Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #14: Qualis... talis...

The focus for today's lesson is a new formula: Qualis... talis...

The adjective qualis means "what sort of, what kind of," and it is the origin of the English word "quality." Qualis can be used to ask questions like this:

Qualis pater? What kind of father? Bonus pater. A good father.
Qualis filius? What kind of son? Bonus filius. A good son.

Because qualis is a third-declension adjective, it has the same ending for a masculine noun or a feminine noun:

Qualis mater? What kind of mother? Bona mater. A good mother.
Qualis filia? What kind of daughter? Bona filia. A good daughter.

Then there is the related adjective talis which means "such, so" as you will see in today's proverbs like this one:

Qualis pater, talis filius. As (the) father (is), such (is his) son.

Compare the English saying, "Like father, like son."

All of today's sayings use this Qualis... talis... formula, and maybe it will inspire you to make up some of your Latin sayings using this formula like you did with the Ubi... ibi... formula back in Lesson 7.

So, here are today's proverbs:

1. Qualis avis, talis cantus.
As (the) bird (is), such (is its) song.
QUA-lis A-vis, TA-lis CAN-tus.

You've had the word avis before: Amicus verus rara avis.

Latin cantus, "song," is a noun from the verb cano, "sing." You can see this root in English words like "cantor" and "incantation."

This is literally true about birds; you can recognize a bird by its song. Metaphorically, it can refer to how a person speaks, where the way a person speaks reveals something about who they are.

2. Qualis avis, talis nidus.
As (the) bird (is), such (is its) nest.
QUA-lis A-vis, TA-lis NI-dus.

You've had the word nidus before: Parva avis, parvus nidus. That saying, in expresses the same idea as this one! You could also say Magna avis, magnus nidus, "Big bird, big nest."

That's what Qualis avis, talis nidus is all about: the bird and the nest match each other.

3. Qualis mater, talis et filia.
As (the) mother (is), so too (is her) daughter.
QUA-lis MA-ter, TA-lis ET FI-li-a.

Latin mater, "mother," comes from the same Indo-European root as English "mother." You can see a helpful list of Indo-European kinship terms at Wikipedia.

You can see the root of Latin filia, "daughter" and filius, "son" (see next proverb) in English words like "filial" and "affiliation."

The word et in Latin is usually a conjunction, "and," but in this case it is being used adverbially like English "too" or "also." You can also omit the et like this: Qualis mater, talis filia. It's just a stylistic option that adds a bit of emphasis to the conclusion.

Compare the English saying, "Like mother, like daughter."

4. Qualis pater, talis filius.
As (the) father (is), such (is his) son.
QUA-lis PA-ter, TA-lis FI-li-us.

Latin pater, "father," comes from the same Indo-European root as English "father," and you already learned a related Latin word, patria, as in: Patria mea totus mundus est. You can see this root in English words like "paternity" and "paternoster."

You could also use et in this proverb if you wanted to do that, just like in the previous example: Qualis pater, talis et filius. You could even say that this proverb formula is really: Qualis... talis (et)... (with the et in parentheses because it is optional).

5. Qualis herus, talis et canis.
As (the) master (is), so too (is his) dog.
QUA-lis HE-rus, TA-lis ET CA-nis.

Latin herus is yet another word that is often translated as "master" in English; specifically, it means the master of the house or, in this case, a dog's master. You might find it interesting to look at these three different Latin words in the wiktionary: herus, dominus, magister.

Latin canis, "dog," gives us English "canine."

Here's a recap: