Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #211: Vult plus the infinitive

The focus for today's lesson is again the verb vult, and this time all the vult sayings take a complementary infinitive: want to (verb). You will see a 1st-conjugation infinitive — potare, “to drink” — and two 2nd-conjugation infinitives — docere, “to teach” and studere, “to study” (with a long e: do-CE-re, stu-DE-re)— and a 3rd-conjugation infinitive — tangere, “to touch" (with a short e: TAN-gere).

There is also something new: a 1st-conjugation passive infinitive: imitari, which means “to imitate.” The meaning is active in English because this is one of those deponent verbs: remember those? Those are the verbs that have only passive forms. You haven’t learned the passive infinitives yet, but we’ll get to those eventually!

To get started, here is the slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:

And here are today's proverbs:

1. Inops, potentem dum vult imitari, perit.
(A) poor (person), when he wants to-imitate (a) powerful (person), perishes.
inops, po-TEN-tem dum vult imi-TA-ri, perit.

Here is that passive infinitive: imitari, and it is passive in form but active in meaning, so it takes a direct object: imitari potentem, "to imitate a powerful person," where potentem is the accusative form of the adjective potens, being used substantively as a noun. You haven't seen this adjective before, but you have seen a related noun: potentia.

The word perit, "perish," is a compound form of the verb it, "goes." Literally it means "goes all the way, goes to the end," i.e. to the end of life! This is where we get the English word "perish."

These words come from the Roman poet Phaedrus, who wrotes Aesop's fables in verse. This is from the fable of the frog who was jealous of the large size of the bull, so she puffed herself up and puffed herself up, trying to be as big as an ox... and then she exploded. Metaphorically, the frog is a poor, small person trying to imitate a big, important person, an attempt which ends in disaster.

2. Esuriens venter non vult studere libenter.
(A) hungry stomach doesn’t freely want to-study.
e-SU-riens venter non vult stu-DE-re li-BEN-ter.

The word studere, "to study," is the infinitive form of the verb studet, "studies," which is the origin of English "study," "student," etc.

That's your only new word in this saying; you know all the other words, and you've seen a similar saying about singing rather than studying: Ieiunus venter non vult cantare libenter.

Both of those sayings feature the same rhyme, venter-libenter, a sure sign that they are medieval Latin proverbs.

3. Felis amat piscem, sed non vult tangere flumen.
(The) cat loves fish, but doesn’t want to-touch (the) water.
felis amat piscem, sed non vult TAN-gere flumen.

The word tangere, "to touch," is the infinitive form of tangit, "touches," as in English "tangible."

That's your only new word in this saying; the others are all words you have seen before.

This is a famous English saying, and it even has an echo in the words of Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth, who mocks her husband with these words: "Like the poor cat i' the adage?" In other words, Macbeth would like to be king, just as the cat would like to eat some fish, but he is reluctant to commit the act of killing the king, just as the cat doesn't want to get her feet wet.

4. Bos ad aquam tractus non vult potare coactus.
(An) ox led to water doesn’t want to-drink, coerced.
bos ad aquam tractus non vult po-TA-re co-AC-tus.

The word potare, "to drink" is the infinitive of the verb potat, "drinks." This is a new word, but you have seen the related noun: potus.

The word bos is a masculine noun here, and so the adjectives are also masculine: tractus, "dragged," and coactus, "coerced." The word tractus is from the verb trahit, "drags" (think: "tractor").
The word aquam is the accusative form of aqua, used with the preposition ad, which takes the accusative case.

Compare the English saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."

The rhyme tractus-coactus is your clue that this is another medieval Latin proverb.

5. Error in orbe gravis: vult porca docere Minervam.
(A) great delusion in (the) world: when a-pig wants to-teach Minerva.
error in orbe gravis: vult porca do-CE-re Mi-NER-vam.

The word porca means "pig" as in English "pork." You've actually seen a much reduced form of this saying: Sus Minervam. Now you can see a fuller form, with the verb included: sus (=porca) vult docere Minervam. The word Minervam is in the accusative case, the object of the infinitive docere.

The first half of the saying uses the phrase in orbe, literally "in the world," in the sense of "the world over" or "all over the world." The word gravis, "heavy, serious," is new, but you've seen the comparative form already: gravior, "heavier."

Here's a recap: