Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #173: Translating Latin passive verbs

The focus for today's lesson is that special way the Latin passive verbs translate to active verbs in English, depending on context. All the sayings today feature Latin passive verbs which are best translated with active English verbs. Here is the first set of English examples I shared to explain how that works, so I'll share those here again:

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.

As you can see, it's all about context: the same passive Latin verb form can be translated with an English active or passive verb based on the meaning of the sentence.

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

And here are today's proverbs:

1. Fortunae rota volvitur.
Fortune's wheel turns.
for-TU-nae rota VOL-vitur.

You know all the words in this saying!

The verb volvitur is the passive form of volvit, and is best translated with an active English verb here: "turns."

The word fortunae is the genitive form of fortuna, or Fortuna if you want to think of her as a goddess. Here she is at Wikipedia: Fortuna.

As Fortune's wheel spins, it goes up and down... just as the fortunes, and misfortunes, of life keep on coming and going.

2. Stultus ut luna mutatur.
(A) fool changes like (the) moon.
stultus ut luna mu-TA-tur.

You know all the words in this saying too!
The verb mutatur is the passive form of mutat, and is best translated with an active English verb here: "changes."

3. Tempus fugit, nec revertitur.
Time flies and-doesn't return.
tempus fugit, nec re-VER-titur.

The verb revertitur is the passive form of revertit, and is best translated with an active English verb here: "returns." From this Latin word we get English "revert" and also "reverse."

And remember the special conjunction nec which means "and not" in English. It can also be rendered as et non so that this saying could also be: Tempus fugit et non revertitur.

You saw Tempus fugit way back in Lesson 57, and this completes the idea!

4. Omne nimium vertitur in vitium.
Every excess turns into vice.
omne NI-mium VER-titur in VI-tium.

The verb vertitur is the passive form of vertit, and is best translated with an active English verb here: "turns." This is the uncompounded form of the verb revertitur from the previous saying.
The word vitium gives us English "vice." It is a neuter noun, so it has the same form in both the nominative and accusative. In this sentence, vitium is in the accusative, and the preposition in, when it takes the accusative, means "into."

You've been warned about nimium before: Omne nimium non bonum and Nemini nimium bene est.

5. Graculus graculo, pica picae sociatur.
Jackdaw joins to-jackdaw, magpie to-magpie.
GRA-culus GRA-culo, pica picae soci-A-tur.

There are two new words here, both names of birds. The word graculus is "jackdaw," which gives us "grackle." The word pica is "magpie," and apparently this is the likely origin of the use of "pica" in typography!

You see both of these nouns in the dative form here: graculo and picae. That's a good reminder that -o is the dative ending for 2nd-declension nouns, while -ae is the dative ending for 1st-declension nouns.

The verb sociatur is the passive form of sociat, and is best translated with an active English verb here: "joins, associates with." You haven't seen this verb before, but you have seen a related adjective: socius.

Compare the English saying, "Birds of a feather flock together."

Here's a recap: