Latin Lesson 1: Noun-(is)-noun

The focus for today's lesson is a simple proverb formula: Noun (is) noun. You already saw an example of this in yesterday's post:

Scientia potentia.
Knowledge (is) power.

As you can see, Latin does not require the verb "to be" in order to make this a complete statement. The meaning of the sentence is clear in Latin without having to state the verb. There is a Latin verb est which means "is," and you will be learning about that verb later. For now, though, the focus is on nouns, not verbs. Today's proverbs feature nouns, and only nouns.

The reason Latin does not need the verb to make a complete sentence is because the nouns scientia and potentia are in what is called the "nominative case." Each Latin noun has six different "cases" that indicate the grammatical role that the noun plays in a sentence, changing the ending of the word to indicate the grammatical case. English, on the other hand, does not use cases the way that Latin does; there are only a few exceptions, like English "she" and "her" or "who" and "whom" (and English speakers mix those up all the time!). Instead of cases, English relies heavily on word order to indicate the grammatical role of each word in a sentence.

You will be learning about the Latin case endings later, but don't worry about that right now. Instead, concentrate on learning these Noun-(is)-noun sayings. I'd encourage you to pick out one or two favorites to memorize!

You might also have noticed that Latin does not have definite articles ("the") or indefinite articles ("a"). Those words simply do not exist in Latin. So the Latin word documentum means "a document" or "the document" based on context. (I am sure all the non-native speakers of English are glad to know that Latin does not have definite and indefinite articles, and all the impossible-to-memorize rules that go with them in English!)

So, here are today's proverbs:

1. Scientia potentia.
Knowledge (is) power.
Sci-EN-ti-a   po-TEN-ti-a.

The Latin word scientia gives us the word "science" in English. The root is sci- which means "to know."
You can see the Latin word potentia in the English word "potential" and also in words like "potent" and "potentate." The root is pot- which means "to control" or "to be able." The English word "power" also derives from this same Latin root.
The saying originates with Francis Bacon, the English philosopher and scientist, in his Meditationes Sacrae (Sacred Meditations), written in 1597.

2. Conscientia testis.
Conscience (is a) witness.
Con-sci-EN-ti-a   TES-tis.

The Latin word conscientia is a compound: con-scientia. The prefix con- means "with," so the idea behind conscientia (English "conscience") is "knowledge with/within oneself." From the related Latin adjective conscius we get English "conscious."
You can see the root of Latin testis, which means "witness," in English words like "testify" and "testimony."
The idea is that even if there is not someone who has witnessed some crime you committed, your own conscience is a witness of what you did.

3. Innocentia eloquentia.
Innocence (is) eloquence.
In-no-CEN-ti-a   e-lo-QUEN-ti-a.

The word innocentia is a compound noun: in-nocentia. The prefix in- is a negating prefix, and the verbal root noce- means "to harm" or "to injure," so the noun innocentia means "not harmful" or "innocent," just like in English.
The word eloquentia is also a compound noun: e(x)-loquentia, "speaking out," and it has the same meaning as English "eloquence."
The idea behind this saying is that your innocence will speak out in your defense; you don't need fancy arguments or an expensive lawyer. Your innocence will be able to speak for you.

4. Nocumentum documentum.
(An) injury (is a) lesson.
No-cu-MEN-tum   do-cu-MEN-tum.

The word nocumentum, "injury," is another noun formed from the verb noce-.
The word documentum, "lesson," is a noun formed from the verb doce- which means "to teach." We have borrowed the Latin word documentum directly into English as "document."
The idea is that when you suffer an injury or make a painful mistake, you will learn your lesson and not repeat that same mistake again. Compare the English expression about "The School of Hard Knocks." 

5. Juventus ventus.
Youth (is) wind.
Ju-VEN-tus   VEN-tus.

This proverb has a lovely play on words: Latin juventus and ventus are actually not related words, but it sure looks like they are related, right?
The root of juventus  is juven- meaning "young," which you can see in English "juvenile." (And Juventus is also the name of a famous European football team!)
The Latin word for wind, ventus, is from the Indo-European root h₂wéh₁n̥ts, which is also the origin of English "wind." In other words, Latin ventus and English "wind" and Indo-European cousins, sharing the same remote ancestor.
Of course, being young is not literally the wind; instead, this saying is a metaphor: your youthful life passes by as quickly as the wind, and then it is gone.

1. Scientia potentia.
2. Conscientia testis.
3. Innocentia eloquentia.
4. Nocumentum documentum.
5. Juventus ventus.

Here is the audio:

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