Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #99: Declension 1 Review

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.

2. Transit hora, manet opera.
Time passes-away, (the) work-produced remains.
transit hora, manet O-pera.

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!

4. Libra iusta iustitiam servat.
(A) just pair-of-scales promotes justice.
libra iusta ius-TI-tiam servat.

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: