Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #32: 2nd-Declension Genitive Again

The focus for today's lesson is, once again, the genitive form of the second declension. Here's a quick review of the genitive phrases so far this week, arranged based on whether the genitive word comes first or second in the phrase; I've put the English for today's phrases. I've also put the nominative form for the genitive words:

[animus] animi speculum
[Deus] Dei simia
[Deus] Dei lusus
[Deus] Dei viva statua: God's living statue
[iniquus] iniqui haeres: a crooked man's heir

donum Dei [Deus]
umbra Dei [Deus]
regnum Dei [Deus]
oculus mundi [mundus]
caput mundi [mundus]
imago animi [animus]
eventus proelii [proelium]
dimidium facti [factum]: half of the deed
pulvinar diaboli [diabolus]: cushion of the devil
os diaboli [diabolus]: mouth of the devil

That gives you a kind of sneak preview of today's sayings. Plus you've probably noticed: as you learn more and more sayings each day, that increases your vocabulary and there are fewer and fewer new words that you need to read the new day's sayings.

So, here are today's sayings:

1. Bonum initium est dimidium facti.
(A) good beginning is half of-(the)-deed.
bonum i-NI-tium est di-MI-dium facti

You've seen bonum in this saying already: Non omne dulce bonum.

You've also seen initium before: Omne initium difficile.

You've seen dimidium before too: Incertus animus dimidium est sapientiae.

The word facti is the genitive of factum, which you have also seen before: Simul dictum, simul factum.

Compare the English saying, "Well begun is half done."

2. Mundus est Dei viva statua.
(The) world is God's living statue.
mundus est Dei viva STA-tua

You've seen the word mundus in this saying: Patria mea totus mundus est.

You've also seen the genitive Dei, from Deus, in many sayings, such as: Musica donum Dei.

The feminine adjective viva, "living," is related to the verb vivere, "to live." You can see this root in English "vivacious."

The feminine noun statua gives us English "statue."

The idea here is that the world of nature is a kind of divine artistry. Human art is subordinate to nature, but nature itself is the art of God, the creator. The difference between this "statue" and statues made by human artists is that this statua is alive, viva.

3. Otium est pulvinar diaboli.
Leisure is (the) devil's cushion.
O-tium est pul-VI-nar di-A-boli

You've seen a saying very similar to this one: Pigritia est pulvinar Satanae.

The words otium and pigritia are very close in meaning: otium means "leisure, not doing work," while pigritia means "laziness, not wanting to do any work."

The words diaboli and Satanae are also synonyms: diabolus is "devil" and Satanas is "Satan."

Compare the English saying, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop."

4. Bursa avari os est diaboli.
(The) miser's purse is (the) mouth of-(the)-devil.
bursa a-VA-ri os est di-A-boli

The feminine noun bursa is the origin of English "purse." You can also see this root in English "bursar."

The genitive avari is from avarus, which you have seen before: Avarus semper est pauper.

The neuter noun os, "mouth," has or- as its stem, which you can see in English "oral." (Next week you'll be learning about these third-declension words and their sneaky stems!)

Notice how the genitive phrase, os diaboli, wraps around the verb: os est diaboli.

This is a powerful metaphor: the idea is that the purse of a miser is full of money, but at the same time that purse is the gaping mouth of the devil, which of course leads down to hell.

5. Dives aut iniquus est, aut iniqui haeres.
(A) rich (man) is either crooked or (the) heir of-(a)-crooked (man).
dives aut i-NI-quus est, aut i-NI-qui haeres

The masculine adjective dives, "rich," is being used here substantively: "a rich man." There is a contracted form of this word in Latin: Dis, which means "the underworld," the realm of the god Pluto (and Pluto, in Greek, was the god of wealth).

The word aut means "or," and the construction aut...aut... is like English "either...or..."

The masculine adjective iniquus, "unequal, unjust, crooked," is a compound word: in-aequus, "not-equal." You can see this root in English "iniquity."

The word iniqui is the genitive of iniquus.

The masculine noun haeres gives us English "heir," and you can also see this root in words like "inherit" and "heritage."

Here's a recap: