Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #129: 2nd Conjugation Infinitives

You learned the -are (-āre) infinitives for the 1st conjugation earlier this week, and now it's time for the infinitives of the 2nd conjugation. No surprise: the ending is -ere. That's a long e, -ēre, so the stress is going to be on the theme vowel, making it easy to recognize, just like with the -are 1st-conjugation endings.

Here are the 2nd-conjugation verbs you will see in today's sayings:

nocet. "harms" ~ nocere. "to harm"
manet. "stays" ~ manere. "to stay"
habet. "has" ~ habere. "to have"
tacet. "is silent" ~ tacere. "to be silent"

And here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:

So, here are today's proverbs:

1. Domi manere tutum.
(It's) safe to-stay at-home.
domi ma-NE-re tutum.

The word domi is a special form of the noun domus, which means "at home."

The word manere, "to stay," is from the verb manet, which you have seen before.

You haven't seen the neuter adjective tutum before, but you have seen the masculine form, tutus, and the feminine form, tuta.

The neuter adjective is the predicate of the sentence and the infinitive phrase domi manere, is the subject.
The idea is that there are all kinds of risks in the world at large; the safe move is not to move at all: just stay home. Compare the saying that you've seen about the turtle safe inside its shell: Testudo intra tegumentum tuta; the shell is where the turtle is safe.

2. Primum: non nocere.
First: not to-harm.
primum: non no-CE-re.

The word nocere, "to harm," is from the verb nocet, which you have seen before.
The word primum is being used as an adverb here: "firstly." You can see this Latin root in many English words like "primary" and "primal."

This famous phrase has its own Wikipedia article: Primum non nocere. The Latin saying echoes the Greek words of the ancient Hippocratic Oath.

3. Res est magna tacere.
To-be-silent is (a) great thing.
res est magna ta-CE-re.

The word tacere, "to be silent," is from the verb tacet, which you have seen before.

The infinitive tacere is the subject of the verb, and the noun phrase res magna is the predicate. Notice how the predicate noun phrase wraps around the verb: res est magna.

The phrase comes from an epigram by the classical Roman poet Martial.

4. Vicinum habere malum magnum est malum.
To-have (a) bad neighbor is (a) great evil.
vi-CI-num ha-BE-re malum magnum est malum.

The word habere, "to have," is from the verb habet, which you have seen before.
The word vicinum is the accusative form of the masculine adjective vicinum, "neighboring." When used as a noun, as here, it means "neighbor." You can see this root in English "vicinity." It's in the accusative because it is the object of the infinitive.

You have two different forms of malum in this saying: the first malum is masculine accusative, agreeing with vicinum, while the second malum is neuter nominative used as a noun: "(something) bad, evil."

Notice how the accusative phrase wraps around the infinitive, vicinum habere malum, while the nominative phrase wraps around the verb, magnum est malum.

5. Nil melius vere quam cum ratione tacere.
Truly, nothing (is) better than to-keep-silent with (a) reason.
nil ME-lius vere quam cum rati-O-ne ta-CE-re.

Here's the infinitive tacere again.

You haven't seen the neuter form melius before, but you have seen the masculine form: melior. This is a comparative form, and quam is used to express the term of comparison: melius quam, better than.
You haven't seen the adverb vere before, but you have seen the neuter form of the related adjective: verum.

The word ratione is the ablative form of ratio, a noun you have seen before.

This saying praises silence, much like the saying from Martial above: Res est magna tacere. The difference is that this is a medieval rhyming proverb: vere-tacere.

Here's a recap: