Latin Lesson #30: Second-Declension Genitive

The focus for today's lesson is the genitive ending for second-declension nouns and adjectives. For today's sayings, we'll just focus on one word: Deus, "God."

To get the stem of the word of this second-declension noun, you just remove the -us ending: De-us, gives you the stem De-.

Then you add the genitive ending, which is -i, to the stem: De+i. The vowels e and i are pronounced separately; ei is not a diphthong in Latin. So, Dei has two syllables, De~i.

This genitive noun, Dei, means "of God" or "God's." You will see the word Dei in each of the five sayings for today. 

Just as you would expect from the freedom of Latin word order, the genitive Dei can come first or second in its phrase; here are the phrases you will see today:

• Dei lusus: God's plaything = a plaything of God
• Dei simia: God's monkey = a monkey of God
• donum Dei: a gift of God = God's gift
• umbra Dei: the shadow of God = God's shadow
• regnum Dei: the kingdom of God = God's kingdom

So, here are today's sayings:

1. Musica donum Dei.
Music (is a) gift of-God.
MU-sica donum Dei

The feminine noun musica gives us English "music." The word comes from the Muses; you can find out more about the Muses at Wikipedia.

The neuter noun donum, "gift" can be seen in the English word "donation."

2. Lux umbra Dei est.
Light is God's shadow.
lux umbra Dei est

The feminine noun lux, "light," shows up in English words like "lucid" and "translucent."

The feminine noun umbra, "shadow, shade," gives us English "umbrella."

This is a paradoxical proverb: normally light and shadow are opposites, but the light we see is the shadow cast by God. This was a popular inscription on sundials, which involve both light and shadow; here is an example.


3. Dei lusus homo.
(A) human (is) God's plaything.
Dei lusus homo

The masculine noun lusus, "plaything," is from the verb ludere, "to play," which you can see in English "ludicrous."

You've seen homo before in the sayings: Homo bullus and Homo mundus minor.

The idea that human beings are the playthings or toys of the gods is connected to the idea of destiny or fate is something beyond our control that comes from the gods.


4. Diabolus est Dei simia.
(The) Devil is a monkey of-God.
Di-A-bolus est Dei SI-mia

The masculine noun Diabolus, "Devil," can be seen in English "diabolical" and it is also the origin of "devil."

You've seen simia before in the saying: Ars est simia naturae.

This is a saying from Christian Latin, based on the idea that the Devil cannot do anything of his own; all he can do is to imitate, badly, the original works of God. This saying parallels the saying about art and nature, where art is always just a failed imitation of the wonders of nature.


5. Non est regnum Dei esca et potus, sed justitia et pax.
(The) kingdom of-God is not food and drink, but justice and peace.
non est regnum Dei esca et potus, sed jus-TI-tia et pax

The neuter noun regnum, "kingdom" is related to the word rex, and gives us English "reign."

You've seen esca already in the saying: Nonne anima plus est quam esca?

You saw the word potus in this saying:  Potus furtivus dulcis est.

The conjunction sed means "but."

The feminine noun justitia gives us English "justice."

The feminine noun pax is the origin of English "peace."

The words come from the Letter to the Romans in the New Testament.

Here's a recap:

1. Musica donum Dei.
2. Lux umbra Dei est.
3. Dei lusus homo.
4. Diabolus est Dei simia.
5. Non est regnum Dei esca et potus, sed justitia et pax.

And here is today's audio:



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