Latin Lesson #180: Labitur, another deponent

The focus for today's lesson is another deponent verb (passive verb forms only; no active forms): labitur. It has a wide range of meaning — glide, slide, move, slip, float, pass, flow — depending on context. You'll see a range of translations even just in today's sayings, all of which feature this verb. 

Some English words from this Latin root are "labile" and "lapse," plus its compounds: collapse, elapse, relapse, etc.

And here is the slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before; you know almost all of the words in today's sayings already!

And here are today's proverbs:

1. Ut amnis vita labitur.
Life slips-by like (a) river.
ut amnis vita LA-bitur.

You know all the words in this saying! The meaning of labitur has to do with the way water moves in a river: it flows by, slips by, etc. As does life! 

The word amnis can also be translated as "brook," and that's how this became a motto of the Brook family.


2. Cito pede labitur aetas.
Time glides-by (with a) swift foot.
cito pede LA-bitur aetas.

The word aetas can mean "time" but it can also mean "life" in the sense of "lifetime." 

In this saying, instead of slipping by like a river, now time is gliding by on a quick foot, cito pede. The word cito is the ablative form of the masculine adjective citus, agreeing with pede, the ablative form of pes. 

The words come from a poem, The Art of Love, by the Roman poet Ovid.


3. Nummus ubi praedicat, labitur iustitia.
Where money talks, justice falls.
nummus ubi PRAE-dicat, LA-bitur ius-TI-tia.

In this saying, labitur has the meaning of "fall, fall down," as in English "collapse." 

The verb praedicat, "talk," is the origin of English "preach." It also gives us English "predicate."
These words come from a poem by the 12th-century poet, Walter Map. Sad to say, all these centuries later, the words are still very true and very relevant.


4. Labitur e mente cito res bona, sed mala lente.
(A) good thing slips from (the) mind quickly, but (a) bad (thing) slowly.
LA-bitur e mente cito res bona, sed mala lente.

This is a long saying, but you already know all the words here too!

The word mente is the ablative form of mens, used with the preposition e (ex).

Notice that the word cito here is not an adjective; instead, it is an adverb. Neuter adjectives often function as adverbs in Latin. The saying depends on the contrast between the two adverbs: cito and lente.

Notice also that this is a rhyming proverb: mente ... lente. That indicates its medieval origins!


5. Cras, cras, cras, cras: sic omnis dilabitur aetas.
Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow: thus (an) entire lifetime passes-away.
cras, cras, cras, cras: sic omnis di-LA-bitur aetas.

This time you have a compound form: dilabitur, which is dis-labitur, "fall apart, pass away, dissolve, scatter," where the prefix dis- gives that sense of coming apart, separating.

This is another rhyming proverb from the Middle Ages: cras ... aetas.

You've seen a similar saying about cras (procrastination!) before, with much the same meaning: Per multum cras, cras, semper consumitur aetas.


Here's a recap:

1. Ut amnis vita labitur.
2. Cito pede labitur aetas.
3. Nummus ubi praedicat, labitur iustitia.
4. Labitur e mente cito res bona, sed mala lente.
5. Cras, cras, cras, cras: sic omnis dilabitur aetas.

And here is today's audio:



Plus the LOLCats!

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