Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #212: Velle-nolle

This is the last little lesson about vult, "wants, wills," and its compounds; the focus today is the very irregular infinitive form: velle is the infinitive form of vult, and nolle is the infinitive form of non vult. Each of today's sayings will have either velle or nolle. (The infinitive form of mavult, "prefers," is malle, but I don't have a proverb to use for that one.)

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

And here are today's proverbs:

1. Aliud est velle, aliud posse.
(It) is one-thing to-want, another-thing to-be-able.
A-liud est velle, A-liud posse.

You know all the words in this saying already! The word velle is the infinitive of vult, while posse is the infinitive of potest.

As you've also seen before, Latin uses a repeated pair of words where English uses a coordinated pair, as here: aliud... aliud... "the other... the other..." means the same thing as "one thing... another thing."

Compare the mocking motto that you saw earlier: Volo, non valeo.

2. Sapientia est vera: nolle nimis sapere.
(This) is true wisdom: to-not-want to-know too-much.
sapi-EN-tia est vera: nolle nimis SA-pere.

The word nolle here is the infinitive of non vult, and it takes an infinitive complement here: sapere is the infinitive form of sapio. (Note the soundplay between the word sapientia and sapere, which are both about knowledge and wisdom.)

The infinitive sapere is modified by an adverb: nimis sapere, to know too much.

You've seen other Latin sayings with warnings about the dangers of excess, but this is your first proverb about the danger of excessive wisdom!

3. Stultum est vicinum velle ulcisci incendio.
To-want revenge on-a-neighbor with-arson is foolish.
stultum est vi-CI-num velle ul-CIS-ci in-CEN-dio.

The infinitive velle, "to want," takes a complementary infinitive, ulcisci, "to take revenge, exact punishment." This doesn't look like the infinitives that you have seen before because it is a passive form of the infinitive (remember imitari earlier this week? that was also a passive infinitive form).

The infinitive ulcisci takes an accusative object, vicinum, the accusative form of the adjective vicinus, "nearby, neighbor," which is used substantively to mean "neighbor."

The word incendio is the ablative form of the noun incendium.

The word stultum is a neuter adjective, "foolish." You haven't seen this neuter form before, but you have seen the masculine form of this adjective: stultus.

This is another one of the sayings collected by the Roman writer Publilius Syrus, so it is in iambic meter:

Stultum est ~ vici~num || vel~le ulcis~ci incen~dio.

4. Nocere posse et nolle laus amplissima est.
To-be-able to-injure and to-not-want-to is the greatest praise.
no-CE-re posse et nolle laus am-PLIS-sima est.

The word posse is the infinitive form of potest, "can, is able," and it takes a complementary infinitive: nocere, the infinitive of the verb nocet.

The word nolle also takes a complementary infinitive, but it is implied, not stated directly: nolle (nocere), "to-not-want (to-harm)."

The word laus, "praise," is new, but you have seen the related verb: laudat. The adjective amplissima, "greatest, most magnificent," is new to you, but you have a related verb: ampliat, "increases, magnifies."

This is another one of the sayings of Publilius Syrus! Here it is with the iambic meter marked:

Noce~re pos~se et nol~le || laus ~ amplis~sima est.

5. Non pudor est non scire; pudor, nil discere velle.
Not to-know is no shame; shame is to-want to-learn nothing.
non pudor est non scire; pudor, nil DIS-cere velle.

The noun pudor, "shame," is new to you, but it shares a root with the Latin word that we use in English too: "pudenda."

You know all the other words in this saying already!

The word scire is the infinitive of the verb scit.
The infinitive velle takes a complementary infinitive: discere, the infinitive of the verb discit, which has an object: nil. Put it all together: "to want to learn nothing," velle discere nil.

Here's a recap: