Latin Lesson #5: Noun-Is-Adjective, fem. cont.

The focus for today's lesson is more sayings with feminine nouns and adjectives. So, you might want to take a quick look again at the information about Latin gender in the previous lesson. We'll spend another couple of days looking at feminine nouns and adjectives, and then we'll switch to the masculine and neuter genders.

So, here are today's sayings:

1. Mendax fama.
Rumor (is a) liar.
MEN-dax FA-ma.

The Latin adjective mendax means "false, untrue, lying," and it can also be used substantively to mean "a liar" (a substantive adjective is an adjective used as a noun; this is very common in Latin, and you'll learn more about that later). From this Latin root we get the English word "mendacious."
Latin fama is from the verbal root fa- meaning "speak, say" (an "infant" is someone who is in-fans, not able to speak). So fama can mean whatever people are saying, but it can also have the negative sense of rumor, as in this proverb. It can also mean public opinion or reputation, as in English "fame" and "famous." Unlike in English, however, the Latin word fama always carries the hint of a negative connotation: Mendax fama!
You can read about the goddess Fama at Wikipedia.


2. Jacta alea est.
(The) die is cast.
JAC-ta A-le-a EST.

Latin jacta is the passive participle of the verb iacio, "throw, toss, cast," and so the participle means "thrown, tossed, cast." You can see this verbal root in many English words, such as "eject," "inject," "reject," and so on.

The Romans were very fond of gambling with dice, and alea means the die used in gambling. By extension, alea could mean any kind of risk or gamble. The Latin word may have originally meant "knucklebone" because bones were commonly used for dicing in the ancient world, although the Romans also used 6-sided dice. You can see some Roman dice at Wikipedia.

These were reportedly the words of Julius Caesar when he took his army across the Rubicon and marched towards Rome, beginning a civil war. It has since come to be a metaphor for "the point of no return," in the sense that once you throw the dice, you cannot un-throw them. This phrase is so famous that it even has its own Wikipedia article.

3. Spes ultima dea.
Hope (is the) last goddess.
SPES UL-ti-ma DE-a.

Latin spes means hope, and she was personified as a goddess; you can find out more at Wikipedia: Spes. You can see the Latin root in English "despair" and "desperate" (Latin desperatus means "having lost hope, hopeless").
The adjective ultima means "most remote" (in space) and "last" (in time). You can see this root in English "ultimate" and "ultimatum." Many Latin words have meanings that apply to both space and time like this.
The idea is that when all the other gods and goddesses have deserted you, Hope is the last goddess, the goddess who remains with you until the end.


4. Dum vita est, spes est.
While (there) is life, (there) is hope.
DUM VI-ta EST, SPES EST.

The Latin conjunction dum means "when" or "while."
You already know the Latin word vita, as in Peregrinatio vita est and Vita est somnium. (I've made a dictionary page where you can see which words have occurred in which sayings.)
The idea of this saying is the same as the previous one: as long as you are alive, you should not despair. Do not give up hope!


5. Ubi pericula, ibi gloria.
Where dangers (are), there glory (is).
U-bi pe-RI-cu-la, I-bi GLO-ri-a.

As you can see, the Latin conjunctions ubi, "in what place," and ibi "in that place," are related, functioning just like the English conjunctions "where" and "there."
The Latin word periculum, "danger," is a neuter noun, and gives us English "peril" and "perilous." The plural of periculum is pericula (just like with datum and data; you'll be learning about neuter nouns like these later), so pericula means "dangers" (plural). 
The Latin word gloria, meaning "glory, renown, honor" gives us English "glory" and the name Gloria.
The idea here is that if you want to win glory, you have to face dangers... just like this Latin LOLCat.

1. Mendax fama.
2. Jacta alea est.
3. Spes ultima dea.
4. Dum vita est, spes est.
5. Ubi pericula, ibi gloria.

Now here is today's audio:

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