Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #18: Masculine adjectives

The focus for today's lesson is some new masculine adjectives! And remember, I'm now marking the pronunciation help somewhat differently, as explained in yesterday's lesson about word stress. So, if you didn't get a chance to look at that yesterday, take a look now before you go on to today's sayings.

1. Avarus semper est pauper.
(A) greedy (man) is always poor.
a-VAR-us semper est pauper

The adjective avarus, "greedy," gives us English "avarice."

You've seen the adverb semper, "always," before: Semel malus, semper malus.

You haven't had the adjective pauper, "poor," yet, but you have had a noun formed from this word: paupertas, "poverty," as in Paupertas ingeniosa. From the Latin word we get English "pauper" and also "poor."

The idea is that because the greedy man is never satisfied, he is no better off than a poor man.

2. Nullus dies omnino malus.
No day (is) entirely bad.
nullus dies om-NI-no malus

The adjective nullus, "none," is a contraction: ne-ullus, "not any."

The noun dies, "day," gives us English "diurnal" (and thus also "journal"), plus "diary."

The adverb omnino, "entirely, completely" is from the adjective omnis, "all, every," which you have seen before: Omnis est misera servitus.

You've also seen the adjective malus, "bad," before: Semel malus, semper malus.

3. Hodie nullus, cras maximus.
Today (he's a) nobody, tomorrow (the) greatest.
HO-die nullus, cras MAX-imus

The adverb hodie, "today," is a contraction: hoc-die, "on this day," i.e. today.

The adverb cras, "tomorrow" gives us English "procrastination."

The adjective maximus, "greatest" gives us English "maximum" (which is the neuter form of the Latin adjective; you'll be learning about neuter nouns and adjectives next week!)

This Latin saying, adapted from a Greek saying, was made famous by Erasmus, who included it in his Adagia. It applies to anyone who experiences extraordinary good luck, changing him from a nobody into a celebrity overnight.

4. Vir quidem unus, nullus est.
One man indeed is none.
vir quidem unus nullus est

The noun vir, "man" (as opposed to woman), is actually the origin of English "virtue." Latin virtus originally meant "manliness, strength, bravery," but in Christian culture it took on a less gendered, more general meaning as in English "virtue." You can see the manly sense of vir in English "virile."

The word quidem is usually translated as "indeed" in English, but it really doesn't have an actual meaning of its own; instead, it is more like a verbal punctuation mark the provides emphasis, something like an exclamatino mark. Because the word doesn't actually mean anything on its own, it never comes first in a clause. Instead, it is a "postpositive," meaning that it is positioned after (post) the first word in the clause. I'll be translating quidem as indeed, but I hope you will start to appreciate this word for the role it plays in Latin statements; it's very useful, and we don't really have anything like Latin postpositives in English.

The number unus, "one," is related to English "one," and you can see a handy chart of Indo-European number words at Wikipedia. From the Latin root we get English "unity," "unify," etc.

The idea is that no man can succeed on his own; a man by himself might as well be nobody at all. The saying also appears in this form: Unus vir, nullus vir, "One man, no man."

5. Illiteratus rex est asinus coronatus.
(An) ignorant king is (a) donkey wearing a crown.
Illite-RA-tus rex est A-sinus coro-NA-tus

The adjective illiteratus is a compound: in-literatus, "not lettered, uneducated." This is another kind of Latin participle: unlike the active participles you learned about earlier this week, this is a passive participle, like some other adjectives you've seen previously: vocatus, "called," natus, "born (i.e. birthed)," immoderata, "unlimited" are just a few of the passive participles you've seen so far, and you'll be learning more about those participles later on.

You've seen rex, "king," before: Rex est lex, and Rex est lex vivens.

The noun asinus, "donkey," gives us English "asinine."

Like illiteratus, the adjective coronatus, "crowned," is a passive participle, and it creates a nice rhyming sound effect in this saying. From this Latin root, we get English "corona" and also "crown."

The word order is called chiasmus, "crisscross," because it goes adj-noun || noun-adj. You can find out more about chiasmus at Wikipedia if you are curious (it is one of my favorite word order tricks in Latin).

Here's a recap: