Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #28: Wrapping Up the First-Declension Genitive

We're wrapping up the genitive forms of the first-declension nouns and adjectives today, and next week we'll move on to second-declension nouns and adjectives, with their genitive forms.

So, before you get started on today's sayings, review the genitive forms that you have seen earlier this week. I've put the genitive in bold, and I've also underlined the genitive phrases, and I've highlighted them in different colors so you can see where the genitive comes first and where it comes second. I honestly had not realized that I had alternated the pattern back-and-forth so systematically; it really happened by accident. I only "saw" it when I used the colored highlight.

Vitae sal amicitia.
Mors corona vitae.
Senectus vitae hiems est.
Historia magistra vitae.
Tempus est vitae magister.
Mors ianua vitae.
Dubium sapientiae initium.
Ars est simia naturae.
Rixa rixae causa est.
Pigritia est pulvinar Satanae.
Invidia est animae tinea.
Finis miseriae mors est.
Faber quisque fortunae suae est.
Omnis ars naturae imitatio est.
Maximum remedium irae mora est.

And here are today's sayings:

1. Finis irae initium est paenitentiae.
(The) end of-anger is (the) beginning of-remorse.
finis irae i-NI-tium est paeni-TEN-tiae

You've seen finis before: Finis miseriae mors est.

You've seen irae (ira) before: Maximum remedium irae mora est.

You've seen initium before: Omne initium difficile.

The feminine noun paenitentiae is the genitive form of paenitentia, "repentence, remorse," which gives us English "penitence" and "penitentiary."

Notice how the genitive phrase initium paenitentiae wraps around the little verb est.

This finis-initium structure makes for a nice saying! As you learn more genitive forms over the next few weeks, perhaps you will invent your own finis-initium sayings.

2. Incertus animus dimidium est sapientiae.
(An) uncertain mind is half of-wisdom.
in-CER-tus A-nimus di-MI-dium est sapi-EN-tiae

You've seen the masculine incertus in its neuter form before: Praeteritum nihil, praesens instabile, futurum incertum.

The masculine noun animus has a wide range of meanings, including "the mind" and "the soul." You can read through the Latin dictionary entry to see how that works.

The neuter noun dimidium, "half," is related to another word you've seen before, medium, in the saying: Medium certum est.

You've seen sapientiae (sapientia) in a saying very similar to this one: Dubium sapientiae initium.

Once again the genitive phrase dimidium sapientiae wraps around the little verb est.

The idea is that by having doubts, you are halfway to becoming wise! You could also vary the saying this way: Incertus animus initium est sapientiae.

3. Avarus ipse miseriae causa est suae.
(A) selfish (man) is himself (the) cause of-his-own-wretchedness.
a-VA-rus ipse mi-SE-riae causa est suae

You've seen avarus before: Avarus semper est pauper.

The word ipse is an intensifying pronoun: avarus ipse, "the greedy man himself." You can see a different form of this word in the phrase "ipso facto" which is also used in English.

You've seen miseriae (miseria) before in this saying: Finis miseriae mors est.

You've also seen causa before: Rixa rixae causa est.

And you've also seen suae (sua) before: Faber quisque fortunae suae est.

Notice how this time the genitive noun and adjective, miseriae suae, wrap around the noun and verb: miseriae causa est suae.

4. Est rota fortunae variabilis, ut rota lunae.
(The) wheel of-fortune is changeable, like (the) wheel of-(the)-moon.
est rota for-TU-nae vari-AB-ilis, ut rota lunae

The feminine noun rota, "wheel," is what you see in the English verb "rotate."

You've seen fortunae (fortuna) before: Fortuna caeca est.

The feminine adjective variabilis, "changing, variable," gives us English "variable."

The word ut has many functions in Latin; here it is being used for comparison: "like, as."

The feminine noun lunae is the genitive of luna, "moon," which you can see in English "lunar" and also "lunatic."

This is a rhyming medieval proverb: fortunae-lunae. You can read more about the proverbial Rota Fortunae at Wikipedia.

5. Vitae brevis est cursus, gloriae sempiternus.
(The) course of-life is brief, (the course) of-glory (is) eternal.
vitae brevis est cursus, GLO-riae sempi-TER-nus

You've seen vitae (vita) many times now!

You've seen masculine brevis in its neuter form, breve, in this saying: Tempus breve est.

The masculine noun cursus, "course," is from the verb currere, "to run." This is the origin of English "course" and also "cursive."

You've seen gloriae (gloria) before in this saying: gloria: Ubi pericula, ibi gloria.

The masculine adjective sempiternus, "eternal," gives us English "sempiternal."

Notice how this saying is based on parallels: vitae is parallel with gloriae while brevis is parallel with sempiternus. When a Latin statement has this type of parallel structure, it can leave out the repeated words that are part of the parallelism: Vitae brevis est cursus, gloriae sempiternus (est cursus).

Here's a recap: