past two weeks of lessons here:

• #239: Sayings re: res
• #240: Some more res
• O lacobe! O lacobe!
• #241: Finishing up the 5th declension
• #242: Plurals

And here's the slideshow with all the sayings. 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!

Res bene parta manet; res _____ parta perit.
fill in the blank:

reveal/hide answer

male

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Verus amicus noscitur ex _____, more, ore, re.
fill in the blank:

reveal/hide answer

amore

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Rara menda _____ caret.
fill in the blank:

reveal/hide answer

facies

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Vulgare amici nomen, sed rara est _____.
fill in the blank:

reveal/hide answer

fides

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Leonis exuviae super _____.
fill in the blank:

reveal/hide answer

asinum

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_____ una vis, una facies est.
fill in the blank:

reveal/hide answer

veritatis

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Tempus divitiae, tempus _____ meus.
fill in the blank:

reveal/hide answer

ager

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Mortua res _____ sine Baccho et Cerere.
fill in the blank:

reveal/hide answer

Venus

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Personam, non _____, gerit.
fill in the blank:

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faciem

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Amicus certus in re _____ cernitur.
fill in the blank:

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incerta

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Omni in re _____ est optimus.
fill in the blank:

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modus

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_____ factam etiam stultus intellegit.
fill in the blank:

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rem

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Midae _____.
fill in the blank:

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divitiae

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_____ crocodili lacrimulae.
fill in the blank:

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fictae

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In _____ novaculae consistit.
fill in the blank:

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acie

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In verbo suavis, in re _____.
fill in the blank:

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gravis

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Re magis quam _____.
fill in the blank:

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specie

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_____ in modo, fortiter in re.
fill in the blank:

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suaviter

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_____ potentis acutae.
fill in the blank:

reveal/hide answer

sagittae

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Res est admodum fragilis humanum _____.
fill in the blank:

reveal/hide answer

corpus

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And here's a random cat:

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Latin Lesson #242: PLURALS

We'll be starting a big new adventure today: the plural forms of nouns and of verbs. So far, all the nouns and verbs you have seen (with just a few exceptions) have been singular nouns and singular verbs. Now we will start working on plurals, beginning with plural nouns. No surprise: we'll start with the nominative plural form of feminine nouns of the 1st declension, which are the nouns we used to begin the whole course.

So, the nominative form of 1st-declension nouns ends in -a, like this: sagitta, "arrow."

And here is the plural form: it ends in -ae, so from sagitta you get sagittae, "arrows."

You might find that a bit surprising, because you already know that -ae is the genitive ending of the 1st-declension, sagittae, "of the arrow," and also the dative ending, sagittae, "to the arrow." Just as you had to figure out whether sagittae was genitive or dative, now you will also have to ask yourself if might not be nominative plural instead!

We have ambiguities like this in English too, including ambiguous genitive and plural: if I say "the arrow's tip," that is the genitive in English ("arrow's" = "of the arrow"), while "the arrows" is plural. Of course, in writing we have a little clue in English, with the use of the apostrophe, but that clue is only available in writing. When we speak, "the arrow's" and "the arrows" sound just the same, but you rarely get confused about that in English because the context helps you to know the meaning. 

Latin is the same: the context will help you recognize the meaning!

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

And here are today's proverbs:

1. Midae divitiae.
The-riches of-Midas.
Midae di-VI-tiae.

This little saying is a great way to get started, because Midae is a genitive singular noun of the 1st declension, and divitiae is nominative plural!
The word Midae is the genitive form of Midas, which is a Greek name that belongs to the 1st declension in Latin, even though Midas is a masculine name. 

The word divitiae only appears in the plural: "riches, wealth." It does not have a singular form.

Midas was a king, famous for his "golden touch" which meant that everything he touched turned to gold. Midas asked the gods to give him a "golden touch" so that whatever he touched turned to gold. Midas thought this would be a great blessing, but it turned out to be a curse. For example, when he touched his food or his drink, they turned to gold and he could not each or drink. Finally Midas had to beg the gods to release him from this curse... so the riches of Midas are something that you would never want to have! You can read more about Midas at Wikipedia.


2. Sagittae potentis acutae.
The-arrows of-a-powerful-(man are) sharp.
sa-GIT-tae po-TEN-tis a-CU-tae.

The word sagittae is the plural form of sagitta, "arrow," as in the Zodiac sign of the archer, Sagittarius.

The word potentis is the genitive form of the adjective potens, which is being used here as a noun: "of a powerful (man)."

The words come from the Biblical Book of Psalms. 

Compare a similar saying about the power of law that you have seen before: Legis manus longa, "The hand of the law is long."


3. Fictae crocodili lacrimulae.
The-little-tears of-the-crocodile (are) false.
fictae croco-DI-li la-CRI-mulae.

The word lacrimulae is the plural form of lacrimula, "little tear," a diminutive of a noun you have seen before: lacrima. The adjective fictae is also nominative plural, agreeing with lacrimulae.
The word crocodili is the genitive singular of crocodilus, "crocodile." 

We continue to use the phrase "crocodile tears" in English to mean the same thing: someone pretends to weep tears of sadness, but they are secretly rejoicing. The saying even has its own Wikipedia article: Crocodile tears.


4. Leonis exuviae super asinum.
A-lion's skin on a-donkey.
le-O-nis ex-U-viae super A-sinum.

The word exuviae, "hide, skin, slough," is like divitiae: it is only found in the plural. 

The word leonis is the genitive singular of leo, while asinum is the accusative form of asinus, used here with the preposition super, which takes an accusative complement.

The "donkey in the lion skin" is one of the most famous fables of Aesop, and it even has its own Wikipedia article.


5. Tempus divitiae, tempus ager meus.
Time (is) wealth, time (is) my field.
tempus di-VI-tiae, tempus ager meus.

You know all the words in this saying already, since you saw divitiae already today in the first saying: Midae divitiae.

We have the saying "Time is money" in English as well, but I like the second half of the saying even better, in which time is like a field that you work: plowing, planting seeds, and then harvesting crops from the field of time. You don't want to let your time go to waste just as you would not want a potentially fertile field to go to waste either.

Here's a recap:

• Midae divitiae.
• Sagittae potentis acutae.
• Fictae crocodili lacrimulae.
• Leonis exuviae super asinum.
• Tempus divitiae, tempus ager meus.

And here is today's audio:



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Latin Lesson #241: Finishing up the 5th declension

The focus for today's lesson is finishing up the 5th declension with a few more common 5th-declension nouns: facies, "face" — acies, "sharp edge or point" —- and fides, "faith." Here's a reminder about the special endings:

• -es. nominative. fides
• -ei. genitive. fidei
• -em. accusative. fidem
• -e. ablative. fide
• -ei. dative. fidei

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

And here are today's proverbs:

1. Rara menda facies caret.
(It's a) rare face (that) lacks a-blemish.
rara menda FA-cies caret.

Here you see facies in the nominative, the subject of the verb, and the adjective rara is also nominative, agreeing with facies. Don't let the word order fool you: rara...facies. Remember also that when an adjective modifies the subject of the verb in Latin, it's often easier to translate that as an adverb in English: "Rarely does a face lack a blemish."

The new word here is menda, "fault, blemish," and here it is in the ablative case, mendā, because the verb caret takes an ablative complement, not accusative. You can see Latin emenda in English "emend" and "amend" and also "mend."

You might be wondering how we know for sure that rara goes with facies and not with menda. That's because this is a bit of poetry from Ovid, and the meter lets us know that rara here is rara (short final a), not rarā. Here it is in the Ars Amatoria: Rara tamen menda facies caret: occule mendas, "It's a rare face that lacks a blemish: cover up your blemishes." )


2. Personam, non faciem, gerit.
(Someone) wears a-mask, not a-face.
per-SO-nam, non FA-ciem, gerit.

You know all the words in this saying, and you've seen this one before in 2nd-person: Personam, non faciem geris. The only difference is that this saying shifts geris, 2nd-person, to gerit, 3rd-person. And since this is something we all do, at least sometimes, you could also put it this way: Personam, non faciem, gerimus, where gerimus is 1st-person plural: "we wear."

The word facies appears in the accusative here: faciem, the subject of the verb, and personam is the accusative form of persona. 


3. Veritatis una vis, una facies est.
(There) is one power, one face of-truth.
veri-TA-tis una vis, una FA-cies est.

You know all the words in this saying too! 

Here facies is in the nominative again, with una in the nominative also.

The word vis is also in the nominative and because, like facies, it is also a feminina noun, it also takes the feminine form of the adjective, una.

The word veritatis is the genitive form of veritas, expressing the idea of possession, so you could also translate this as "Truth has one force, one face." The words come from the writings of the Roman philosopher Seneca.


4. In acie novaculae consistit.
(It) stands on the-edge of-a-razor.
in A-cie no-VA-culae con-SIS-tit.

There are two new nouns here: acie is the ablative form of acies, "sharp edge," and novaculae is the genitive form of novacula, "razor" and also "dagger."

The verb consistit means "stands still, stops, comes to a halt." As the meaning evolved over time, it came to mean something that is stable, hence English "consistent," "consist," etc.

The idea is that something is at a crucial juncture at a single, specific moment in time, a moment as thin as the edge of a razor... and perhaps just as dangerous! 

This is one of the sayings collected by Erasmus in his Adagia.

5. Vulgare amici nomen, sed rara est fides.
The-name of-friend is common, but rare (is) trust.
vul-GA-re a-MI-ci nomen, sed rara est fides.

The word fides here is in the nominative, and it is also feminine (as is the general rule for 5th-declension nouns), so it takes a feminine adjective: rara.

The word nomen is also nominative, and because it is neuter, it takes a neuter adjective: vulgare.

The word amici is the genitive form of amicus. The name of a friend is common, but a friend's trustworthiness, fides, is rare; the word amici is implied in the second half of the saying. As often, Latin does not repeat something twice: Vulgare amici nomen, sed rara est (amici) fides.
The idea that people say "friend" about all kinds of people, but someone you can truly trust is hard to find. The words come from a fable told by the Roman poet Phaedrus and Socrates; you can read that fable in Latin here, and there's an English translation here.


Here's a recap:

• Rara menda facies caret. 
• Personam, non faciem, gerit. 
• Veritatis una vis, una facies est. 
• In acie novaculae consistit. 
• Vulgare amici nomen, sed rara est fides.

And here is today's audio:



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Latin Nursery Rhyme: O lacobe! O lacobe!

I'm working on a new Latin nursery rhyme project, so instead of the usual vocabulary review, I'll be sharing a nursery rhyme here every other Friday, starting with a fun and easy one to sing: I made a Latin version of Frère Jacques. Here's the original:

Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques,

Dormez-vous ? Dormez-vous ?

Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!

Din dan don! Din dan don!

This is the English version I remember singing as a child:

Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?

Brother John, Brother John!

Morning bells are ringing! Morning bells are ringing!

Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.

But in the French, sleepy Brother John is being told to wake up and ring the bells, imperative. So that's what I did in the Latin:

O lacobe! O lacobe! 

Dormis nunc? Dormis nunc?

Pulsa iam campanas, pulsa iam campanas!

Din dan don! Din dan don!

O Iacobus, O Iacobus!

Are you sleeping now? Are you sleeping now?

Ring the bells now, ring the bells now!

Din dan don! Din dan don!

I feel badly about not having frater in there (although when I was a little kid, of course I thought this was someone's brother, not a monk), so this could also work for the first line: O lacobe! Frater piger! "O Iacobus! Lazy brother!

You can read more at Wikipedia, which is where I found the music and also these illustrations: