Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #9: Feminine -us nouns

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Latin nouns and adjectives belong to five different categories called "declensions." Slowly (very slowly!) you will be learning about those different declensions. For now, I just want you to know that there are feminine nouns in all five declensions. So far, you have seen feminine nouns that belong to Declension 1, Declension 3, and Declension 5. The majority of feminine nouns belong to Declension 1.

Today I want to introduce you to some feminine nouns from Declension 2 and Declension 4. The feminine nouns in these two declensions end in -us. These are unusual -us nouns; almost all the -us nouns are masculine nouns in Declension 2, and we'll move on to those next. For now, though, as we finish up with this introduction to feminine nouns, you need to know that there are -us feminine nouns, and some of them are very common, such as domus, the word for "house," and manus, the word for "hand."

To help you get a sense of how all this works, I've made a slideshow with all the feminine nouns and adjectives you have seen so far. The slides with the plain background are the most common: those are the feminine nouns and adjectives of Declension 1. Then, there are different colored backgrounds for the other declensions: Declension 2 is green, Declension 3 is blue, Declension 4 is yellow, and Declension 5 is purple. I'll keep expanding this slideshow to include all the feminine words that you are learning, and hopefully the use of the color-coding will help you "see" these patterns more clearly. I've embedded the slideshow here in the blog post, and also in the blog sidebar.

And now here are today's proverbs featuring those feminine nouns that end in -us. Because the grammar notes are more detailed today, my comments on the sayings will be more brief:

1. Parva domus, parva cura.
Small house, small worry.
PAR-va DO-mus, PAR-va CU-ra.

The nouns domus and cura are both feminine nouns, and the feminine adjective parva agrees with each of them.

You can see Latin domus in English words like "domestic" and "majordomo."

2. Parva domus, magna quies.
Small house, great peace.
PAR-va DO-mus, MAG-na QUI-es.

The nouns domus and quies are both feminine nouns, and the adjectives parva and magna are both feminine adjectives.

You can see Latin magn- in words like English "magnify," and from Latin quies we get English words like "quiescent" and "quiet."

3. Legis manus longa.
(The) hand (of the) law is long.
LE-gis MA-nus LONG-ga.

The noun manus is feminine, and the adjective longa is also feminine.

The noun legis is the genitive case form of lex, "law," so it means "(of the) law." You'll be learning more about the genitive case soon. (Latin has six cases, but don't worry: you will learn them slowly, one at a time!)

From Latin manus we get English words like "manual" and "manufacture."

4. Haec manus inimica tyrannis.
This hand (is an) hostile (to) tyrants.
HAEC MA-nus i-ni-MI-ca ty-RAN-nis.

Here the feminine adjective inimica agrees with manus, and the demonstrative adjective haec is also feminine: haec manus means "this hand."

The word tyrannis is the dative plural case form of tyrannus, "tyrant," so it means "(to) tyrants."

The word inimica is literally "not-friend," in-amica; the "a" turns into an "i" after the prefix. This is the origin of the English word "inimical" and also "enemy."

You can read more about this famous saying at Wikipedia: Motto of Massachusetts, and you might also be interested in the Wikipedia article about a similar saying: Sic Semper Tyrannis.

5. Ex glande ardua quercus.
From (an) acorn, (a) lofty oak.
EX GLAN-de AR-du-a QUER-cus.

The word quercus is feminine, and the adjective ardua is also feminine. Although there are not a lot of rules that predict the gender of inanimate nouns, there is a rule for trees: the names of most trees in Latin are feminine nouns.

The word glans means "acorn," and glande is the ablative case; the ablative is often used after prepositions: ex glande, "out of an acorn, from an acorn."

From Latin ardu- we get English "arduous," and the word "glans" is used in medical English because it really does indeed look like an acorn.

Here's a recap: