Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #13: And more masculine nouns

The focus for today's lesson is more masculine nouns and adjectives. Some of them are those second-declension nouns and adjectives that end in -us, like natus, mundus, totus, echinus and fumus, and there are also some second-declension nouns and adjectives that endsin -er: magister, pulcher and asper. You'll learn more about that pattern later.

The rest belong to the third declension with a variety of different endings: carcer, nemo, homo, minor, and ignis. Even though there is a variety of endings, there are some patterns there that you will start to recognize later on as you learn more and more of these third declension words.

So, here are today's proverbs:

1. Carcer numquam pulcher.
Prison (is) never pretty.
CAR-cer NUM-quam PUL-cher.

Latin carcer, "prison," gives us English "incarcerate."
Latin nunquam, "never" has the negative prefix ne-, ne-umquam, "not-ever." just like English "never."

Latin pulcher, "pretty, beautiful," gives us English "pulchritude."

The charm of this proverb is the rhyme: carcer-pulcher.

2. Nemo magister natus.
No one (is) born (a) master.
NE-mo ma-GIS-ter NA-tus.

Latin nemo also has the negating ne- prefix; it is ne-homo, not-person, i.e. "nobody." You might know this word from the name of Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues under the Sea.

Latin "magister" means "master, teacher, chief, leader" and literally it means "greater." This is the origin of the English word "master." The opposite of magister in Latin is minister, "lesser" (related to the word minus), which is the origin of the English word "minister."

Latin natus means "born," as in English "neonatal." It is related to Latin natura (see yesterday's lesson).

The idea here is that learning takes time: you're not born with learning; you have to work to acquire it.

3. Homo mundus minor.
(A) person (is a) world in miniature.
HO-mo MUN-dus MI-nor.

You've seen homo before: Homo bulla.

You've also seen mundus before: Patria mea totus mundus est.

The word minor means "lesser, smaller," as in the English word "minor."

This saying expresses the idea that the nature of the cosmos and human nature are analogous: you can learn things about the cosmos from observing humans, and you can learn about humans from observing the cosmos. For more about this philosophy, see Wikipedia: Microcosm–macrocosm analogy.

4. Totus echinus asper.
(The) whole hedgehog (is) prickly.
TO-tus e-CHI-nus AS-per.

You've seen totus before in that same saying above: Patria mea totus mundus est.

Latin echinus, "hedgehog," is a borrowing from Greek; many Latin words with "ch" are Greek borrowings. You can see this root in the plant name "echinacea" because of its spiny center.

Latin asper means "rough," both literally, like a hedgehog's spines, but also metaphorically, as in a rough situation, as in English "asperity."

This saying refers to a situation where there is no safe approach, or to a person who is going to be irritable no matter what you say or do: no matter where you grab the hedgehog, it's going to be prickly.

5. Fumus, ergo ignis.
(Where there is) smoke, therefore fire.
FU-mus, ER-go IG-nis.

From Latin fumus, "smoke," we get English words like "fume" and "fumigate."

We use Latin ergo, "therefore," in English: "ergo." You may already know this famous Latin phrase: Cogito, ergo sum, "I think, therefore I am."

You can see Latin ignis, "fire," in the English words like "ignite" and "igniferous."

Here's a recap: