Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #207: Fert and fertur

The focus for today's lesson is more practice with fero and for today the contrast is between the active form fert, "carries, bears, ports," and the passive form fertur, "is carried, is borne, is ported." The form fert is irregular, but the form fertur is formed just like you would expect: the ending is -tur.

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

And here are today's proverbs:

1. Tempus ipsum affert consilium.
Time itself brings a plan.
tempus ipsum affert con-SI-lium.

The verb affert is a compound: ad+fert, "carries to, brings."

The word tempus is a neuter noun, and ipsum is a neuter adjective, "itself," agreeing with tempus. You haven't seen this neuter form before, but you have seen the masculine form: ipse, "himself."
The idea is that you should just be patient, and with the passage of time you will figure out a solution to your problems, come up with a plan, etc. Don't be in a rush; let time do its work.

2. Granum frumenti mortuum multum affert fructum.
A dead grain of wheat brings much produce.
granum fru-MEN-ti MOR-tuum multum affert fructum.

The word granum is a neuter noun, so it takes a neuter adjective: mortuum. You haven't seen the neuter form of this adjective before, but you have seen the masculine form: mortuus.

The word frumenti is the genitive form of the noun frumentum, "grain," with the rest of the noun phrase, granum mortuum, wrapped around it.
The word fructum is the accusative form of the noun fructus, so it is the object of the verb. The word multum is the accusative form of the adjective multus, agreeing with fructum.

This proverb is about how appearances can be deceiving, and in a good way: a grain of wheat might look dead, but it will bring produce after all!

This saying is an adaptation of a parable of Jesus in the Gospel of John.

3. Differt, non aufert, mortem longissima vita.
The longest life postpones death; it does not make it go away.
differt, non aufert, mortem lon-GIS-sima vita.

The verb aufert is a compound: ab+fert, "carries away, takes away, removes."

You haven't seen longissima, "the longest," before, but you have seen the base form: longa, "long."

The word mortem is the accusative form of mors, so it is the object of the verb, while longissima vita is the subject.

This is the first line of an epigram by the neo-Latin Welsh poet John Owen.

4. Occasio aegre offertur, facile amittitur.
Opportunity is-offered with-difficulty (and) easiliy is-lost.
oc-CA-sio aegre of-FER-tur, FA-cile a-MIT-titur.

The verb offertur is the passive form of offert, a compound verb: ob-fert, "brings to, offers." So, in the passive: "is offered."

The verb amittitur is the passive form of amittit, a compound verb: a-mittit, "sends away, loses." So, in the passive: "is lost."

So, you have two opposite verbs, and you also have two opposite adverbs: facile, "easily," and aegre, "with difficulty." You haven't seen this word before, but you have seen a related word: aegrotus.

This one comes from the sayings of Publilius Syrus, one of the oldest collections of Roman proverbs. Like so many of his proverbs, it is a line of iambic verse: Occasi' aegr' offertur, fac'l' amittitur.

5. Esuriens stomachus fertur coquus optimus esse.
(A) hungry stomach is reported to the best cook.
e-SU-riens STO-machus fertur coquus OP-timus esse.

To understand this use of fertur, think about the meaning "is ported," and then just add a prefix to the English verb: "is reported," i.e. "is said."
The word stomachus is new, but of course you can guess what it means: stomach! The Romans borrowed this word from Greek, as you can tell by the -ch- which is a letter of its own, the letter chi, χ. In Greek, stomach is stomachos, στόμαχος.

Stomach is the subject of the verb, fertur, and it takes a complementary infinitive: esse, "to be," the infinitive of the verb est.

The phrase optimus coquus is then the predicate: the hungry stomach, esuriens stomachus, is reported to be, fertur esse, the best cook, optimus coquus.

Compare the English saying, "Hunger is the best sauce."

Here's a recap: