Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #54: Wrapping up Week 12

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: