Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #84: Proverbial elephants

The focus for today's lesson is 3rd-declension accusatives (again!), and this time there are several proverbs about elephants... plus a cat saying and a fly saying too!

You've already had one proverb about elephants; do you remember?

Elephas muscam non curat.
An elephant doesn't worry about a fly.

The idea is that someone big, strong, and important, like elephant, doesn't worry about something puny, small and unimportant, like a fly. As the English saying goes, "Don't sweat the small stuff."

You'll see that same contrast between big-and-small in the elephant sayings today.

To get ready, here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:

So, here are today's proverbs:

1. Feles et regem aspicit.
(A) cat looks even (at the) king.
feles et regem AS-picit.

You've seen felis, "cat," before. The word feles is simply a variant spelling of felis; they mean the same thing.

The word regem is the accusative form of a noun you know already: rex.

The word et is being used adverbially here: "even, also." So et regem means "even the king."

The verb aspicit means "look at," and it's a compound: a(d)-spicit, "at-look." This is the root in English "aspect."

Compare the English saying, "A cat may look at a king." The idea is that even a common person has the right to look at anything or anyone, including the king. This old English saying was made famous in modern times by its appearance in Alice in Wonderland: , when the Cheshire Cat is looking at the King of Hearts: "A cat may look at a king," said Alice. "I've read that in some book, but I don't remember where."

2. Habet et musca splenem.
Even (a) fly has spleen.
habet et musca splenem.

The word splenem is the accusative form of splen, "spleen," and this Latin word gives us both "spleen" and "splenetic" in English.

This et is also adverbial: et musca, "even a fly."

The meaning of this saying depends on the ancient idea of the bodily humors. The fluid of the spleen was supposed to give someone an angry disposition. So, the idea here is that even someone who is tiny and weak can still get angry, and perhaps even be dangerous as a result. You can find out more about the theory of the humors at Wikipedia: Four Temperaments. English words like splenetic, sanguine, choleric, melancholic, bilious and phlegmatic all derive from this ancient model of embodied emotions.

3. Murem elephas non capit.
(An) elephant doesn't catch (a) mouse.
murem E-lephas non capit.

You know all the words in this saying already!

The word murem is the accusative of a word you've seen before: mus.

The idea is that someone big and strong, like an elephant, isn't going to waste their time catching mice. Compare the elephant proverb you saw earlier: Elephas muscam non curat.

4. Elephas murem non mordet.
(An) elephant doesn't bite (a) mouse.
E-lephas murem non mordet.

You know all the words in this saying too!

The meaning is the same as in the previous saying, but now with a nice bit of sound-play, specifically, alliteration: murem...mordet. You can read more about alliteration at Wikipedia.

5. Elephantus culicem non curat.
(An) elephant doesn't care-about (a) gnat.
ele-PHAN-tus CU-licem non curat.

The Romans used both the word elephantus and the word elephas to mean "elephant."

The word culicem is the accusative form of culex, which is a "gnat" or "midge."

As you can see, this is another variation on the saying you saw earlier: Elephas muscam non curat.

Here's a recap: