You will also see several adverbs in these sayings, and it's worth noting that there are several different ways that adverbs are formed in Latin. Sometimes adverbs are just words of their own, existing only as adverbs; some examples of that today are: semper ("always"), diu ("for a long time"), and vix ("barely, hardly"). Sometimes the accusative form of a neuter adjective is used adverbially; an example today is difficile ("with difficulty," a 3rd-declension neuter adjective). You can also see the ablative of a neuter adjective used adverbially; examples today are raro ("rarely," from rarum, a 2nd-declension neuter adjective) and cito ("quickly," from citum, another 2nd-declension neuter adjective).
To begin, here is the slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before (lots of familiar words today!):
And here are today's proverbs:
1. Non semper homo talis est, qualis dicitur.
(A) person is not always such as (he) is-said (to be).
non semper homo talis est, qualis DI-citur.
You already know all the words in this saying!
1. Non semper homo talis est, qualis dicitur.
(A) person is not always such as (he) is-said (to be).
non semper homo talis est, qualis DI-citur.
You already know all the words in this saying!
The verb dicitur is the passive form of dicit.
You've seen quite a few of these qualis...talis... sayings before; for example: Qualis pater, talis filius and Qualis avis, talis nidus.
2. Res agitur tua, paries cum proximus ardet.
Your business is-happening when (the) next-door wall is-burning.
res A-gitur tua, PA-ries cum PROX-imus ardet.
The verb agitur is the passive form of agit, and in this context it has an active (intransitive) meaning in English. Notice how the subject of the verb, res...tua, wraps around the verb.
2. Res agitur tua, paries cum proximus ardet.
Your business is-happening when (the) next-door wall is-burning.
res A-gitur tua, PA-ries cum PROX-imus ardet.
The verb agitur is the passive form of agit, and in this context it has an active (intransitive) meaning in English. Notice how the subject of the verb, res...tua, wraps around the verb.
The verb ardet, "burns, is burning" gives us English "ardent."
The noun, paries, "wall," can be seen in English "parietal." Because this is a masculine noun, it takes a masculine adjective: proximus. In this clause, the noun phrase paries...proximus wraps around the conjunction, cum.
This is literally true in the case of a building on fire (fires spread!), and the saying has taken on new meaning in a world of global warning: we are ultimately all neighbors on this planet, and no one will be safe when part of the planet is burning.
3. Frangitur ira gravis, cum fit responsio suavis.
Strong anger is-broken when there-is (a) sweet response.
FRAN-gitur ira gravis, cum fit re-SPON-sio suavis.
The verb frangitur is the passive form of frangit. The subject is ira, which is a feminine noun, so it takes a feminine adjective: gravis. You haven't seen this feminine form of the adjective before, but you have seen the neuter form: grave.
3. Frangitur ira gravis, cum fit responsio suavis.
Strong anger is-broken when there-is (a) sweet response.
FRAN-gitur ira gravis, cum fit re-SPON-sio suavis.
The verb frangitur is the passive form of frangit. The subject is ira, which is a feminine noun, so it takes a feminine adjective: gravis. You haven't seen this feminine form of the adjective before, but you have seen the neuter form: grave.
The subject of the verb fit is responsio, "response." This is also a feminine noun, so it also takes a feminine adjective: suavis, "sweet, gentle, pleasant," as in English "suave."
Notice that the saying has internal rhyme: gravis-suavis, which marks it as a medieval Latin saying, a modified version of the Biblical saying, Responsio mollis frangit iram, "A soft answer turneth away wrath," as the King James version puts it.
4. Amicus raro acquiritur, cito amittitur.
(A) friend is-acquired rarely, quickly is-lost.
a-MI-cus raro ac-QUIR-itur, cito a-MIT-titur.
The verb acquiritur, "is acquired," is the passive form of acquirit. You haven't seen this compound verb before, but you have seen the root verb: quaerit (and you'll see it again in the next saying!).
The verb amittitur, "is sent away, is parted with, lost," is the passive form of amittit. You haven't seen this compound either, but you have seen the root verb: mittit.
As noted above raro, "rarely," and cito, "quickly," are both functioning as adverbs in this sentence. You haven't seen raro before, but you have seen the adjective it comes from: rarum.
The whole meaning of the saying hinges on these contrasting two adverbs: raro, cito.
On the rarity of true friendship, remember these sayings: Amicus res rara and Amicus verus rara avis.
5. Amicus diu quaeritur, vix invenitur, difficile servatur.
(A) friend is-sought long, is-found barely, is-kept not-easily.
a-MI-cus diu QUAE-ritur, vix inve-NI-tur, dif-FI-cile ser-VA-tur.
5. Amicus diu quaeritur, vix invenitur, difficile servatur.
(A) friend is-sought long, is-found barely, is-kept not-easily.
a-MI-cus diu QUAE-ritur, vix inve-NI-tur, dif-FI-cile ser-VA-tur.
This is a long saying, but you already know all the words in this saying too!
The verb quaeritur is the passive form of quaerit, invenitur is the passive form of invenit, and servatur is the passive form of servat.
Note the different stresses of the verbs: the 3rd-conjugation passive is stressed on the stem (QUAE-ritur), while the 1st- and 4th-conjugation verbs are stressed on the theme vowel in the ending (inven-I-tur and serv-A-tur).
Like the previous saying, this one puts a special emphasis on the contrasting adverbs, three of them this time: diu, vix, difficile.
Here's a recap:
Plus the LOLCats!
Here's a recap:
- Non semper homo talis est, qualis dicitur.
- Res agitur tua, paries cum proximus ardet.
- Frangitur ira gravis, cum fit responsio suavis.
- Amicus raro acquiritur, cito amittitur.
- Amicus diu quaeritur, vix invenitur, difficile servatur.
Plus the LOLCats!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are limited to Google accounts. You can also email me at laurakgibbs@gmail.com