Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #179: Moritur, another deponent verb

The focus for today's lesson is another very common deponent verb: moritur. This verb has only passive forms; there is no verb "morit" — only moritur, a passive verb with an active meaning in English: "dies, is dying," etc. in English. Since the topic of death is very common in proverbs, there are lots of proverbs that feature this word.

Here's a random bit of trivia: the Latin phrase memento mori means "remember (that you are going) to die," where mori is the infinitive form of moritur. Just as the verb moritur is passive, not active, the infinitive mori is a passive infinitive. You will learn more about passive infinitives later! Meanwhile, you can read more about Memento mori at Wikipedia.

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

And here are today's proverbs:

1. Rex numquam moritur.
(The) king never dies.
rex numquam MO-ritur.

You know all the words in this saying, now that you've learned the verb moritur.

The idea is that as soon as one king dies, another one is crowned. The king may die, but the kingship continues.

You can find the idea expressed in this formula also: "The king is dead! Long live the king!" In Latin, that is Rex mortuus est, vivat rex, "The king is dead; let the king live!"

2. Mala herba difficulter moritur.
Bad grass dies with-difficulty.
mala herba diffi-CUL-ter MO-ritur.

You have not seen the adverb, difficulter, "with difficulty," before, but you have seen the adjective that it comes from: difficile.

Compare the English saying, "Only the good die young."

You've seen a similar saying about "bad grass," i.e. "weeds" — Herba mala cito crescit. In English the saying is "Weeds grow apace."

3. Moritur doctus, similiter et indoctus.
The learned-man dies, as also the-unlearned.
MO-ritur doctus, si-MI-liter et in-DOC-tus.

You have not seen the masculine adjective doctus, "learned," before, but you have seen the verb that it comes from: docet. The adjective indoctus is in-doctus, "not-learned, unlearned." The adjectives are being used substantively here: doctus is "a learned (man)" and indoctus is an "unlearned (man)."

You also have not seen the adverb, similiter, "similarly, as," before, but you have seen the adjective that it comes from: simile.

The word et is being used here not as a conjunction ("and"), but instead as an adverb: "even, also, too."

This pessimistic saying comes from the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Hebrew Bible, which reiterates the futility of life and of learning with sayings like this. The King James version reads: "And how dieth the wise man? As the fool."

4. Avarus, nisi cum moritur, nil recte facit.
(The) miser does nothing right, except when he dies.
a-VA-rus, nisi cum MO-ritur, nil recte facit.

The word nisi (ni-si) sometimes means "if not" in English, but sometimes it is better translated as "except," which is the translation which fits best here.

You also know all the words in this saying. The greediness of the miser is a kind of absolute evil in Latin proverbs. So, as this proverb claims, there is nothing good about a miser while he is alive; the only good thing he can do is finally just die so that his wealth can be inherited by others.

5. Dormit aliquando ius, moritur numquam.
Justice sometimes sleeps (but) never dies.
dormit ali-QUAN-do ius, MO-ritur numquam.

And you know all the words in this saying too!

The saying plays on the superficial similarity between sleeping and death, an idea you have seen expressed in other proverbs. For example: Somnus est frater mortis.

In other words, it may seem as if justice has died, that there is no longer any justice in the world, but don't worry: justice is just sleeping, and it will wake up, sooner or later. Justice is not dead yet!

Here's a recap: