Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #231: More 4th-declension -us nouns

The focus for today's lesson is more practice with the -us nouns from the 4th declension. Most of them are masculine nouns, but there's another one here that is feminine, acus, "needle." You can add that to the other feminine 4th-declension nouns you've seen already: domus, "house," manus, "hand," and quercus, "oak."

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

And here are today's proverbs:

1. Abusus non tollit usum.
Abuse doesn't cancel use.
a-BU-non tollit usum.

There are two fourth declension nouns here: usus, "use," and also abusus, "abuse, misuse." The word usum is the accusative form of usus, the object of the verb, and abusus is the subject.

The idea here is that even if something can be abused, that doesn't mean it cannot be useful too!

2. Sapientia est filia usus et memoriae.
Wisdom is (the) daughter of-experience and or-memory.
sapi-EN-tia est FI-lia usus et me-MO-riae.

You already know all the words in this saying!

The word usus (ūsūs) is the genitive form of the word usus (ūsus). The fact that the nominative and genitive forms of these nouns look the same is one of the tricky things about the 4th declension.

You get a clue that usus is genitive because the word memoriae is the genitive form of memoria.

Because sapientia is a feminine noun, that is why it is the filia, daughter, of experience and memory.

Notice that usus has a wide range of translations into English. As often, because Latin has a much smaller vocabulary than English, a single Latin word often covers a wide range of meanings in English, and you have to select the best English meaning based on the context.

3. Ferreus assiduo consumitur anulus usu.
(An) iron ring is-worn-away by-regular use.
FER-reus as-SI-duo con-SU-mitur A-nulus usu.

The word anulus, "(little) ring," is a diminutive of the word anus, "ring," and yes, this is the source of the English word "anus."

The adjective ferrus agrees with anulus; you haven't seen this adjective before, but you have seen the noun that it comes from: ferrum, "iron."

The word usu is the ablative form of the noun usus, which is used with the passive verb: consumitur usu, "worn away with use."

The adjective assiduo is also in the ablative case, agreeing with usu. You haven't seen this masculine adjective before, but you have seen the feminine form: assidua.

This saying comes from a poem by the Roman poet Ovid, Ars Amatoria, which explains the very intricate word order with the subject noun phrase, ferreus...anulus, being interwoven with the ablative phrase, assiduo usu, both phrases being wrapped around the verb!

4. Canis revertitur ad vomitum.
(A) dog returns to (its) vomit.
canis re-VER-titur ad VO-mitum.

The word vomitus is a 4th-declension noun, and vomitum is the accusative form, with the preposition ad. And yes, this is the source of the English word "vomit."

The verb revertitur, "returns," is one of those verbs with a passive form that is active in meaning in English. Specifically, it is the intransitive form of the verb: the dog "returns" (i.e. goes back).

Truth be told, cats do this too! But the Bible doesn't have sayings about cats; the Egyptians were the people who kept cats, and the practice of keeping cats eventually spread throughout the Mediterranean, but that took time.

This is a saying from the Biblical book of Proverbs; the full verse goes like this: Sicut canis qui revertitur ad vomitum suum, sic imprudens qui iterat stultitiam suam, "As the dog who returns to its vomit, so the is the reckless man who repeats his foolishness."

5. Facilius est camelum per foramen acus intrare.
(It) is easier (for a) camel to go-through the hole of-a-needle.
fa-CI-lius est ca-ME-lum per fo-RA-men acus in-TRA-re.

This is another famous verse from the Bible; it appears in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, and it even appears in the Koran. You can find out more at Wikipedia.

The word intrare is from the verb intrat, "enters."

The word acus (acūs) is the genitive form of the noun acus, a feminine 4th-declension noun.

The word foramen, "hole," is a neuter noun in the accusative case with the preposition per. You can see this Latin root in the English word "perforate."

Here's a recap: