Latin Lesson #29: Second Declension Review

The focus for today's lesson is reviewing the second-declension nouns and adjectives, the ones that end in -us (masculine) and -um (neuter). Tomorrow, you'll be learning the genitive endings for these words, but today the focus is on the nominative forms. This should be a quick lesson, with familiar forms and lots of familiar vocabulary too.

So, here are today's sayings:


1. Malum ovum, malus pullus.
Bad egg, bad chick.
malum ovum, malus pullus

The adjective malum is neuter, agreeing with ovum, while malus is masculine, agreeing with pullus. You've seen malum before: Nullum malum impunitum, and you've also seen malus: Nullus dies omnino malus.

The neuter noun ovum, "egg," gives us English words like "oval" and "ovulate."

The masculine noun pullus means "chick" and it can also refer to the young of other animals. You can see this root in English "pullulate" and also in Spanish pollo.

The idea here is that badness is predestined: a bad egg cannot help but result in a bad chick, something like genetic determinism, but traditional folklore rather than modern science.

2. Cito maturum, cito putridum.
Fast ripe, fast rotten.
cito ma-TU-rum, cito PU-tridum

The adverb cito, "quickly, fast" is from the verb ciere, "to put in motion, excite." The word is technically a neuter adjective (participle) in the ablative case; as you'll learn later, many Latin adverbs are formed from neuter adjectives.

The neuter adjective maturum, "ripe, mature" is the origin of English "mature."

The neuter adjective putridum, "rotten, decayed," gives us English "putrid."

This is a saying about doing things hastily: if something is done too quickly, it will also fall apart quickly. In other words: take your time! Don't rush!


3. Magnus liber magnum malum.
(A) big book (is a) big evil.
magnus liber magnum malum

The adjective magnum is neuter, agreeing with malum, while magnus is masculine, agreeing with liber, which you've seen before: Optimus magister bonus liber. You've seen the feminine form magna also: Parva domus, magna quies.

This is a Latin version of a famous Greek saying: mega biblion, mega kakon, μέγα βιβλίον, μέγα κακόν, associated with the poet Callimachus.

4. Patria mea totus hic mundus est.
My homeland is this whole world.
PA-tria mea totus hic mundus est

This saying is just a slight variation on a saying you've seen before: Patria mea totus mundus est.

The difference is the addition of hic which means "this," i.e. totus hic mundus, "all this world, this whole world." 

The word hic (masculine), along with hoc and haec (neuter and feminine), are very common Latin words; you will meet them often as you read more and more Latin.


5. Numquam minus solus quam cum solus.
Never less alone than when alone.
numquam minus solus quam cum solus

You've seen the adverb numquam before: Carcer numquam pulcher.

The adverb minus, "less," is the origin of English "minus." 

The masculine adjective solus, "alone, only," is the origin of English "sole," "solitary," etc.

You've seen quam used for comparison before: Melior est res quam spes.

The word cum means "when" (but be warned: there is another cum in Latin, and it means "with" as in magna cum laude).

This is a good saying for introverts like me! Of course, I would need feminine adjectives: Numquam minus sola quam cum sola.


Here's a recap:

1. Malum ovum, malus pullus.
2. Cito maturum, cito putridum.
3. Magnus liber magnum malum.
4. Patria mea totus hic mundus est.
5. Numquam minus solus quam cum solus.

And here is today's audio:



Plus the LOLCats!

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