Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #160: Passives with prepositions

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:

amat ~ amātur. "is loved" — pronounced: a-MA-tur
movet ~ movētur. "is moved" — pronounced: mo-VE-tur
audit ~ audītur. "is heard" — pronounced: au-DI-tur

But not the 3rd conjugation:

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 is the 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-.

Here's a recap: