Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #108: Reviewing 2nd-declension genitive

The focus for today's lesson is reviewing the genitive ending of the 2nd declension: you have the nominatives in -us (male) and -um (neuter), the accusative ending is -um, and the genitive ending is -i. All of today's sayings will feature a 2nd-declension noun or adjective in the genitive case... and then later this week it will be time for the ablative ending!

And here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before: you've seen most of the words for today!

So, here are today's proverbs:

1. Christi crux est mea lux.
Christ's cross is my light.
Christi crux est mea lux.

The word Christi is the genitive form of the masculine noun Christus, "Christ." The "ch" in the spelling is a clue that this is a borrowing from Greek' chi is a letter in the Greek alphabet. You can read more about the etymology at Wikipedia: Christ.
The 3rd-declension noun crux is sometimes used as a word in English, "crux," and it is also the origin of "cross."

This is a medieval Christian proverb featuring rhyme, crux-lux.

2. Omnis creatura Dei bona.
Every creature of-God (is) good.
omnis crea-TU-ra Dei bona.

The word Dei is the genitive form of the masculine noun Deus, which you have seen before.

The 1st-declension noun creatura gives us English "creature."

The words are from the 1st Letter of Timothy in the New Testament.

3. Paulum lucri quantum damni.
(A) little of-profit, so-much of-loss.
paulum lucri quantum damni.

The word damni is the genitive form of the neuter noun damnum, "loss, injury," and it is also the origin of the English word "damage."

The saying applies to a situation where, in exchange for a trivial amount of gain someone endures a terrible loss.

Notice the parallel construction: paulum + genitive, quantum + genitive. You saw a similar construction in this saying: Paulum fellis disperdit multum mellis, but with multum instead of quantum.

4. Lingua mali pars pessima servi.
(The) tongue (is the) worst part of-(a)-bad servant.
lingua mali pars PES-sima servi.

The word servi is the genitive form of the masculine noun servus, "slave" or "servant" (depending on cultural context), a root you can see in English "servant" and "servitude."

The word mali is the genitive form of the masculine adjective malus, agreeing with servi.

Notice how the genitive noun phrase mali servi, "of the bad servant," wraps around the other noun phrase, pars pessima.

The feminine adjective pessima, "worst," is the root of English "pessimist." This feminine 1st-declension adjective agrees with the 3rd-declension feminine noun pars.

The words come from the Roman satirical poet Juvenal; you can find out more about Juvenal at Wikipedia.

5. Optimum cibi condimentum fames.
Hunger (is) food's best sauce.
OP-timum cibi condi-MEN-tum fames.

The word cibi is the genitive form of the masculine noun cibus, "food, meal." You can seen this root in the medical term "cibophobia."

You've seen a saying similar to this one already: Optimum condimentum fames, and also: Fames optimus est coquus. We have sayings like this in English too: "Hunger is the best sauce" and "Hunger is the best spice."

Here's a recap: