You'll find all kinds of items in this vocabulary review, but an emphasis is on the dative forms. Using the slideshow, you can check yourself by looking at the cat slide that follows the slide with the blank(s). Especially as we advance farther with the lessons, there is more and more repeated vocabulary, which means it is more and more important to keep reviewing past vocabulary.
And don't forget: on the slides with the English translation, the English is linked to the original blog post if you want some help in understanding the grammar of the saying.
Here is a link to the full-size show, and the show is embedded in the blog post below.
If you want to do even more reviewing (you cannot review too much!), here are the vocabulary review slideshows from previous weeks.
And... here's a random cat (with a new cat when you reload the page):
The focus for today's lesson is more practice with Latin passive verbs, and this time the proverbs contain prepositional phrases, so it is a good review of the ablative case too.
Remember: most Latin prepositions take the ablative case, but there are a few prepositions that take the accusative case instead. You'll see one of those accusative prepositions, ad, below. The preposition ad takes the accusative, but the prepositions a, ex, and sine, all of which you will see in today's sayings, take the ablative case.
I also need to say something about passive verbs and word stress! When you add the -tur ending to the verb stem, that means the verb theme vowel is in the next-to-last position (penultimate position), the critical position for determining the word stress. When that next-to-last position is occupied by a long vowel, that syllable is stressed, but when it is occupied by a short vowel, it is not stressed and the next-to-next-last syllable (antepenultimate) is stressed.
So, for passive verbs that belong to the 1st, 2nd, and 4th conjugations, the next-to-last syllable is stressed:
dicit ~ dicitur. "is said" — pronounced: DI-citur.
And here is the slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before; you have seen almost all of the words in today's proverbs before!
Now here are today's proverbs:
1. A digito cognoscitur leo. (A) lion is-recognized by (its) claw.
a DI-gito cog-NOS-citur leo.
You know all the words in this saying!
The verb cognoscitur is the passive form of cognoscit, meaning "is known, is recognized."
The word digito is the ablative form of the noun digitus, which normally means "finger" or "toe," but in this saying, it has the sense of "claw."
2. Ex arte cognoscitur artifex.
From (the) art (the) artist is-recognized. ex arte cog-NOS-citur artifex.
You know all the words in this saying except for one: the noun artifex, "artist, craftsman," which gives us English words like "artifice" and "artificial."
The verb tenetur is the passive form of tenet, meaning "is known, is recognized." The subject is artifex. The word arte isthe ablative form of the noun ars, used here with the preposition ex.
3. Ad impossibile nemo tenetur. Nobody is-held to (the) impossible.
ad impos-SI-bile nemo te-NE-tur.
You already know all the words in this saying too!
The verb tenetur is the passive form of tenet, meaning "is known, is recognized." The subject is nemo.
The word impossibile is the accusative form of the neuter adjective impossibile (remember: neuter nouns and adjectives have the same nominative and accusative forms); the preposition ad is one of those prepositions that take the accusative case.
4. Aliud ex alio malum gignitur. One bad (thing) is-produced from another.
A-liud ex A-lio malum GIG-nitur.
The adjective aliud, "other," is neuter, agreeing with malum, "bad (thing)." You haven't seen this form of the adjective before, but you've seen the masculine form alius. The verb gignitur is the passive form of gignit, meaning "is produced, is born." The subject is aliud alum.
The word alio is the ablative form of the adjective aliud, used here with the preposition ex.
In Latin, the aliud...alio construction is the equivalent of the "one...another" construction in English.
5. Nemo athleta sine sudore coronatur. No athlete is-crowned without sweat.
nemo ath-LE-ta sine su-DO-re coro-NA-tur.
The noun athleta gives us English "athlete," and it is originally a Greek word that was adopted by the Romans. As often with Greek nouns in Latin, this masculine noun belongs to the first declension; it is a masculine noun, but it ends in -a.
The word nemo can stand by itself meaning "no one," but when it is combined with another noun, it just means "no" as it does here: nemo athleta, "no athlete." The verb coronatur is the passive form of coronat, meaning "is crowned," which includes the crown of victory awarded to winners in a race or other athletic competition. The subject is nemo athleta.
The word sudore is the ablative form of the noun sudor, "sweat," used here with the preposition sine. The words sudor and "sweat" both come from the same Indo-European root, which is *sweyd-.
And English: "Hearing a hundred times is not as good as seeing once."
This is like the English saying, "Seeing is believing," and it's also a bit like "A picture is worth a thousand words," although that's more about pictures and written words, rather than seeing the thing itself versus hearing with your ears about it. I would relate this in my practice not so much to the contrast between hearing and seeing but instead to the contrast between reading-about and experiencing. I am definitely one of those people who spends more time reading about Buddhism rather than practicing. I'm book-addicted, and writing these blog posts I suppose is proof of that. Ha!
Looking for an image, I found this at a blog for French-speaking learners of Japanese, with French parallels that are like the English parallels I cited here! From haiku, I'm used to "mi" as the pronunciation of this kanji 見, so it was good to learn "ken" today.
With this lesson, we start on one of my very favorite topics in Latin: passive verb forms. It's easy to create the passive form of the 3rd-person present active verbs you have learned: you just add -ur.
amat ~ loves || amatur ~ is loved
movet ~ moves || movetur ~ is moved
frangit ~ breaks || frangitur ~ is broken
Pretty easy, right? So that's the difference between a Latin active verb and a Latin passive verb.
But here's where things get exciting! The Latin passive verb can also be equivalent to an English intransitive verb. Before I show you how that works in Latin, make sure you understand how the English intransitive verbs work; the English verbs are kind of weird when you think about it, but as a native speaker of English you might never have thought about it:
transitive: The wind moves the windmill. intransitive: The windmill moves. passive: The windmill is moved by the wind.
transitive: Romeo's death breaks Juliet's heart. intransitive: Juliet's heart breaks. passive: Juliet's heart is broken by Romeo's death.
Here's how that would work in Latin: the English transitive verb is a Latin active verb, and the English passive verb is a Latin passive verb... but the English intransitive verb is also a Latin passive!
movet: The wind moves the windmill. movetur: The windmill moves. movetur: The windmill is moved by the wind.
frangit: Romeo's death breaks Juliet's heart. frangitur: Juliet's heart breaks. frangitur: Juliet's heart is broken by Romeo's death.
I'll have lots more to say about Latin passive verbs in the coming weeks, but I wanted you to start thinking about this from your very first Latin passive verb lesson: you will usually translate a Latin passive verb with an English passive verb, but sometimes you might translate it with an English active (intransitive) verb.
To get ready for today's sayings, here is the slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
So, here are today's proverbs:
1. Honoratur arbor ob umbram. (A) tree is-honored because-of (its) shade.
hono-RA-tur arbor ob umbram.
The subject of this sentence is arbor, "tree," as in "Arbor Day" in English.
The word honoratur is the passive form of the verb honorat, "honors." You haven't seen this verb before, but you have seen the Latin noun honor.
The word ob is a preposition meaning "about, because of," and it takes the accusative case: umbram is the accusative form of umbra.
In this sentence, the Latin passive verb honoratur is equivalent to an English passive verb, "is honored."
2. Senex bos non lugetur. (The) old ox is-not mourned.
senex bos non lu-GE-tur.
The subject of this sentence is bos, a masculine noun which takes a masculine adjective, senex.
The word lugetur is the passive form of the verb luget, "mourns, grieves." You can see this same root in the English word "lugubrious."
In this sentence, the Latin passive verb lugetur is equivalent to an English passive verb, "is mourned."
The ox is a proverbial hard worker, but when the ox gets old, he is no longer able to work, and so his passing is not mourned.
3. Nihil discitur repente. Nothing is-learned suddenly.
nihil DIS-citur re-PEN-te.
The subject of this sentence is nihil.
The word discitur is the passive form of the verb discit.
The word repente is an adverb, "suddenly, immediately, at once." In this sentence, the Latin passive verb discitur is equivalent to an English passive verb, "is learned."
This is a good saying to remember as a language-learner: all learning takes time... especially learning a new language!
4. Vas malum non frangitur. (A) bad pot doesn't shatter.
vas malum non FRAN-gitur.
The subject of this sentence is vas, "pot, container," which you can see in the English word "vascular."
Because vas is a neuter noun, it takes a neuter adjective: malum.
The word frangitur is the passive form of the verb frangit.
In this sentence, the Latin passive verb frangitur is equivalent to an English active (intransitive) verb, "shatters."
The idea here is that the good pot is the one that shatters; the bad pot, perversely, doesn't shatter. Compare the English saying, "Only the good die young."
5. Funis triplex non rumpitur. (A) triple rope doesn't break.
funis triplex non RUM-pitur.
The subject of this sentence is funis, "rope, cord," a masculine noun. You can see this root in the English word "funicular."
The masculine adjective triplex, "three-fold," agrees with funis. You can see this root in the English word "triplicate."
The word rumpitur is the passive form of the verb rumpit.
In this sentence, the Latin passive verb rumpitur is equivalent to an English active (intransitive) verb, "breaks."
As you can imagine, the symbolism of "three" made this a popular saying in Christian Latin culture, with its doctrine of the Trinity.
And English: "Covering your head, but not covering your butt."
This is like the ostrich with its head in the sand: if you cover up your head but leave your butt sticking out, that's not good; you are not protected that way. I suppose I could relate this saying to the general foolishness of the human condition: we worry about so many material things, while neglecting the path. And the satirical sense of having your butt sticking out has a nice Zen bite to it I suppose! The head as illusion; the butt as reality.
I wasn't sure what image I could use for this, but when I googled the saying in Japanese, lots of images came up: this must be a popular saying in Japan! And there are other people, like me, who obsess about cat images ha ha. Here's one I found as an illustration for this proverb... the page has lots of cute pictures, but I liked this one best:
And English: "Even a dog, if it goes walking, can run into a pole."
The idea is that there are hazards everywhere: even a dog just going for a walk can run into a pole. Life is full of unexpected events! I was on the receiving end of some unexpected events this week, so I could definitely relate to this saying. Life is suffering; there are poles everywhere! But dogs still love to go for walks, wagging their tails. I will try to wag the tail of my spirit today, even though I might run into a pole!
Below is this week's catch-up post to help you review any lesson(s) you missed over the past two weeks of lessons and/or to work on whatever kind of practice is most useful to you. These are the lessons covered in today's review:
And this is the slideshow with all the sayings from the week. You can read out loud, first with the English to remind you of the vocabulary... and then read out loud again with the cat!
I also made a printable crossword PDF as usual; screenshots below. The answers are all dative nouns and adjectives!
The focus for today's lesson is practice with mixed datives again, this time with the masculine and neuter datives that have -o for their ending, plus the words with -i endings in the dative.
Remember those special mixed words that have -a, -us/um in the nominative, like they belonged to the 1st-2nd declension, but -i in the dative, as if they belonged to the 3rd declension...? You will have another example in one of today's sayings: the word unus/unum, which means "one," takes -i for a dative ending: uni. You'll see that form in today's first saying about the mouse and the mouse-hole.
And here is the slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before; you have seen all the words in today's sayings except for two.
So, here are today's proverbs:
1. Mus non uni fidit antro.
(A) mouse doesn't trust to-one-hole.
mus non uni fidit antro.
The word uni is the dative form of the neuter adjective unum, agreeing with antro, the dative form of the neuter noun antrum, "cave." Or, in the sentence, "hole," as in the word "mouse-hole."
The verb fidit, which you have seen before, takes a dative complement: uni fidit antro.
Compare the English saying about "putting all your eggs in one basket." The idea is that the mouse needs to have multiple mouse-holes if he wants to get away from any and all predators.
2. Homini hora, aeternitas Deo.
(An) hour for-a-person, an eternity for-God.
HO-mini hora, ae-TER-nitas Deo.
The word homini is the dative form of homo, and Deo is the dative form of Deus.
The idea is that a human being has but a limited lifespan, as if it were but a single hour compared to God's eternity.
You could also treat this as a dative of possession, translating it as: "A person has an hour; God has eternity."
Notice that this is a perfect example of chiasmus, the criss-cross word order that adds a bit of poetry to the Latin: dative-nominative || nominative-dative. (More about chiasmus.)
3. Asinus asino et sus sui pulcher.
(A) donkey is beautiful to-a-donkey, and pig to-a-pig.
A-sinus A-sino et sus sui pulcher.
The word asino is the dative form of asinus, and sui is the dative form of sus.
You've seen each of these two ideas separately, Asinus asino pulcher and Sus sui pulcher, and now you see them combined, making it doubly insulting, given that neither donkeys nor pigs are usually regarded as beautiful... except to one another.
4. Noli barbam vellere mortuo leoni.
Don't pluck the dead lion's beard.
noli barbam VEL-lere MOR-tuo le-O-ni.
The word leoni is the dative form of the masculine noun leo, and mortuo is the dative form of the masculine adjective mortuus, agreeing with leo.
The word vellere is the infinitive form of vellit, "plucks." You can see this Latin root in English "vellication" and it is also the root of compounds like "revulsion" and "convulsion."
The word barbam is the accusative form of the noun barbam, the object of vellere.
This is one of those datives used to indicate possession: instead of saying "beard of the lion," Latin says "beard to-the-lion," barbam leoni.
The word noli is used with infinitives to create negative commands: Noli vellere, "Don't pluck..."
The usual meaning of the proverb is that even when a mighty person has fallen on hard times, you should not take advantage of him, but the saying is also found in an epigram by the Roman poet Martial, where he invokes the proverb for obscene purposes.
5. Ars varia vulpi, ars una echino maxima.
Many a-trick for-the-fox, one trick, a-big-one, for-the-hedgehog.
ars VA-ria vulpi, ars una e-CHI-no MAX-ima.
You've seen part of this saying before: Ars varia vulpi, which is another example of the dative of possession, as you can translate this as "The fox has many a trick."
The word echino is the dative form of echinus, "hedgehog."
You can read more about this famous saying at Wikipedia: The Hedgehog and the Fox. In Aesop's fables, the cat takes the place of the hedgehog, contrasting the fox's many tricks with the cat's one trick; the cat's one trick is to climb a tree, as the hedgehog's one trick is to roll up into a ball. Here is the fable: The Fox and the Cat.
You have now learned several different dative endings: the endings may be different, but the dative meaning is still the same. In today's sayings, you will see some -ae dative endings and some -i endings. The idea is to get used to seeing these different dative endings while understanding that the dative meaning they convey is still the same.
To begin, here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
So, here are today's proverbs:
1. Civi et rei publicae. For-the-citizen and for-the-public-thing.
civi et rei PU-blicae.
The word civi is the dative form of the noun civis, meaning "citizen." You can see this Latin root in English "civic."
The word rei is the dative form of the noun res. You've seen this word before, "thing," and here it is used as part of a phrase: res publica, "public thing," which is where we get the word "republic" in English.
The word publicae is the dative form of the adjective publica, which is feminine, agreeing with rei, which is a feminine noun in the dative.
This is the motto of the school where I used to teach, the University of Oklahoma. You can see it in OU seal, where reipublicae is spelled as one word (as in English "republic").
2. Satis est parum naturae, aviditati nihil.
A-little is enough for-nature; nothing (is enough) for-greed.
satis est parum na-TU-rae, avidi-TA-ti nihil.
The word naturae is the dative form of the noun natura.
The word aviditati is the dative from of the noun aviditas, "greed," as in English "avidity." You haven't seen this word before, but you have seen two related adjectives before: avidus and avarus.
This saying combines two ideas that you have seen before in praise of nature and against greed; here are some examples: Dux vivendi natura est and Avarus semper est pauper.
3. Exiguum exiguae nidum decet esse volucri.
(It is) proper (that) the-nest be little for-a-little-bird.
ex-I-guum ex-I-guae nidum decet esse VO-lucri.
The word volucri is the dative form of the noun volucris, which is another word for "bird" in Latin (you've already seen the more usual word, avis). It is a feminine noun, so the adjective that agrees with it is also feminine: exigua volucris is the nominative phrase, and exiguae volucri is the dative phrase.
Do you remember the verb decet? You have seen this verb before, meaning "it is fitting" or "it is proper." You then combine that with an accusative and an infinitive, nidum (the accusative form of nidus) and esse (the infinitive form of est): Exiguum nidum decet esse, "It is proper that the nest be small" (exiguum is the accusative form of the adjective, agreeing with nidum). Then you get the dative: for whom is it fitting that the next be small? For a small bird, exiguae volucri.
With the freedom Latin word order, the word exiguum and exiguae can sit right next to each other at the start of the sentence, even though they play verb different roles in the sentence.
The idea is that small birds need small nests, while (by implication) only big birds need big nests: small birds do not need big nests. Metaphorically, the saying can refer to any sort of mismatch of big and small.
Compare this much simpler version of the same idea: Parva avis, parvus nidus.
4. Aquae non currenti et homini tacenti credere noli.
Don't trust in-water-not-running and in-a-silent-person.
aquae non cur-REN-ti et HO-mini ta-CEN-ti CRE-dere noli.
The word aquae is the dative form of aquae, and the word currenti is the dative form of the participle currens, "running." This is the origin of the English word "current." You haven't seen this word before, but you have seen the verb that it comes from: currit.
The word homini is the dative form of homo, and the word tacenti is the dative form of the participle tacens, "silent, keeping quiet." This is also a new word, but you have seen the verb that it comes from also: tacet.
Do you remember the word noli? It is used with an infinitive to create a negative command: noli credere, "don't trust, don't believe." The verb credere takes a dative complement.
The idea is that when water is not moving, you don't know what is happening down under the water: you don't know how deep the water is, and there could be swift currents that you do not see on the surface. Compare the English saying, "Still waters run deep." The idea, then, is that a silent person is dangerous in the same way: you don't know what they are thinking, and whether those thoughts might pose a danger.
5. Formicae grata est formica, cicada cicadae, accipiter placet accipitri.
Ant is dear to-ant, cricket to-cricket, hawk is pleasing to-hawk.
for-MI-cae grata est for-MI-ca, ci-CA-da ci-CA-dae, ac-CI-piter placet ac-CI-pitri.
In this saying, you get to see the nominative and dative forms of the three different animals: formicae is the dative form of formica, and cicadae is the dative form of cicada, both of which you have seen before, while accipitri is the dative form of accipiter, which means "hawk." The verb placet means "is pleasing to," which is why it takes a dative complement: accipiter placet accipitri, "hawk is pleasing to hawk," or more simply in English, "hawk pleases hawk." You could also translate as "one hawk pleases another," because Latin likes to repeat the nouns in phrases like this, while English likes to use the pronouns, "one...another."
You've actually seen the first part of this saying before, Formicae grata est formica, cicada cicadae, and now you have another creature added to the mix. Compare the English saying, "Birds of a feather flock together."
Here's a recap:
Civi et rei publicae.
Satis est parum naturae, aviditati nihil.
Exiguum exiguae nidum decet esse volucri.
Aquae non currenti et homini tacenti credere noli.
Formicae grata est formica, cicada cicadae, accipiter placet accipitri.
Like last time, this vocabulary review includes all kinds of noun and verb forms, and you can check yourself by looking at the cat slide that follows. Have you noticed that more and more of the vocabulary in the sayings consists of words you have seen before? That's why it is good to keep reviewing the old vocabulary: the old words are going to come back around again, sooner or later!
And don't forget: on the slides with the English translation, the English is linked to the original blog post if you want some help in understanding the grammar of the saying.
Here is a link to the full-size show, and the show is embedded in the blog post below.
If you want to do even more reviewing (you cannot review too much!), here are the vocabulary review slideshows from previous weeks.
It's another dative lesson today, with two important things to review:
Mixed declensions. Remember that there are some words, like nullus - nullum - nulla, which look like a typical 1st-2nd declension word in the nominative, but which take -i in the dative, just like a 3rd-declension word. You'll see dative nulli in two of today's sayings.
Dative of possession. Another distinctive feature of the Latin dative is that it is used for possession, especially of things that are abstractions, or family members, or body parts. After all, it's a bit weird how in English we say that "I have two arms" as if "arms" are something you can acquire or give away like other possessions. So in one of today's sayings, you'll see the dative used for a body part: the the os, "mouth," of the vulpes, "fox" — intra os vulpi dormienti, "into the mouth of the sleeping fox." You've already seen another mouth-proverb like this one, but with a horse in the dative: Equo donato noli respicere in os, "Don't look into the mouth of a horse who is given to you."
And here is today's slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before: you know almost all of today's words already!
And now here are today's proverbs:
1. Cineri medicina. Medicine for-the-ashes.
CI-neri medi-CI-na.
The word cineri is the dative form of the noun cinis. Literally, it means "ashes," but here it metaphorically refers to a dead person: someone who has died and been cremated into ashes.
The idea is that medicine is not going to do a dead person any good; You need to administer to the living, not to the dead!
Compare the English saying, "Closing the barn door after the horse has bolted."
2. Vita morti propior cotidie. Life (gets) closer to-death every-day.
vita morti PRO-pior co-TI-die.
The word morti is the dative form of the noun mors. It is being used here with the adjective propior, "closer" just like "closer to" in English: morti propior, "closer to death." The adjective propior is feminine, agreeing with vita.
The word cotidie, "every day, daily," is new to you, but you have seen the root noun: dies, "day."
Notice how the flexible Latin word order puts the words for life and death right next to each other, which is the point of the saying, death is right next to life: vita morti.
There is a phrase for this type of saying: memento mori, "remember (that you are going to) die." You can read more about this wisdom tradition at Wikipedia: Memento Mori.
3. Omnis avarus nulli est carus. Every miser is dear to-nobody.
omnis a-VA-rus nulli est carus.
The word nulli is the dative form of the adjective nullus, which is being used here substantively as a noun, "nobody."
The word carus is a masculine adjective agreeing with avarus. You haven't seen this masculine form before, but you have seen the neuter form: carum.
Notice that the proverb rhymes: avarus - carus. That is a sure sign that it is a medieval saying! Medieval Latin uses lots of rhymes; classical Latin uses hardly any rhymes at all.
Both medieval and classical Latin are very flexible in how negation works; just like free word order, negation can happen anywhere in a sentence. In English, we are usually not that flexible. For this saying, you could shift the negation to make it more like English: "No miser is dear to anybody."
4. Nulli est homini perpetuum bonum. (A) good-thing is everlasting for-no-person.
nulli est HO-mini per-PE-tuum bonum.
The word nulli is the dative form of the adjective nullus, which is being used here as an adjective, agreeing with homini, the dative form of homo.
In this proverb too the negation occurs in a different position than we would use in English, where we would be more likely to say: "No good thing lasts forever for anyone."
5. Dormienti vulpi cadit intra os nihil. Nothing falls into the-mouth for-the-fox (who is) sleeping.
dormi-EN-ti vulpi cadit intra os nihil.
The word dormienti is the dative form of the participle dormiens, "sleeping," from the verb dormit, which you have seen before. It agrees with vulpi, the dative form of the noun vulpes.
The verb cadit means "falls," as in the English word "cadence" and in the compound "decadent."
The idea is that a fox needs to go out and hunt; they can't just lie there asleep and expect a chicken or rabbit to fall into their mouth. So too with human beings: you have to go out and work to get food; it's not just going to fall into your mouth while you sleep.
The focus for today's lesson is more practice with the nouns and adjectives that have -i for their dative ending. Most of them are 3rd-declension nouns and adjective, but you will also have one of those mixed words: nullus looks like a 1st/2nd declension adjective in the nominative, but it has -i for the dative ending: nulli.
Here are the dative words you will see in today's sayings:
nullus (stem: null-): nulli
amans (stem: amant-): amanti
avis (stem: av-): avi
homo (stem: homin-): homini
nemo (stem: nemin-): nemini
Have you noticed how the words homo and nemo resemble each other? That's because the word nemo is a contraction: ne-homo, no-person, much like English "no-body." Many Romans did not pronounce the letter h, so the word homo was pronounced "omo." You can see then how that would result in a contraction — ne-omo = nemo — because the vowels run together, not being separated by a consonant.
And now here is a slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before; all the words except for one in today's sayings are words you already know!
These are today's proverbs:
1. Nulli secundus. Second to-none.
nulli se-CUN-dus.
The word nulli is the dative form of nullus, and the phrase works just like in English: "second to none."
2. Nihil amanti durum. Nothing (is) hard for-a-lover.
nihil a-MAN-ti durum.
The word amanti is the dative form of amans.
The adjective durum is neuter, agreeing with nihil.
You could also say Nihil amanti impossibile, "Nothing is impossible for someone in love."
3. Nemini nimium bene est. Excess is good for-nobody.
NE-mini NI-mium bene est.
The word nemini is the dative form of nemo.
The words nimium and bene are both adverbs, so you could also translate this into English as: "Doing something excessively (nimium) is not doing well (bene) for anyone."
You have seen other sayings about the dangers of things done to excess: Omne nimium non bonum and Omne nimium nocet.
4. Omni avi suus nidus pulcher. To-every bird its-own nest (is) pretty.
omni avi suus nidus pulcher.
The word avi is the dative form of avis, and the adjective omnis is also in the dative: omni.
This is a variation on the idea of "to each his own" (suum cuique is how you say that in Latin). Just as each bird thinks its own nest is beautiful, so too do human beings love their own home.
Compare a saying you saw earlier about another bird, noctua, the owl: Noctuae pullus suus pulcherrimus.
5. Homo homini aut deus aut lupus.
(One) person (is) either (a) god or (a) wolf to-(another)-person.
homo HO-mini aut deus aut lupus.
The word homini is the dative form of homo.
Notice how Latin uses the same word to create the parallelism, aut... aut..., while English uses a pair of different words: either... or...
This is similar to the way that homo... homini... here means "one person... another person..."
This proverb, which you can find in Erasmus, is a merger of two proverbs. You've seen one of those proverbs already: Homo homini lupus. The other saying is Homo homini deus. Put them together, and you've got two very different perspectives on human relations: one person might treat another person cruelly, like a wolf, or they might benefit that other person, like a benevolent god.
Below is this week's catch-up post to help you review any lesson(s) you missed over the past two weeks of lessons and/or to work on whatever kind of practice is most useful to you. These are the lessons covered in today's review:
And this is the slideshow with all the sayings from the week. You can read out loud, first with the English to remind you of the vocabulary... and then read out loud again with the cat!
The focus for today's lesson is more practice with dative nouns and adjectives that take the -i ending. You will see some 3rd-declension nouns here which you have seen before, like vulpes (dative: vulpi) and nemo (dative: nemini).
But two of the words today might surprise you: solus and nullus. These adjectives have mixed forms! Sometimes they look like they belong to the 1st and 2nd declension, as in these nominative forms: sola, solus, solum, and nulla, nullus, nullum. But sometimes they look like the 3rd declension: the dative form of solus is soli, and the dative form of nullus is nulli. You will see both of those forms in today's sayings. (There are other adjectives that have this mixed pattern, and we will be learning more about them later when we start working on Latin pronouns, which also have mixed patterns.)
To get ready for today's sayings, here is the vocabulary slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
And here are today's proverbs:
1. Soli deo gloria.
Glory to-God alone.
soli deo GLO-ria.
The word deo is the dative form of deus, and the word soli is the dative form of the masculine adjective solus, agreeing with masculine deo. This famous saying has its own article at Wikipedia: Soli Deo Gloria.
2. Ars varia vulpi.
A-fox (has) various trick(s).
ars VA-ria vulpi.
The word vulpi is the dative form of vulpes, and the dative form here has the sense of possession, so I have included "has" in the translation. Literally the saying reads: "Various trickery (is) to-the-fox."
The dative of possession is often used for intangible things, like ars, which can mean "art, skill," but which can also mean "scheme, trick, trickery," as it does here. The fox is a proverbially tricky animal!
The feminine adjective varia agrees with the feminine noun ars. You have not seen this form of the adjective before, but you have seen the masculine form: varius.
This saying is part of a larger saying contrasting the fox and the hedgehog: Ars varia vulpi, ars una echino maxima, "The fox has various tricks; the hedgehog has but one, but it is a very big one." You can read more about this famous saying at Wikipedia: The Hedgehog and the Fox. In Aesop's fables, the cat takes the place of the hedgehog, contrasting the fox's many tricks with the cat's one trick; the cat's one trick is to climb a tree, as the hedgehog's one trick is to roll up into a ball. Here is the fable: The Fox and the Cat.
3. Mors nemini parcit.
Death shows-mercy to-nobody.
mors NE-mini parcit.
The word nemini is the dative form of nemo. The verb parcit means "spares, shows mercy," and it takes a dative complement: parcit nemini. You can see this Latin root in the English word "parsimonious."
This is yet another saying about the universality of death, an idea you have seen in other sayings already, such as Aequa mors est and Mors servat legem: tollit cum paupere regem.
4. Nulli malum pro malo.
(Repay) to-nobody evil for evil.
nulli malum pro malo.
The word nulli is the dative form of nullus, and the dative is being used here with an implied verb of giving, giving back, repaying, etc., so I have included "repay" in the translation. The force of the dative case is so great that it can carry that dative meaning even without a verb!
The word malum is the accusative form of the neuter adjective malum which is being used here substantively as a noun: "evil (thing)." It is the object of the implied verb of giving.
The word malo is the ablative form of the neuter malum with the preposition pro.
This saying is adapted from the New Testament Letter to the Romans.
Compare the English saying, "Two wrongs don't make a right."
5. Nil agenti dies longus est.
The-day is long for-(someone)-doing nothing.
nil a-GEN-ti dies longus est.
The word agenti is the dative form of agens, "doing, driving." You have not seen agens before, but you have seen the infinitive form, agere, of the verb agit, "does, drives."
The word nil is the accusative object of agenti. Participles are like nouns in that they have case (so agenti is dative case) while they are like verbs too, able to take a direct object.
The word longus is a masculine adjective agreeing with dies. You have not seen the masculine form of this adjective before, but you have seen the neuter form, longum.
You can find this saying in the writings of the Roman philosopher Seneca.
