Latin Lesson #233: More practice with 4th-declension nouns

The focus for today's lesson is more practice with 4th-declension -us nouns. You'll see them in the nominative case, -us, and in the accusative, -um, and in the ablative too, -u.

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

And here are today's proverbs:

1. Casusne? Deusne?
(Was it) chance? (Was it) god?
ca-SUS-ne? de-US-ne?

The particle -ne is added to the end of a word to indicate that the statement is a yes-or-no question. Remember: Latin did not have punctuation like English, so they did not have a punctuation mark. Instead, they had this handy little particle to indicate yes/no question. (There are some other particles and also words used to form questions in Latin; you will see some of those later  on.)

The word casus, "chance," is a noun from the verb cadit, "it falls." (This is one of those 4th-declension nouns that is formed from a verbal stem.) So, in Latin, "chance" is the way things fall. Like in dice! You can see Latin casus in English "case" and "occasion," and also "casual." 

These words are found in Vergil's Aeneid! And, of course, for mere mortals, it is very difficult to tell whether events are happening by chance or whether there is a god at work.



2. Erinaceus partum differt.
(The) hedgehog puts-off giving-birth.
eri-NA-ceus partum differt.

The word erinaceus, "hedgehog," is the subject of the verb differt, and the word partum, the accusative of the 4th-declension noun partus, is the object of the verb.

You've actually seen a variation of this saying before: Echinus partum differt, where echinus is another way to say "hedgehog" in Latin. Here's the explanation again: The idea is that the prickly hedgehog experiences pain when she gives birth to the prickly baby hedgehogs, so she puts it off! But this just makes things worse: the longer she puts off giving birth, the more prickly the baby hedgehogs will be. She needs to just give birth to those babies and call it done... just like you might have some unpleasant task you keep putting off, and it just gets worse the longer you wait. Don't be like the hedgehog: get it done now!


3. Mirabile dictu.
Amazing to-say.
mi-RA-bile dictu.

The word mirabile, "wonderful, amazing" is a neuter adjective, referring to something in general, something that is wonderful. You can see this Latin root in English "admirable." This Latin word is also the origin of English "marvel."
The word dictu is the ablative form of the verbal noun dictus, from the verb dicit, "says."

Compare the English saying "sad to say."

You can also say something is amazing to-see, mirabile visu, with a verbal noun from the verb videt, "sees."

Coincidentally, the phrase mirabile dictu also appears in Vergil's Aeneid.


4. Colubram foves in sinu.
You're-nourishing (a) snake in (your) breast.
CO-lubram foves in sinu.

You know all the words in this saying! And you've also seen a variation on this saying before: Serpentem in sinu foves. Instead of serpentem, accusative of serpens, you have colubram here, the accusative form of colubra, another word for snake, which is also the origins of English "cobra."

Compare the English saying, "to nourish a snake in your bosom."


5. Ex fructu proprio cognoscitur arbor.
From (its) own fruit, (the) tree is-known.
ex fructu PRO-prio cog-NOS-citur arbor.

The word fructu is the ablative of the 4th-declension noun fructus, with the preposition ex. The adjective proprio is the ablative form of the masculine adjective proprius, agreeing with fructu.

The verb cognoscitur is the passive form of the verb cognoscit.

This is a saying echoed in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Here is how it appears in Luke: Non est enim arbor bona, quae facit fructus malos: neque arbor mala, faciens fructum bonum, Unaquaeque enim arbor de fructu suo cognoscitur, "For there is no good tree which produces bad fruits, and there is nota  bad tree, making good fruit. For each tree is known by its fruit."


Here's a recap:

• Casusne? Deusne?
• Erinaceus partum differt.
• Mirabile dictu.
• Colubram foves in sinu.
• Ex fructu proprio cognoscitur arbor.

And here is today's audio:



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Week 81 Vocabulary Review

The review this week is... passive 3rd-person verbs. Remember those? The 1st conjugation has -atur, 2nd conjugation has -etur, and the 3rd conjugation has -itur (short i), and the 4th conjugation has -itur also, but with a long i: ītur, so the stress is on the ī. As usual, there's a quiz slideshow, a crossword, and a self-check quiz afterwards too. :-)

For each saying, you will try to supply the missing word. 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 and slieshow are used in the quiz questions below. Enjoy!

______ aliquando ius, moritur numquam.
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dormit

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Maiorque videtur et melior ______ seges.
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vicina

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______ tuetur.
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deus

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______ nimium tensus frangitur.
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arcus

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Arguendo et disputando ______ invenitur.
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veritas

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______ aegre offertur, facile amittitur.
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Occasio

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Vultus Fortunae mutatur imagine ______.
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lunae

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Aquila non venatur ______.
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muscam

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Avis a ______ dignoscitur.
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cantu

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Fur male furatur, cum fur ______ dominatur.
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domui

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Nemo athleta sine ______ coronatur.
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sudore

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Esuriens stomachus fertur ______ optimus esse.
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coquus

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Vas ______ non frangitur.
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malum

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Ex ______ cognoscitur coquus.
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cultro

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______ triplex non rumpitur.
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funis

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A digito cognoscitur ______.
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leo

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Homo a suo ______ cognoscitur.
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socio

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Nemo cum ______ iocatur impune.
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diabolo

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Mons cum ______ non miscetur.
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monte

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Cattus saepe satur cum capto ______ iocatur.
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mure

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And here's a random cat:

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Latin Lesson #232: Spiritus sayings

The focus for today's lesson is the 4th-declension noun, spiritus. Remember: these 4th-declension nouns look like the familiar 2nd-declension nouns in the nominative, spiritus, and the accusative, spiritum. But in the other cases, they look different than 2nd-declension nouns. For example, the genitive form is spiritus! Yes, the nominative spiritus and genitive spiritus are spelled the same but, to the ancient Roman ear, they sounded different because the genitive -ūs ending has a long vowel: spīritūs. Since the words are written in the same way, that means you have to decide each time from context whether spiritus is nominative or genitive, as you will see in today's sayings. 

You will also see the ablative form of spiritus, which is spiritu.

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

And here are today's proverbs:

1. Veni, creator spiritus!
Come, creator spirit!
veni, cre-A-tor SPI-ritus!

The word spiritus here is in the nominative case; it is the "you" that is the subject of the verb veni.

You have not seen the Latin word creator before, but this is a word we used in English too, "creator." You have also seen the Latin word for "creation," creatio.

These words are from one of the most famous hymns of the Middle Ages; you can see the rest of the lyrics at Wikipedia: Veni, creator spiritus!

2. Nutrimentum spiritus liber.
(A) book (is) nourishment of-the-spirit.
nutri-MEN-tum SPI-ritus liber.

The word spiritus here is in the genitive case, with the word nutrimentum: a book is the nutrimentum, "food," spiritus (spīritūs), "of the soul."

You haven't seen this noun, nutrimentum, before, but you have seen the verb it comes from: nutrit.

You can see these words at the entrance to the Alte Bibliothek (Old Library) of Berlin!

3. Spiritus promptus, caro vero infirma.
(The) spirit (is) ready; (the) flesh in-fact (is) weak.
SPI-ritus promptus, caro vero in-FIR-ma.

The word spiritus here is in the nominative case; it is the subject of the implied verb, est. The word caro is also in the nominative case, and each of these words has a predicative adjective.

The spirit is promptus, "ready, quick, brave," as opposed to the infirma, "un-strong, weak," flesh. The word spiritus is masculine, so promptus is masculine; the word caro is feminine, so infirma is feminine.

The words come from the Gospel of Mark.


4. Absens corpore sed praesens spiritu.
Absent in-body but present in-spirit.
absens COR-pore sed praesens SPI-ritu.

The point of this saying is the contrast between absens, "away+being," i.e. "absent," as opposed to praesens, "in-front+being," i.e. "present." The paradox is the idea that one could be absent in body, corpore, the ablative form of corpus, but at the same time present in spirit, spiritu, which is the ablative form of spiritus.

These words also come from the 1 Corinthians in the Bible.


5. Littera occidit; Spiritus autem vivificat.
(The) letter kills; (the) Spirit, however, gives-life.
LIT-tera oc-CI-dit; SPI-ritus autem vi-VI-ficat.

The word spiritus here is in the nominative case; it is the subject of the verb vivificat. You haven't seen this verb before, but you have seen the verb vivit and the verb facit. This new verb combines those two roots: "makes alive, gives life."

So, the spirit gives life, but the "letter," littera, takes life away: it "kills," occidit. 

These words, meanwhile, come from 2 Corinthians.


Here's a recap:

• Veni, creator spiritus!
• Nutrimentum spiritus liber.
• Spiritus promptus, caro vero infirma.
• Absens corpore sed praesens spiritu.
• Littera occidit; Spiritus autem vivificat.

And here is today's audio:



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Latin Lesson #231: More 4th-declension -us nouns

The focus for today's lesson is more practice with the -us nouns from the 4th declension. Most of them are masculine nouns, but there's another one here that is feminine, acus, "needle." You can add that to the other feminine 4th-declension nouns you've seen already: domus, "house," manus, "hand," and quercus, "oak."

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

And here are today's proverbs:

1. Abusus non tollit usum.
Abuse doesn't cancel use.
a-BU-non tollit usum.

There are two fourth declension nouns here: usus, "use," and also abusus, "abuse, misuse." The word usum is the accusative form of usus, the object of the verb, and abusus is the subject.

The idea here is that even if something can be abused, that doesn't mean it cannot be useful too!


2. Sapientia est filia usus et memoriae.
Wisdom is (the) daughter of-experience and or-memory.
sapi-EN-tia est FI-lia usus et me-MO-riae.

You already know all the words in this saying!

The word usus (ūsūs) is the genitive form of the word usus (ūsus). The fact that the nominative and genitive forms of these nouns look the same is one of the tricky things about the 4th declension. 

You get a clue that usus is genitive because the word memoriae is the genitive form of memoria.

Because sapientia is a feminine noun, that is why it is the filia, daughter, of experience and memory.

Notice that usus has a wide range of translations into English. As often, because Latin has a much smaller vocabulary than English, a single Latin word often covers a wide range of meanings in English, and you have to select the best English meaning based on the context.


3. Ferreus assiduo consumitur anulus usu.
(An) iron ring is-worn-away by-regular use.
FER-reus as-SI-duo con-SU-mitur A-nulus usu.

The word anulus, "(little) ring," is a diminutive of the word anus, "ring," and yes, this is the source of the English word "anus."

The adjective ferrus agrees with anulus; you haven't seen this adjective before, but you have seen the noun that it comes from: ferrum, "iron."

The word usu is the ablative form of the noun usus, which is used with the passive verb: consumitur usu, "worn away with use." 

The adjective assiduo is also in the ablative case, agreeing with usu. You haven't seen this masculine adjective before, but you have seen the feminine form: assidua.

This saying comes from a poem by the Roman poet Ovid, Ars Amatoria, which explains the very intricate word order with the subject noun phrase, ferreus...anulus, being interwoven with the ablative phrase, assiduo usu, both phrases being wrapped around the verb!


4. Canis revertitur ad vomitum.
(A) dog returns to (its) vomit.
canis re-VER-titur ad VO-mitum.

The word vomitus is a 4th-declension noun, and vomitum is the accusative form, with the preposition ad. And yes, this is the source of the English word "vomit."

The verb revertitur, "returns," is one of those verbs with a passive form that is active in meaning in English. Specifically, it is the intransitive form of the verb: the dog "returns" (i.e. goes back).

Truth be told, cats do this too! But the Bible doesn't have sayings about cats; the Egyptians were the people who kept cats, and the practice of keeping cats eventually spread throughout the Mediterranean, but that took time.

This is a saying from the Biblical book of Proverbs; the full verse goes like this:  Sicut canis qui revertitur ad vomitum suum, sic imprudens qui iterat stultitiam suam, "As the dog who returns to its vomit, so the is the reckless man who repeats his foolishness." 


5. Facilius est camelum per foramen acus intrare.
(It) is easier (for a) camel to go-through the hole of-a-needle.
fa-CI-lius est ca-ME-lum per fo-RA-men acus in-TRA-re.

This is another famous verse from the Bible; it appears in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, and it even appears in the Koran. You can find out more at Wikipedia.

The word intrare is from the verb intrat, "enters."

The word acus (acūs) is the genitive form of the noun acus, a feminine 4th-declension noun.

The word foramen, "hole," is a neuter noun in the accusative case with the preposition per. You can see this Latin root in the English word "perforate."

Here's a recap:

• Abusus non tollit usum.
• Sapientia est filia usus et memoriae.
• Ferreus assiduo consumitur anulus usu.
• Canis revertitur ad vomitum.
• Facilius est camelum per foramen acus intrare.

And here is today's audio:



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Week 80 Catch-Up Day

Here is the new catch-up day post for the past two weeks of sayings. As usual, there is a cat-show of those sayings, plus a link to the downloadable crossword and the self-quiz. Plus, in case you missed it: A New Beginner's Latin: THE AENEID.

• #227: You want - vis.
• #228: More sayings with vis
• #229: The 4th Declension
• #230: More 4th Declension

So, let's start with 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!

Si vis scire, ______.
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doce

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Morsus ______ ducit.
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morsum

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______ bene dum vivis, post mortem vivere si vis.
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fac

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Si vis regnare, ______.
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divide

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Si vis pacem, ______ iustitiam.
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cole

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Si vis pacem, ______ bellum.
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para

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Audire vis bene? ______ male dicere.
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abstine

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Avis a ______ dignoscitur.
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cantu

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______ aliquid, si vis aliquid esse.
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aude

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______, si vis accipere.
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da

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______ vas totum, si vis cognoscere potum.
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ebibe

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______, vide, tace, si vis vivere in pace.
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audi

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Calumniae ______ nullum remedium.
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morsui

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Non uno ______ cadit quercus.
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ictu

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Vita hominis ______ est ad mortem.
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cursus

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Abluit manus ______.
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manum

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Mente ______ praesto.
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manuque

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______ Fortunae mutatur imagine lunae.
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vultus

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Non ______ hoc corpus sed hospitium breve.
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domus

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Fur male furatur, cum fur ______ dominatur.
fill in the blank:

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domui

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And here's a random cat:

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Latin Lesson #230: More 4th Declension

The focus for today's lesson is more practice with 4th-declension nouns. In the previous lesson, the 4th-declension nouns were verbal nouns, but today you will see different nouns: manus, "hand" ~ vultus, "face" ~ domus, "home." You've actually seen all of these words before; you just didn't know that they were 4th-declension nouns.

And here is the slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before, including those 4th-declension nouns:

And here are today's proverbs:

1. Abluit manus manum.
(One) hand washes (another) hand.
AB-luit manus manum.

The word manus is nominative, the subject of the verb, while manum is the accusative form, object of the verb.
The verb itself is a new word: abluit, "washes," as in the English word "ablution." This is a compound verb: ab-luit, "away-washes," i.e. "washes away."
We have this saying in English too: "One hand washes another."


2. Mente manuque praesto.
I-stand-ready with-mind and with-hand.
mente ma-NU-que praesto.

The word manu is the ablative form of manus, while mente is the ablative form of mens.

Remember the conjunction -que? It attaches onto a word instead of standing by itself, but it works the same way as et, so mente manuque is the same as mente et manu.

You've seen the verb praesto before, but not in the 1st-person form. It's a compound verb, prae-sto, so it literally means "before-stand," i.e. "I stand before (you), I stand at the ready."

Many family mottoes, like this one, use 1st-person verbs.


3. Vultus Fortunae mutatur imagine lunae.
The-face of-Fortune changes (as the) form of-the-moon.
vultus For-TU-nae mu-TA-tur i-MA-gine lunae.

The word vultus is nominative, the subject of the verb. The word Fortunae is the genitive form of Fortuna: "the face of Fortune," vultus Fortunae.

The word imagine is the ablative of imago, and lunae is the genitive form of luna: "the form of the moon," imagine lunae.

The verb mutatur is one of those passive forms in Latin that is equivalent to an intransitive verb in English: "changes."

Notice the rhyme, Fortunae-lunae, which marks this as a medieval saying. Fortune, and her wheel, go up and down, just as the moon waxes and wanes.


4. Non domus hoc corpus sed hospitium breve.
This body (is) not (a) home, but (a) brief lodging.
non domus hoc corpus sed hos-PI-tium breve.

The word domus is nominative, and it is a predicate: hoc corpus non (est) domus.
The subject of the sentence is hoc corpus, "this body." You have seen the noun corpus before, but this demonstrative adjective, hoc, is new. You will be learning a lot about hoc later on!

The word hospitium is also new; it means an "inn, lodging, guesthouse," so the idea is that the body is like an AirBnB! This Latin word is the source of English "hospice," and you can see the same root in "hospitality." 

Because hospitium is a neuter noun, it takes a neuter adjective: breve.


5. Fur male furatur, cum fur domui dominatur.
(A) thief steals with-difficulty when (a) thief rules over-the-house.
fur male fu-RA-tur, cum fur DO-mui domi-NA-tur.

The word fur is one you have seen before, but you have not seen the verb furatur before: it means "steals, thieves," i.e. what a thief does. The word male is an adverb: so this is a saying about why would prevent a thief from doing a good job.

The thief does a bad job of stealing when, cum, there is another thief who rules the house. The word domui is the dative form of domus, with the verb dominatur, which takes a dative complement: dominatur domui, "rules (over) the house, gives commands (to) the house." You haven't seen the verb dominatur before, but you know the noun that it comes from: dominus. 

All three of these words, in fact, are from the same root: domus, dominus, and dominatur.

This is another rhyming medieval proverb: furatur-dominatur.

Here's a recap:

• Abluit manus manum.
• Mente manuque praesto.
• Vultus Fortunae mutatur imagine lunae.
• Non domus hoc corpus sed hospitium breve.
• Fur male furatur, cum fur domui dominatur.

And here is today's audio:



Plus the LOLCats!

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