Literally, "At morning, daimoku; at night, nenbutsu."
The meaning depends upon the contrast between these two different Buddhist prayer practices: the daimoku is associated with Nichiren Buddhism and the chant "Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō," while the nenbutsu is the homage to the Amitabha Buddha associated with Jodoshu (Pure Land) Buddhism and also with Zen. I have seen quite a few references in haiku to the nenbutsu, and I knew about the diamoku from... Tina Turner.
But this saying is really satirical, not devotional: it applies to someone who is playing "both sides" as it were, without any particular loyalty or steadfast principles of any kind!
The focus for today's lesson is more infinitives: each of the sayings has 2 infinitives, so that gives you 10 infinitives to look today.
As you encounter each infinitive, see if you can tell which conjugation it belongs to: -are is 1st conjugation, -ire is 4th conjugation, but -ere can be 2nd conjugation or 3rd conjugation. When in doubt, guess that it is 3rd conjugation: the 3rd conjugation is much more common than the 2nd conjugation.
One good way to learn the conjugation is by saying the words out loud whenever you read Latin: reading out loud will help you remember the conjugation because the 2nd conjugation is stressed on the ending (habēre = hab-E-re) while the 3rd conjugation is stressed on the stem (dicere = DIC-ere).
You can also recognize the conjugation by knowing the 3rd-person form of a verb: a 2nd-conjugation verb has -et as the ending, habet, but the 3rd-conjugation verb has -it as the ending, dicit.
To get started with today's sayings, here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
And here are today's proverbs:
1. Veritatem reticere aurum est sepelire. To-keep-silent (the) truth is to-bury gold.
veri-TA-tem reti-CE-re aurum est sepe-LI-re.
The word reticere is the infinitive form of reticet, "to keep silent," which is where we get English "reticent." You have not seen this verb before, but you have seen the root form: tacet.
The word sepelire is the infinitive form of sepelit, "buries, inters." You can see this root in English "sepulchre."
The word veritatem is the accusative form of veritas, and it is the object of reticere.
The word aurum is the accusative form of aurum (neuter nominative and accusative is always the same), and it is the object of sepelire.
There are many Proverbs in praise of silence, but this proverb offers a different point of view: if you know the truth, you must speak it aloud; truth has no value if it remains a buried treasure.
2. Dedecus est semper sumere, nilque dare. (It) is (a) disgrace always to-take and-nothing to-give.
DE-decus est semper SU-mere, nilque dare.
The word sumere is the infinitive form of sumit, "takes." You can see this root in many English compounds: "assume," "presume," etc.
The word dare is the infinitive form of dat.
You haven't seen the word dedecus, "disgrace, dishonor" before, but you have seen the root word: decus.
This is the first time you have seen the Latin enclitic -que, which means "and." An enclitic is a word that attaches to the end of another word: nilque = nil-que. So nilque has the same meaning as et nil.
The word nil is the accusative form of nil (another neuter noun), and it is the object of dare.
This is the second part of a rhyming medieval couplet: "Either return in kind of stop demanding everything; it is a disgrace to always take and to give nothing," Vel tu redde vices, vel desine cuncta rogare / Dedecus est semper sumere, nilque dare.
3. Maius est illuminare quam solum lucere. (It) is greater to-illuminate than only to-shine.
maius est illumi-NA-re quam solum lu-CE-re.
The word illuminare is the infinitive form of illuminat, which gives us English "illuminate." You haven't seen this word before, but you have seen the noun form, illumination, and you have also seen the root word: lumen.
The word lucere is the infinitive form of lucet, "shines." You can see this Latin word in English "translucent." You have also seen this same root in lucerna. You haven't seen the neuter adjective maius before, but you have seen the masculine and feminine form, maior. The adjective is neuter because it agrees with the infinitive illuminare.
The neuter adjective solum is being used here as an adverb: "only." Neuter adjectives are often used as adverbs in Latin.
4. Discere non est vitiosum, sed ignorare. To-learn is not flawed, but to-be-ignorant.
DIS-cere non est viti-O-sum, sed igno-RA-re.
The word discere is the infinitive form of discit.
The word ignorare is the infinitive form of ignorat, "ignores, does not know." You haven't seen this verb before, but you have seen the related noun: ignorantia.
The neuter adjective vitiosum, "flawed, failed," is the origin of English "vicious." It is a neuter adjectives because it agrees with the infinitives discere and ignorare.
Compare a similar saying you saw earlier: Scientia non habet inimicum nisi ignorantiam.
5. Scire et sapere viaticum in vita optimum. To-know and to-be-wise is (the) best provision in life.
scire et SA-pere vi-A-ticum in vita OP-timum.
The word scire is the infinitive form of scit, and the word sapere is the infinitive form of sapit, both of which you have seen before.
The neuter noun viaticum means "provisions" in the sense of provisions that you take on a journey; that is the via- part of the word: provisions for the via, "road." This word is actually the origin of English "voyage" (via Anglo-Norman viage).
The neuter adjective optimum agrees with viaticum.
The word vita (vitā) is the ablative form of vita with the preposition in.
The idea is that life is a journey, and while you definitely need food and water, clothing and shelter, you need knowledge and wisdom even more!
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