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, reviewing the imperatives from all four conjugations. (Next week, we'll shift back to working on nouns and learn about a new case: the ablative.)
Meanwhile, here are the lessons from this week, plus previous weeks, and you'll find the review slideshow before:
And here's a slideshow with all the sayings from the week. Watch and read out loud! For each one there's a slide with the English the first time, and then a second slide without English... but with a cat!
I also made a printable crossword PDF with this week's sayings as the prompts; you need to supply the accusative noun for each saying. Screenshots below.
The focus for today's lesson is following up on yesterday's lesson: more prepositions that take the ablative case! Remember that for now we are just focusing on the first declension, where the ablative ending is -a, a longa (ā).
You will some sayings with the preposition in like yesterday, plus some new prepositions:
ex: from, out from
de: about, concerning
sine: without
And here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
And here are today's proverbs:
1. Deus ex machina.
(A) god from (the) machine.
deus ex MA-china.
The word machina (machinā) is the ablative form of the noun machina, which gives us English "machine." It's a Greek word borrowed by the Romans (the ch is a clue; chi is one of the letterse of the Greek alphabet).
The preposition ex takes the ablative case; it means "from, out from."
The saying refers to the way that in the ancient Greek theater, a god could join in the play by being lowered with a stage-machine, either a crane that lowered them from above or a rising platform that brought the god up from below. Metaphorically, it refers to someone or something that arrives as if by a miracle to provide a solution to a problem. You can find out more at Wikipedia: Deus ex machina.
2. Lis de umbra asini.
(An) argument about (a) donkey's shadow.
lis de umbra A-sini.
The word unbra (umbrā) is the ablative form of the noun unbra, which you have seen before. The preposition de takes the ablative case; it means "about, concerning."
This is a saying that refers to an argument over nothing. It's also associated with an Aesop's fable: The Donkey's Shadow.
3. Nulla dies sine linea.
No day without (a) line.
nulla dies sine LI-nea.
The word linea (lineā) is the ablative form of the noun linea, which you have seen before. The preposition sine takes the ablative case; it means "without."
This is a saying for artists to do a little work every day, even if it's just a single brushstroke. You can find out more about this famous saying at Wikipedia: Nulla dies sine linea. It was used by the writer Pliny with regard to the famous Greek painter, Apelles. It did not originally refer to writers and "lines" of writing, but that was how the saying was later applied.
4. Latet in cauda venenum.
(The) poison lurks in (the) tail.
latet in cauda ve-NE-num.
The word cauda (caudā) is the ablative form of the noun cauda, which you have seen before.
The neuter noun venenum gives us English "venom." The nominative and accusative cases are the same; in this sentence, venenum is nominative, the subject of the verb.
This is literally true about snakes and scorpions, etc., and metaphorically it applies to a situation which becomes dangerous at the end.
5. Propheta in sua patria honorem non habet.
(A) prophet has no honor in his-own country.
pro-PHE-ta in sua PA-tria ho-NO-rem non habet.
The noun propheta gives us English "prophet." This is another borrowing from Greek as you can tell from the ph (the Greek alphabet also contains the letter phi). It is a masculine noun of the first declension, like other masculine first-declension nouns borrowed from Greek. This is the nominative form; it is the subject of the verb.
The word patria (patriā) is the ablative form of the noun patria, which you have seen before.
The word sua (suā) is the ablative form of the adjective sua, and it agrees with the feminine ablative noun, patria.
The word honorem is the accusative from of the 3rd-declension noun honor, which gives us English "honor."
The focus for today's lesson is something new: the ablative case! So far, you know the nominative, accusative and genitive cases, and now the ablative case makes four. That means there is just one more case to go, the dative (plus the vocative, which is not exactly a case).
So, there are lots of different ways that the ablative case is used in Latin, but we'll start with the easiest one to recognize: the ablative case is used with most of the prepositions in Latin (a few prepositions take the accusative; you'll learn about those later). For today's lesson, all the sayings feature the preposition in, meaning "in" like in English, plus the ablative.
For first-declension nouns, the nominative case ending is short a, and the ablative ending is long a. In some Latin textbooks is written ā, with a long mark, or "macon," written over the vowel. In normal printed Latin, however, there are no long marks, so I have chosen not to use long marks here.
About pronounciation. For the ancient Romans, there was a difference in pronounciation between long vowels and short vowels, and it was a difference of quantity, that is, the quantity of time (long or short) that the vowel was pronounced. In English, we don't make a quantity distinction. Instead, our vowels have different qualities. For example, the word "day" in English is not a long a; instead, it is a kind of a-i sound (as you might guess from the spelling).
The real key to Latin pronounciation (in my opinion) is the word stress, and whether the final a is short or long does not change the word stress. So, you can prolong the ablative -a if you want, but don't worry about it too much. Just focus on the meaning!
To get ready, here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
So, here are today's proverbs:
1. Periculum in mora.
(There is) danger in delay.
pe-RI-culum in mora.
You already know all the words in this saying, and the word mora (morā) is the ablative form of the noun mora.
Of course, we use this same saying in English too, and it has a special meaning in legal language; you can find out more at the wiktionary: danger in delay.
2. Latet anguis in herba.
(A) snake hides in (the) grass.
latet anguis in herba.
The word herba (herbā) is the ablative form of the noun herba, which you've seen before.
The noun anguis, "snake," is a third-declension noun in the nominative case; it's the subject of the verb.
3. Dicit piger: leo est in via.
(The) lazy (man) says: (There's a) lion in (the) way.
dicit piger: leo est in via.
The word via (viā) is the ablative form of the noun via, another word you've seen before.
The masculine adjective piger, "lazy," is being used substantively here, as a noun: "lazy (man)." You haven't seen this adjective before, but you have seen the related noun: pigritia.
The word piger is in the nominative case, the subject of the verb dicit, while the third-declension noun, leo, is the subject of the verb est.
The idea is that someone lazy makes excuses, including absurd, impossible excuses, to get out of making any kind of effort. This saying actually comes from the Book of Proverbs in the Bible.
4. In cavea non canit luscinia.
(A) nightingale doesn't sing in (a) cage.
in CA-vea non canit lus-CI-nia.
The word cavea (caveā) is the ablative form of the noun cavea, "cage," and the Latin word is actually the origin of English "cage."
The noun luscinia, "nightingale," is in the nominative case, the subject of the verb.
The verb canit, "sings," is related to a verb you have seen already: cantat.
For a beautiful reflection on the sadness of the caged bird that does sing, see the poem Sympathyby the African American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. (He was born in 1872 to parents who had been enslaved; more at Wikipedia.)
5. Gladiator in arena consilium capit.
(The) gladiator is-making (his) plan in (the) arena.
gladi-A-tor in a-RE-na con-SI-lium capit.
The word arena (arenā) is the ablative form of the noun arena, a Latin word we also use in English. The literal meaning of arena is "sand," and it then came to refer specifically to the sand-filled arena; the sand was spread to absorb the blood that was spilled in the competitions. You can learn more at Wikipedia: Arena.
The word gladiator is one we use in English, and it is in the nominative case here; it is the subject of the verb. You also know the Latin word it comes from: gladius.
The word consilium, "plan, advice, stratagem," is a second-declension neuter noun, so this form could be accusative or nominative; since you already have a subject for the verb, gladiator, that means consilium is in the accusative case, the object of the verb.
This statement is ironic: if the gladiator is only getting his plan together once he is in the arena, it is definitely too late! The successful gladiator needs to make his plan before he is in the arena.
As you learned in a saying this week: Repetitio mater memoriae. I hope that having this review each week of 30 words chosen at random will help you keep up with the mounting vocabulary. Repetition is how you learn new words... especially saying them out loud repeatedly!
So, below is this week's vocabulary review: the slides have the English translations, plus links back to the original posts if you want to review the notes. And of course there are cats! These are the instructions for how to use the slideshow as a quiz, and here's a link to the full-size show.
You can use this as a quiz, filling in the blank with the English prompt to help you. Alternatively, you can just rely on the other slides, reading each saying out loud, both with and without the English to help you. And hopefully seeing the cats will help you remember the sayings too!
If you want to do even more reviewing, here's are the review slideshows from Week 23, Week 22, and Week 21. The more you can repeat, the more you will remember!
Welcome to LESSON 100 of this experiment in learning Latin through sayings and proverbs! I hope this slow-and-easy approach is helping people feel confident about the meaning of all the Latin that you are seeing (and hearing). To get ready for the ablative case later this week, today is a review of the 1st-declension genitive ending, -ae. So, that gives you three different cases for the 1st declension:
-a. nominative: subject of verb
-am. accusative: object of verb
-ae. genitive: "of"
There are some sayings below to help you review -ae, including one saying that explains why you need to review all the time like this: Repetitio mater memoriae.
And here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before that will appear in today's lesson:
So, here are today's proverbs:
1. Philosophia ars vitae.
Philosophy (is the) art of-life.
philo-SO-phia ars vitae.
You know all the words in this saying already!
The word vitae is the genitive form of the noun vita.
Compare a saying that you saw earlier: Cultura animi philosophia est.
2. Repetitio mater memoriae.
Repetition (is the) mother of-memory.
repe-TI-tio mater me-MO-riae.
The Latin noun repetitio gives us English "repetition."
The word memoriae is the genitive form of the noun memoria, "memory." You haven't seen this noun before, but you have seen the related adjective: memor.
Compare the English saying, "Repetition is the mother of learning."
The word mater is used here because repetitio is a feminine noun; that's why "she" is the "mother" of memory.
3. Inscitia mater arrogantiae.
Ignorance (is the) mother of-arrogance.
in-SCI-tia mater arro-GAN-tiae.
The noun inscitia is a compound, in-scitia, "not-knowing," i.e. lack of knowledge, ignorance. You haven't seen this noun before, but you have seen this related noun: scientia.
The word arrogantiae is the genitive form of the noun arrogantia, which gives us English "arrogance."
Again, the word mater is used here because inscitia is a feminine noun; that's why "she" is the "mother" of memory.
The word avaritiae is the genitive form of a noun you have seen before, avaritia.
Notice the change in word order here: in a genitive noun phrase, the genitive can come first, avaritiae mater, or it can come after, as in the sayings above: ars vitae, mater memoriae, and mater arrogantiae.
5. Vita rustica parsimoniae, diligentiae, iustitiae magistra est.
(The) rustic life is (the) teacher of-thrift, of-diligence, (and) of-justice.
vita RUS-tica parsi-MO-niae, dili-GEN-tiae, ius-TI-tiae ma-GIS-tra est.
The adjective rustica gives us English "rustic" and the related word "rural." The Latin root is rus, which means "countryside, fields, farm." The adjective is feminine in form because it agrees with the feminine noun vita.
The word parsimoniae is the genitive form of the noun parsimonia, "parsimony, thrift, frugality."
The word diligentiae is the genitive form of the noun diligentia, "diligence, attentiveness, hard work."
Again, the word magistra, feminine form of the masculine magister, is used here because vita is a feminine noun; that's why "she" is the "female teacher" of thrift, diligence and justice.
Here's a recap:
Philosophia ars vitae.
Repetitio mater memoriae.
Inscitia mater arrogantiae.
Luxuria avaritiae mater.
Vita rustica parsimoniae, diligentiae, iustitiae magistra est.
The focus for today's lesson is a quick review of the first declension focusing on the two most common cases: the nominative case and the accusative.
The nominative case is used for the subject of a verb.
The accusative case is used for the object of the verb.
Nouns and adjectives of the first declension are easy to recognize:
the nominative ends in -a
the accusative ends in -am
You'll find some sayings below to help you review these -a and -am endings! To get started, here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the vocabulary you have seen before:
And here are today's proverbs:
1. Persona non grata.
(A) person (who is) not welcome.
per-SO-na non grata.
You haven't seen Latin persona before, but this gives us English "person," and we also use the word "persona" with a slightly different meaning. In Latin, persona means both "person" and it also means "mask," which is the sense of English "persona."
You haven't seen the adjective grata, "welcome, pleasing," before, but you have seen a related noun: gratia. Because persona is a feminine noun, it takes a feminine adjective: grata. We actually use this Latin phrase in English, which is why I've included it here. "Persona non grata" is not actually a saying; it's more like an idiom or cliche. For more about this phrase, and its use in diplomacy, see Wikipedia: Persona non grata.
The verb transit is a compound: trans-it, "through-goes," i.e. "go through, passes on, passes away." We have adopted this as a noun in English: "transit."es
Compare the other compound verb you've already seen from this same root: anteit, "goes before."
You've seen hora in quite a few sayings before: sometimes it means, literally, "hour," but often it refers to time and the passage of time in general, as here.
The Latin noun opera means "effort, labor," and also the "work" produced by that effort, which is the meaning here. From this same root we get English "opera" (via Italian) and "operation," etc. The idea is that time is going to disappear, but what you accomplish during that time is something that can last.
3. Spes vitam fovet.
Hope nourishes life.
spes vitam fovet.
The accusative form vitam is from the noun vita. That makes it the object of the verb, and spes is the subject (spes is a 5th-declension noun; you'll be learning more about that declension later on).
The verb fovet literally means "warms, keeps warm," and it also means "nourishes, fosters." You can see the fov- root in English "foment," although the English word has more negative connotations. This is also the root of English "fomite."
The idea is that you need hope to stay alive. When you are cold with fear or desperation, hope will keep you warm!
The noun libra means a "pair of scales, balance," as in a balance that is used for measuring. You can see the scales depicted in the astrological sign Libra. You haven't seen this noun before, but you have seen a related verb: deliberat. The noun libra also meant a specific weight: the Roman pound was libra, and that is why we used the abbreviation "lb." in English to mean a pound (although the Roman pound had only 12 ounces, not 16).
You also haven't seen the adjective iusta before, but this is the origin of English "just, honest," and you have also seen a related noun in Latin: iustitia. The adjective is in the feminine form because it agrees with the feminine noun: libra iusta. This is the nominative subject of the verb, and iustitiam is the accusative object.
The verb servat means "preserves, promotes, serves," which you can see many English words, include "servant" and "conservation."
The idea is that for business to be conducted honestly, you need honest weights and measures, both literally and figuratively.
5. Pinta trahit pintam, trahit altera pintula pintam.
(One) pint prompts (another) pint, another little-pint (prompts another) pint.
pinta trahit pintam, trahit AL-tera PIN-tula pintam.
This is a medieval Latin proverb about drinking! The Latin noun pinta is a "pint," specifically a pint of beer. The form pintula is a diminutive form of pinta.
So, the nouns pinta and pintula are in the nominative case, subject of the verb, and pintam is the object.
While Latin has one pint dragging another along with it, trahit, we would probably say in English: "One pint leads to another," Pinta trahit pintam.
Fun fact: this is written in meter; it's dactylic hexameter, the same meter used in epic poetry. For those of you who know something about Latin poetry already, here's the meter marked:
Pinta tra~hit pin~tam, trahit ~ altera ~ pintula ~ pintam.
Here's a recap:
Persona non grata.
Transit hora, manet opera.
Spes vitam fovet.
Libra iusta iustitiam servat.
Pinta trahit pintam, trahit altera pintula pintam.
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, reviewing the imperatives from all four conjugations. (Next week, we'll shift back to working on nouns and learn about a new case: the ablative.)
Meanwhile, here are the lessons from this week, plus previous weeks, and you'll find the review slideshow before:
And here's a slideshow with all the sayings from the week... and their cats! Read them out loud while you watch. You can read them once with the English to remind you of the meaning, and then once more with a cat!
I also made a printable crossword PDF with this week's sayings as the prompts; you need to supply the accusative noun for each saying. Screenshots below.
The focus for today's lesson is something new: the imperative form for verbs from the 4th conjugation. This is the least common conjugation, which is why I have only a few examples to share with you. The imperative ending for the 4th conjugation is -i. So, you already know the verb, audit, "hears, listens." Now you can form the imperative: audi! "Listen!"
And here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
You already know all the words in this piece of advice.
This is another one of those sayings about being cautious: you should definitely keep your ears open (audi!), keep your eyes open (vide!), but keep your mouth shut (sile!). For a variation, see the saying about mouth and eyes below.
2. Audi et alteram partem.
Hear (the) other side too.
audi et AL-teram partem.
The word partem is the accusative form of the 3rd-declension noun, pars, which gives us English "part" and "party." The noun is feminine, so it takes a feminine accusative adjective, alteram.
The imperative audi is the imperative form of a verb you know already, audit.
The word et is usually a conjunction, "and," but here it is not being used to connect two things; instead, it is being used as an adverb, "also, too, in addition." This little adverb is the key to the whole saying: in addition to listening to one side of a disagreement, you must also listen to the other side.
3. Lumen accipe et imperti.
Take (the light) and pass-it-on.
lumen AC-cipe et im-PER-ti.
The word lumen is the accusative form of the 3rd-declension noun, lumen. It's a neuter noun, so the nominative and accusative forms are identical. You know it has to be the accusative object of the verb here because the subject of an imperative verb is always "you."
The imperative accipe is the imperative form of a verb you know already, accipit.
The imperative imperti means "share!" This is the origin of English "impart," and it has as its root the noun pars that you saw above.
The word et is being used as a conjunction here, connecting the two imperatives: accipe et imperti.
This saying goes back to a time when the fire in your home (in your lamps, in your fireplace, etc.) depending on getting the fire from someone else. Remember: modern matches date back to the 19th century; before that, sharing fire was an important social obligation among neighbors.
While the saying is about the light of the fire, it also applies to the "enlightenment" of learning. When you learn something from someone, you should pass that learning along to others. So, if you have learned one of these Latin sayings by heart, pass it on to someone else! Lumen imperti!
4. Rem tuam custodi.
Guard your thing.
rem tuam cus-TO-di.
The word tuam is the accusative form of the feminine adjective tua, "yours." The feminine adjective agrees with the feminine noun, rem, which is the accusative form of res.
The imperative custodi is the imperative form of a verb you know already, custodit.
The Latin word rem can mean a "thing" but also more generally can mean a "business" or "event". To get a sense of the many meaning of Latin res, take a look at the Latin dictionary entry. The idea here is that you have to guard what you've got, what you're doing; no one else is going to guard it for you. They might even try to take it away from you!
5. Claude os, aperi oculos.
Close (your) mouth, open (your) eyes.
claude os, A-peri O-culos.
The imperative claude, "close," and also gives us the English verb "close" and related nouns like "closet."
The word os is the accusative form of the 3rd-declension noun, os. This is another neuter noun, so the nominative and accusative forms are identical.
The imperative aperi, "open," is the root of the English word "aperture."
The word oculos is a form you have not seen before: this is a plural noun; specifically, it is a masculine accusative plural. You've seen the nominative form of this noun before: oculus. You'll be learning about plural nouns later on. (I included this saying because there were so few 4th-conjugation imperative sayings, so I really need this one, even though the plural noun is one you don't know yet.)
Compare this saying to the one above: Audi, vide, sile.
The focus for today's lesson is some sayings that have multiple imperative verbs: five sayings as usual, but there are thirteen verbs. All verbs, no nouns!
You're familiar with most of the verbs too; here's a little slideshow (with cats) with the verbs you know already:
And here are today's proverbs:
1. Vide et crede.
See and believe.
Vide et crede.
The imperative vide, "see!" is from the verb videt, which you know already.
The imperative crede, "believe! trust!" is the root of English "credit" and "incredible" (not-believable).
Compare the English saying, "Seeing is believing." The idea is that you might not believe something that somebody tells you, but if you see it yourself, you're going to believe it. The saying is especially associated with the Christian story of "Doubting Thomas," which you can read about at Wikipedia.
2. Sape et tace.
Be-wise and keep-quiet.
Sape et tace.
The imperative sape, "be wise!" is from the verb sapit, which you know already. The imperative tace, "keep quiet! be silent!" gives us English "tacit" and "taciturn."
There are many sayings that praise silence. Compare the English saying, "Silence is golden."
You know all the imperatives in this saying: fuge, "flee!" is from the verb fugit, late, "hide! stay concealed!" is from the verb latet, and you just saw tace in the previous saying. The saying refers to monks who retreated from the world to live a life of solitude and silence, and it got a new lease on life in the modern era by its use by Balzac in The Country Doctor: "An inscription, which in accordance with the custom of the monastery he had written above his door, impressed and touched me; all the precepts of the life that I had meant to lead were there, summed up in three Latin words--Fuge, late, tace."
The imperative rape, "grab! snatch!" gives us English "rape" (another one of those pairs where the Latin and English are spelled the same but pronounced differently) and also "rapture."
The imperative trahe, "drag! pull!" is from the verb trahit, which you know already.
You've seen the imperatives fuge and late in the sayings above.
This saying is entirely different from the pious monastic saying above; this saying describes thieves and it comes from the Roman playwright Plautus in his play Trinummus.
5. Vive recte, et gaude.
Live rightly, and rejoice.
Vive recte, et gaude.
You know both of the imperatives in this saying: vive, "live! live your life!" is from the verb vivit and gaude, "rejoice! enjoy!" is from the verb gaudet.
The adverb recte, "rightly, correctly," as in English "rectify." This is a good reminder that the word ending -e can play different roles in Latin, based on the stem. For this word, you have an adjectival stem, rect-, and when you put the -e ending on it, the result is an adverb.
That's different from the -e ending on a verbal stem, which gives you an imperative verb, as you can see in all of today's sayings.
The idea is that if you live rightly, abiding by the rules, then you can rejoice, without fear of judgment or punishment.
As I mentioned in yesterday's post, vocabulary is the single biggest challenge in learning any new language, and there are about 40 or so new words each week in the proverbs, so doing this review every week of 30 words is a way to more-or-less keep up!
So, below is this week's vocabulary review: the slides have the English translations, plus links back to the original posts if you want to review the notes... along with the cats. These are the instructions for how to use the slideshow as a quiz, and here's a link to the full-size show.
Remember: the goal is just to repeat, repeat, repeat. So, if you want to use this as a quiz, filling in the blank, that's great! Alternatively, you can just rely on the other slides to prompt you to read out loud, with and without the English prompt. Repeating out loud is the way to learn these words, and hopefully the cats will help you remember them too!
If you want to do even more reviewing, here's are the review slideshows from Week 22, Week 21, and Week 20. The more you review, the better!
The focus for today's lesson features some more imperative sayings. There are a few words that you have seen before which you can see in this slideshow (with cats), but a lot of the vocabulary today will be new words.
Vocabulary really the biggest challenge in learning a new language: there are so many words to learn! The grammar is not so hard by comparison: there is just not that much variety in the grammar, but there is so much variety in the vocabulary.
If you are curious, you've seen 800 different Latin words in the past 23 weeks. That's a lot of words, and it's hard to keep up with all of them, I know — but luckily with Latin, a lot of the words have connections to the English words you already know.
The imperative expande gives us English "expand!" or "spread!"
The word rete is the accusative form of the 3rd-declension noun rete, which means "net." It's a neuter noun; that's why the nominative and accusative forms are the same. You can see this Latin root in the English word "retina."
The metaphor is from fishing: if you want to catch some fish, you have to spread your net. There is a somewhat sinister connotation as well; this is bad news for the fish! So the idea also applies to when you are plotting against someone: spread your net, i.e. lay your trap.
The imperative linque means "leave behind! abandon!" and you can see this root in English "relinquish."
The word metum is the accusative form of metus, which means "fear." There are not English words derived from this root, but it is the origin of Spanish miedo.
The word leti is the genitive form of the noun letum, which means "death." Unlike mors, which means death in general, this word has the connotation of a violent death; letum can also mean ruin or destruction in general.
This is another one of the so-called distichs (two-liners) of Cato; you can find out more here.
The imperative vade means "go! come!" as in the famous Latin phrase vade mecum, "come with-me!" which is used in English to mean a textbook or guidebook; it is sometimes spelled as one word in English "vademecum."
You haven't seen this verb before, but you have seen the compound form: evadit.
The adverb retro means "back, backwards," just like we use it in English, "retro."
You've seen the word Satan before, and this is what is called the vocative form, which is used when you are speaking to someone. You'll learn more about the vocative form later on.
The words are from the Gospel of Mark, when Jesus rebukes Peter, a scene that is repeated in the Gospel of Matthew. The phrase later became part of the Catholic ritual of exorcism; see Wikipedia: Get Behind Me, Satan and also Wikipedia; Vade Retro, Satana.
5. Recede longius, et ride. Withdraw farther-off and laugh.
re-CE-de LON-gius, et ride.
The imperative recede means "recede! back away!" Like the example we saw before, English "recede" is spelled the same way but it is pronounced differently.
You haven't seen this verb before, but you have seen another verb formed from the same root: discede.
The adverb longius means "farther, farther away." It is the comparative form of the adverb longe, "far off," so longius is "farther off." You haven't seen the adverb before, but you have seen the adjective: longum (neuter) and longa (feminine).
This advice comes from the Roman philosopher in his treatise on anger, De Ira. The idea is to, metaphorically, "get some distance," as we would say in English, so that you can find the humor in a situation that is making you upset or angry.
The focus for today's lesson is some more imperatives, mostly from the 3rd conjugation, but you'll see a couple of those 1st-conjugation imperatives which end in -a.
So far, you've had imperatives from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd conjugations, and then later this week there will be imperatives from the 4th conjugation, and you'll be all done with the imperative forms.
To begin, here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
And here are today's proverbs:
1. Carpe noctem.
Pluck the night.
carpe noctem.
You know all the words in this saying, which is a kind of "antiproverb" (a term coined by the proverb scholar Wolfgang Mieder), playing on the saying, Carpe diem.
The word noctem is the accusative form of the noun nox.
2. Perge, sed caute.
Proceed, but cautiously.
perge, sed caute.
The imperative perge means "go forward! go! proceed!"
The adverb caute means "cautiously," and it is related to a noun you have seen already: cautela.
As you can see, the -e ending shows up in a variety of different kinds of words: there are imperatives that end in -e, and there are adverbs that end in -e, and you've also seen some nouns and adjectives that end in -e like mare and omne.
3. Divide et impera.
Divide and rule.
DI-vide et IM-pera.
The imperative divide is the same root as in English "divide!" The Latin and English words are spelled the same, but they are pronounced differently.
The imperative impera is from the verb you already know, imperat.
Compare the English saying "divide and conquer."
4. Surge et ambula.
Get-up and walk.
surge et AM-bula.
The imperative surge means "get up! arise!" and you can see the same root in English "surge." As with divide, the Latin and English words are spelled the same but pronounced differently.
The imperative ambula is from the verb ambulat which you have seen already.
These famous words come from the Latin Bible, where Jesus uses the words in a miracule cure, and the words are then used by Jesus's disciples in Acts to cure a sick man: in nomine Jesu Christi Nazareni surge, et ambula, "in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!"
5. Tolle lege, tolle lege.
Pick-up (and) read, pick-up (and) read.
tolle lege, tolle lege.
The imperative lege means "read!" You can see this Latin root in English "legible."
The imperative tolle is from the verb tollit which you have seen before.
These words come from a famous passage in Augustine's Confessions; it is a crucial moment in his conversion to Christianity. Augustine had met Bishop Ambrose of Milan and was drawn to the church, but he was tormented by doubts and uncertainty. Then one day while sitting in a garden, Augustine heard a child's voice speaking out of nowhere, saying Tolle lege, tolle lege. Augustine then picked up a copy of the Bible, opened it at random, and read a verse from Letter to the Romans. You can find out more at Wikipedia: Augustine - Conversion, and you can read this passage in his Confessions.
