Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #205: Fero / Fert

The focus for today's lesson is a new 1st-person verb, fero, "I carry, I bear" which is an irregular verb; the 3rd-person form is fert, "carries, bears." So you'll see both fero and fert in today's sayings. This is one of the most common verbs in Latin and, just like in English, it is often the most common verbs that are the most irregular!

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

And here are today's proverbs:

1. Ego pretium ob stultitiam fero.
I suffer (the) price for stupidity.
ego PRE-tium ob stul-TI-tiam fero.

The word fero here means something like "suffer" in the sense of having to put up with something, having to endure it. And yes, the English word "suffer" comes from Latin fero!

The word pretium, "price," is a neuter noun, so this is both the nominative and the accusative form; in this sentence, it is accusative, the object of the verb fero.

The word stultitiam is also in the accusative case, with the preposition ob, one of the prepositions that takes the accusative case.

The word ego is not needed with the verb fero, because the verb all by itself means "I suffer," but the word ego is here for emphasis.

This saying comes from a play by the Roman author Terence; the play is The Woman from Andros.

2. Iniquissimam pacem iustissimo bello antefero.
I-prefer the-most-unjust peace to-the-most-just war.
ini-QUIS-simam pacem iu-STIS-simo bello an-TE-fero.

Here you have a compound of fero: the word antefero means "I prefer," literally "I bear before, I bear in front of." And yes, the English word "prefer" also comes from fero.

The word pacem is the accusative form of pax, and it is the object of the verb. Because pax is a feminine noun, it takes a feminine adjective, also in the accusative case, iniquissimam, "the most unjust." This is a superlative form of a word you have seen before in the masculine form: iniquus.

The word bello is the dative form of bellum, which is how you express the comparison: antefero pacem bello, "I prefer peace to war." The point of the proverb is that even the most unjust peace is better than the most just, iustissimum, war. You haven't seen the adjective iustum, "just," or "iustissimum," "most just," but you have seen the related noun before: iustitia.

3. Bovem in lingua fert.
(Someone) carries (an) ox on (his) tongue.
bovem in lingua fert.

You already know all the words in this saying.

The word bovem is the accusative form of bos, and it is the object of the verb, fert: "carries an ox."

The word lingua (linguā) is the ablative form of lingua, with the preposition in, which means "on" or "in" when it takes the ablative case.

So, what does it mean to carry an ox on your tongue? It means that you have been bribed to stay silent. That's because there were coins in the ancient world that were stamped with the image of an ox. So, the ox in this saying is not an actual animal; instead, it is money! Here's one of those coins:

4. Echinus partum differt.
(The) hedgehog puts-off giving-birth.
e-CHI-nus partum differt.

The word differt is a compound: dis-fert, which means to "bears away, puts away, puts off." And yes, this is the source of English "differ," "different," etc.

The word partum is the accusative form of partum, which means "birth, giving birth, childbirth." You can see this word in the phrase post-partum which is used in English. You haven't seen this noun before, but you have seen the verb that it comes from: parit.

The subject of the verb is echinus, "hedgehog."

The idea is that the prickly hedgehog experiences pain when she gives birth to the prickly baby hedgehogs, so she puts it off! But this just makes things worse: the longer she puts off giving birth, the more prickly the baby hedgehogs will be. She needs to just give birth to those babies and call it done... just like you might have some unpleasant task you keep putting off, and it just gets worse the longer you wait. Don't be like the hedgehog: get it done now!

5. Culicem elephanti confert.
(Someone) compares a-flea to-an-elephant.
CU-licem ele-PHAN-ti confert.

This is another compound: con-fert means "bears together, brings together, compares." The English words "confer" and "conference" come from confert.

The word culicem is the accusative form of culex, making it the object of the verb.

The word elephanti is the dative form of elephans. You haven't seen this spelling of "elephant" before, but you have seen another spelling: elephas. The word is borrowed from Greek (as you call tell from the "ph"), so it ended up being spelled in various ways in Latin.
Obviously a gnat and an elephant cannot be compared; it's like the proverbial "mountain and the molehill" in English.

Here's a recap: