Today is a catch-up day to review any lesson(s) you missed this past week and/or to work on whatever kind of practice is most useful to you. There's also a slideshow below to help you review all the -at verbs. :-)
Next week, you will be moving on from -at verbs to -et and -it verbs, so here's a slideshow you can use to review the -at verbs... with cats! You'll see the cat first, and then the proverb slide follows:
I also made a printable crossword PDF with this week's sayings as the prompts. Screenshots below. I hope you will like the way the crossword puzzle gives you some hints as you try to supply the missing word.
One thing to remember today is the freedom of Latin word order. In English, a subject comes before its verb. This is such an important feature of English that it is classified as an "SVO language," i.e. Subject-Verb-Object. You can read more about SVO languages at Wikipedia.
Unlike English, Latin word order is free! The subject often comes before the verb, but sometimes the verb comes before the subject (more about Latin word order at Wikipedia).
Here's an example you've already seen where the subject comes after the verb:
Haud semper errat fama.Rumor is not always mistaken. (literally: Not always errs rumor.)
You'll have two more sayings today where the verb comes before the subject!
But first, here's a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
And here are today's proverbs:
1. Praestat cautela quam medela.
Caution is-better than (a) cure.
praestat cau-TE-la quam me-DE-la
The noun cautela means "caution, precaution," and you can see the same root in English "caution." This is the subject of the verb praestat, a good example of verb-subject word order.
The noun medela means "cure, remedy." You've seen other Latin words with this same root: medicina and medicamentum. This is the same root in English "medicine," etc.
The rhyme cautela-medela marks this as a medieval Latin saying; medieval Latin poetry and proverbs feature lots of rhymes, but classical Latin poetry and proverbs did not rely on rhyme (you'll be learning more about the classical meters of Latin proverbs later on).
Compare the English saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
2. Laesa saepius repugnat ovis.
Insulted very-often, (the) sheep fights-back.
laesa SAE-pius re-PUG-nat ovis
The feminine adjective laesa means "injured, wounded, insulted." It is feminine because it agrees with the feminine noun ovis, "sheep." From Latin ovis we get English "ovine," and English "ewe" is a cousin to ovis, both being derived from the Indo-European root h₂ówis.
The adverb saepius, "more often, very often," is the comparative form of saepe, "often." The verb repugnat, "resists, fights back," is a compound: re-pugnat, again-fight. You can see this Latin compound in English "repugnant."
The sheep is the subject of the verb, so it's another example of verb-subject word order: repugnant ovis. The most emphatic words in a sentence are the first and last words, so this puts the emphasis on ovis and on laesa.
The idea is that a sheep is not normally a vicious animal, but if you treat a sheep badly again and again, the sheep will fight back. Metaphorically, a peaceful person, if you insult or abuse them often enough, will eventually get angry and fight back too.
3. Qualis rex, talis grex.
As (the) king, so (the) flock.
qualis rex, talis grex
This saying is an inverted version of one you have seen before: Qualis grex, talis rex, "As the flock, so the king."
The idea in today's saying is that based on who the king is, qualis rex, you can guess what his subjects are like: talis grex. That is the inversion of the other saying, Qualis grex, talis rex, which means that based on knowing who the group is, you can predict what their leader will be like.
4. Forma flos, fama flatus.
Beauty (is a) flower, fame (is a) puff-of-air.
forma flos, fama flatus
The 3rd-declension flos, "flower," has the stem flor- which you can see in the English word "floral." The English words "flower" and "flour" both come from Latin flos.
The noun flatus means a "puff of air, breeze." It also means "fart" in Latin, as in English "flatulence." You can also see this root in English "inflate."
The idea is the beauty flourishes only briefly, like a flower. So too with fame: it vanishes as quickly as a puff of wind. This is the Bagshawe family motto.
5. Arcta via est caeli, facilis descensus Averni.
Narrow is (the) heaven's road; easy (is the) hell's descent.
arcta via est caeli, FA-cilis des-CEN-sus a-VER-ni
The feminine adjective arcta means "constricted, narrow," and it agrees with the feminine noun via. It is a medieval spelling; in classical Latin, it would be spelled arta. So, the first part of this saying says that it's hard to get to heaven: the way to heaven is arcta, narrow. Not a lot of people are going to heaven!
The road going the other direction is easy, facilis. You can see this Latin word in English "facile."
The noun descensus, "way down," is a compound: de-scensus, "down-climb." This gives us English "descent" and "descend."
The name Avernus is a Roman name for the underworld. You can find out more at Wikipedia: Avernus. This saying is a medieval Latin saying, Christian rather than pagan, so I have translated Avernus as "hell," as opposed to caelum, "heaven," in the first part of the saying.
The idea is that it's hard to make the journey up to heaven, but the journey down to hell is an easy one.
Here's a recap:
Praestat cautela quam medela.
Laesa saepius repugnat ovis.
Qualis rex, talis grex.
Forma flos, fama flatus.
Arcta via est caeli, facilis descensus Averni.
And here is today's audio (yes, that's my cat meowing at the end; sorry about that, ha ha):
We're back to some new -at verbs for today's sayings.
To get started, here is a review of some familiar words you will be encountering. Someone suggested I include the individual proverb slides in these reviews along with the word slides and the cat slides, so I've done that starting today. I hope you will find that helpful! You can see the full-size slideshow, or watch it embedded below:
So, here are today's proverbs:
1. Amor fati.
Love of-fate.
amor fati
You've seen fatum before, and this is the genitive form, fati, "of fate." This famous phrase has its own Wikipedia article: Amor fati. It refers to the idea of embracing your fate, whatever it might be, good or bad, happy or sad. The Wikipedia article reviews some ancient philosophers who explored this idea, along with modern philosophers like Nietzsche and Camus.
You'll recognize camelus because that gives us the English word "camel." The Latin word comes from Greek; you can find out more at the wiktionary.
The verb saltat means "leaps, dances." Earlier, you saw the verbal noun (a.k.a. gerund) formed from this verb: saltandum, "dancing."
The idea behind this proverb is that camels are not graceful; a camel who dances would look ridiculous. So, this saying is used to make fun of someone doing something in an awkward, ridiculous way. There's even an Aesop's fable about the camel dancing.
3. Canis mordens non latrat.
(The) biting dog doesn't bark.
canis mordens non latrat
The adjective mordens means "biting," a participle from the verb mordere, "to bite." You can see this root in English "mordant" and also "remorse."
The verb latrat means "barks, howls."
The idea is you don't really need to be scared of a dog who is barking. Instead, you need to watch out for the dog who is not barking; that is the dog who might be getting ready to bite you. Applied metaphorically to the human world, the idea is that someone who talks, and even someone who makes threats, is nothing to worry about; the dangerous person is the one who doesn't say anything at all.
4. Caput imperat, non pedes.
(The) head commands, not (the) feet.
caput IM-perat, non pedes
The verb imperat means "commands, rules, governs." You can see this Latin root in English "emperor" and "imperial."
The noun pedes means "feet." It is a plural noun (you'll be learning all about plural endings later on). The singular is pes, "foot," a third declension noun whose stem is ped-, which you can see in English words like "pedestrian" and "impede."
This proverb is all about hierarchy. The human body has a head, and the head is in charge, telling the feet what to do. Metaphorically, it means that in human society likewise, somebody has to be the head, and that person is in charge, telling everybody else, i.e. the feet, what to do.
5. Terra corpus est, at mens ignis.
(The) body is earth, but (the) mind (is) fire.
terra corpus est, at mens ignis
The 3rd-declension noun corpus, "body," has the stem corpor- which you can see in English words like "corporeal" and "corporation." The 3rd-declension noun mens, "mind," has the stem ment- which you can see in English "mental." Latin mens and English "mind" are cousins; they both come from the Indo-European root méntis.
These Latin words come from the archaic Roman poet Ennius; you can find out more about Ennius at Wikipedia. He sees the mind-body distinction, terra-mens, as being parallel to the diference between the elements of earth and fire, two of the fundamental elements of the universe in ancient philosophy.
Per usual on Wednesday, I'll be doing a vocabulary slideshow quiz, with cats too! Here's a link to the full-size show. You can use this as a way to see how much of the vocabulary you are retaining; there's an English prompt and also some Latin sayings to help jiggle your memory. The next slide will tell you if you are correct.
Does seeing the saying and the English word give you the prompting you need to come up with the Latin word? If you are not able to conjure up the Latin word, you might try doing more reading out loud with the daily lessons or perhaps try writing out some word lists or flash cards by hand. You can also use the audio files for each lesson to try doing dictation practice.
And remember: always read out loud. You learn languages with your EARS, not your eyes.
As always, if you want to review the notes and translation for a saying, you can use the Sayings list or Dictionary, which both have links to the original posts.
And here are just a few of the cats from the slides:
In today's lesson, you will see some variations on sayings you have seen before. That's one of the cool things about proverbs: people played with the patterns to create different versions using different words, different word order, etc. to express the "same" idea in different ways.
There are a lot of familiar words in today's proverbs too, so here is a slideshow (with cats) to help you review the words that you've seen before. Remember that you can always click on the Sayings list or Dictionary list to get more information about any saying:
And here are today's proverbs:
1. Etiam prudentissimus peccat.
Even (the) smartest (person) makes-mistakes.
etiam pruden-TIS-simus peccat
The adverb etiam is a compound: et-iam, "and already, now again." Unlike et, which can be used as a conjunction or as an adverb, etiam is always an adverb, meaning "even, also, too."
Pronunciation note: etiam is just two syllables because the i is a semivowel, "et-yam."
The adjective prudentissimus, "smartest," is the superlative of prudens, "smart, prudent, wise." That's a 3rd-declension adjective, stem prudent-. As you can see, the superlative is formed from the stem: prudent-issimus. You can add this word to the other superlatives you've seen before: sapientissimus and acutissimus.
This saying is a variation on one that you saw yesterday: Sapientissimus et peccat, "The wisest person also makes mistakes." Notice that the et goes with the peccat: "also makes mistakes." In today's saying, the etiam goes with prudentissimus: "even the smartest person."
2. Sola pecunia regnat.
Money alone rules.
sola pe-CU-nia regnat
The feminine adjective sola, "alone, sole," modifies the feminine noun pecunia. This Latin adjective is the origin of English "sole" and you can see this root in many other English words, like "solitary."
This saying is a variation on a saying you saw yesterday: Nummus regnat ubique. That saying used the adverb ubique, "everywhere," to assert the power of money. Today's saying emphasizes that money stands alone in its rule of the world: sola pecunia.
3. Brevis aetas, vita fugax.
Time (is) short, life (is) fleeting.
brevis aetas, vita fugax
The feminine noun aetas (stem aetat-) can be translated with many English words; you might want to take a look at the Logeion Latin dictionary online to see the range of meanings. It can mean "age" in the sense of a human lifetime, but also "age" in the sense of a longer "time," like a generation, or just "time" in general.
And... Latin aetas is actually the origin of English "age" (see the Wiktionary for details).
Notice the elegant chiastic criss-cross structure: adjective-noun || noun-adjective. You can find out more about this poetic device at Wikipedia: Chiasmus.
4. Qualis avis, talis cantus; qualis vir, talis oratio.
As (the) bird, so (the) song; as (the) man, so (his) speech.
qualis avis, talis cantus; qualis vir, talis o-RA-tio
The 3rd-declension noun oratio has the stem oration-, which gives us English "oration."
You've see these qualis...talis... sayings before, but this is the first one that combines two of them in parallel: birds all have their own way of singing, just as people have their own way of speaking.
5. Est servitus cupidinis durissima.
Being (the) slave of-desire is (the) harshest.
est SER-vitus cu-PI-dinis du-RIS-sima
Look, it's another superlative! Durissima, "harshest," is the superlative of dura, "harsh, hard." You can see this root in many English words like "duress" and "endure." The feminine adjective agrees with the feminine 3rd-declension noun, servitus.
The idea here is that if you are desire's slave, desire will make you work and work, without rest and without reward. Desire is a harsh mistress!
The feminine noun cupido means "desire," while the masculine Cupido is the name of the god of desire, "Cupid," the son of the goddess of love, Venus (Aphrodite). So, the "desire" in this saying can be the desire for money, and it can also be sexual desire: being the slave of any kind of desire is hard to endure.
The focus for today's lesson is more of the 1st-conjugation verbs which have the vowel -a- and the 3rd-person singular ending: -t, resulting in verbs that end in -at.
The slideshow below contains the 1st-conjugation verb sayings from last week; take a minute to review them now before you move on to this week's sayings. You'll also find slides here for the words you've seen before that you will see in today's sayings:
And here are today's sayings:
1. Fama volat.
Rumor flies.
fama volat
You already know the words in this saying!
Long before the Internet, both the Greeks and Romans saw how quickly rumor could spread. The goddess known as Fama in Latin, Pheme in Greek, was depicted as having wings, showing how rumors spread so quickly that the goddess must be flying.
You can read more about the ancient goddess at Wikipedia: Fama.
The noun nummus literally means a "coin," and by extension it means "money" in general. The word numerus comes from the same root, which gives us "number" in English. The word "numismatics" means the study of coins.
The verb regnat, "reigns, is king," is from the noun rex (stem reg-), meaning "king." This is the origin of the English verb "reigns" and also the English adjective "regnant."
The idea is that money everywhere is king; the coin commands, and everyone obeys.
3. Sapientissimus et peccat.
(The) wisest (man) also makes-mistakes.
sapien-TIS-simus et peccat
The masculine adjective sapientissimus, "wisest," is the superlative form of sapiens (stem sapient-), "wise." The adjective is being used as a noun here: "the wisest man." You've seen the supernative ending -issimus before in the word acutissimus, "sharpest."
The verb peccat can mean something as simple as "make a mistake," but it can also mean "transgress" or "offend." In Christian Latin, peccat means "sins" and a peccator is a "sinner." You can see this Latin root in English "impeccable," something that is perfect, never mistaken.
Most of the time when you see et in Latin, it is the conjunction "and," but sometimes et is used as an adverb, meaning "too, also, even," as here. The idea is that in addition to being correct, the wisest person can also be in error: et peccat.
You've seen the adverbial et before, as in this saying: Qualis mater, talis et filia, "As the mother, so too the daughter." Here's another example you've seen before: Sicut fremitus leonis, et regis ira, "As the lion's roar, so too the king's anger."
4. Unus quidem, sed leo est.
One indeed, but (he) is (a) lion.
unus quidem, sed leo est
This saying is the punchline to an Aesop's fable. The story goes that the fox was making fun of the lioness because she had only one cub. The lioness replied with these words: Unus quidem, sed leo est.
Which is to say: a whole litter of foxes would not be equal in worth to a single lion cub.
Compare the English saying, "Quality, not quantity."
5. Avarus auri custos, non dominus.
(A) greedy (man is the) jailer of-(his)-gold, not (its) master.
a-VA-rus auri custos, non DO-minus
The 3rd-declension noun custos means "keeper, guard, jailer." The stem of this noun is custod- which you can see in English "custodian." As often, the English derivative can help you remember the stem of the Latin noun.
The idea here is that there is nothing good about the way a miser keeps his money locked up in a money-box, like Mr. Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. If someone is the dominus, or master, of his money, he would spend it wisely, not just watch it the way a prison guard watches a prisoner.
