Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #113: Prepositions with the accusative

For the past week you've looked at prepositions that take the ablative, but remember: some prepositions take the accusative case. Here are the prepositions with the accusative that you saw a couple weeks ago with the 1st declension; I've underlined the prepositions, and bolded the prepositional phrase.

Asinus ad lyram.
Ardua ad gloriam via.
Vade ad formicam, o piger!
Ut piscis extra aquam.
Nihil novum super terram.

So today you will see some prepositions that take the accusative but with 2nd declension nouns and adjectives. The 2nd-declension accusative ending is -um.

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

So, here are today's proverbs:

1. Otium post negotium.
Leisure after business.
O-tium post ne-GO-tium.

The word negotium is the accusative of the neuter noun negotium (nominative and accusative the same as always for neuter nouns). The word is a compound: nec-otium, "not-leisure," i.e. "business."

The preposition post, "after," takes the accusative. You've seen this in Latin phrases like post partum, "after birth."

The idea is that you need to get business done first, but then you can have fun. Compare the English saying, "Business before pleasure." The Latin word play with otium-negotium makes the Latin version of this saying more fun though!

2. Leonis exuvium super asinum.
(A) lion's skin on (a) donkey.
le-O-nis ex-U-vium super A-sinum.

The word asinum is the accusative of the masculine noun asinus which you have seen before.

You've also seen the preposition super before.

The noun exuvium, "skin," is new. Specifically, it means a snake's sloughed off skin, but here it is used to refer to a skin stripped from a lion.

The saying refers to the Aesop's fable about the donkey in the lion skin: at first people thought he was a lion, so he was able to graze where he wanted and do as he pleased, but when they figured out he was really a donkey, they pulled the skin off him and beat him for his bad behavior. It's a saying for people pretending to be something they are not!

3. Serum auxilium post proelium.
Help after (the) battle (is) late.
serum aux-I-lium post PROE-lium.

The word proelium is the accusative of the neuter noun proelium (nominative and accusative the same as always for neuter nouns), and you've seen this noun before.

The neuter noun auxilium is new, and it means "help, aid, assistance." You can see this root in English "auxiliary." It is in the nominative case, the subject of the sentence.

The adjective serum agrees with auxilium: nominative neuter singular. You haven't seen this form of the word before, but you've seen the adverbial form, sero, "late" (the ablative form of a word sometimes does double-duty as an adverb).

The idea is that if you are going to help someone, you should help them when they are in trouble, not waiting until after the trouble is over.

4. Testudo intra tegumentum tuta.
(The) turtle (is) safe inside (her) shell.
tes-TU-do intra tegu-MEN-tum tuta.

The word tegumentum is the accusative of the neuter noun tegumentum (nominative and accusative the same as always for neuter nouns). The noun means a "covering," or specifically a "shell" when you're talking about turtles. You can see this root in the English word "integument."

The preposition intra means "within, inside, on the inside." You can find this in many English compounds like "intravenous" and "intramural."

Part of the charm of this saying is the sound-play: listen to all those t-sounds! Seven 7 t-sounds in just 4 words!

5. Vir prudens non contra ventum mingit.
(A) wise man doesn't piss against (the) wind.
vir prudens non contra ventum mingit.

The word ventum is the accusative of the masculine noun ventus which you have seen before.

The preposition contra, "against," shows up in lots of English compounds like "contradiction" and "contraception."

The adjective prudens gives us English "prudent" (the stem of the adjective is prudent-). This Latin word is a contraction of pro-videns, "before-seeing," i.e. "seeing things in advance, anticipating what is to come." That's the original meaning of "prudent."

The verb mingit means "urinates, pisses." You can see this Latin root in the English medical term "micturate."

So, the idea is that the prudent man can see in advance what will happen if he pisses into the wind. And it will not be good... so he doesn't do it. :-)

Here's a recap: