Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs: Latin Lesson #247: Sunt: "(they) are"

Now that you've gotten familiar with plural nouns — 1st, 2nd, and 3rd declensions! — now it's time for some plural verbs. We'll start with the plural form of est... sunt! So, now, you have a plural verb to go with the plural nouns that you already now.

And here is the slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before — which is all the words today except for one.

And here are today's plural proverbs with verbs:

1. Hic sunt leones.
Here (there) are lions.
hic sunt le-O-nes.

You know all these words already.

The word leones is the plural of leo, with that 3rd-declension ending -es (masculine) on the stem leon-.

The word hic is that special locative adverb meaning "here, in this place."

This is a phrase associated with medieval mapmaking: the phrase hic sunt leones can refer to literal lions or to some kind of endemic danger. Another similar phrase: hic sunt dracones, "here there are dragons." For examples, see Wikipedia.

2. Amantes amentes sunt.
Lovers are out-of-their-minds.
a-MAN-tes a-MEN-tes sunt.,

You know all these words too!

The word amantes is the plural of amans, and the word amentes is the plural of amens. Both adjectives are 3rd-declension, with that -es ending.

The word amans is a participle from the verb amat, so it literally means "loving," but when it is used substantively as a noun, it is equivalent to "lover" in English.

The word amens is not really a participle; instead, it is a kind of joking word play: a-mens, "without-mind," i.e. "out of one's mind." The whole point is the how amans sounds like amens, making it basically impossible to really translate into English.

3. Antiqua sunt optima.
Old (things) are (the) best (things).
an-TI-qua sunt OP-tima.

The new word here is the neuter adjective antiquum, which gives us English "antique." You can see the 2nd-declension neuter ending, -a. The root of the word is ante, "before," so "antique" things are the things that came before us in time. You can also see Latin ante in English "ancient."

The word optima is the plural of optimum, agreeing with antiqua.

Roman culture was inherently conservative, strongly favoring antiqua, "the old things," with a great suspicion regarding things that are new, nova.

4. Dei plena sunt omnia.
All (things) are full of-God.
dei plena sunt OM-nia.

You know these words, and you saw a variation on this saying last week: Iovis omnia plena.

The word omnia is the plural of omne (the focus of yesterday's lesson), and the adjective plena is also plural, agreeing with omnia. Notice that the neuter nouns of the 3rd-declension, like the 2nd-declension nouns. (I don't want to bore everybody with historical linguistics, but neuter nouns and adjectives are just *different* from the masculine and feminine nouns, often with unusual distinguishing features, and not just in Latin, but across the Indo-European languages.)

The word deus is the genitive of dei, equivalent to the genitive Iovis that you saw in the previous saying. The word plena takes a genitive complement, as in English: full of (something)."

5. Omnia mea mecum sunt.
All my (things) are with-me.
OM-nia mea mecum sunt.

And these words are all familiar too! You see omnia again, and the word mea is the plural of meum, agreeing with omnia.

The word mecum is a special kind of compound: me-cum, "me-with," equivalent to cum me, "with me." You can actually see this Latin phrase in "vademecum" in English, which comes from Latin: vade mecum, "come with me."

This phrase is associated with a famous story about the Greek poet Simonides. When he was shipwrecked and seemed to have lost everything, he had no worries because, as he said: omnia mea mecum sunt. In other words, he had his life, his good sense, his abilities; he did not lose any of those things in the shipwreck and would be able to carry on with his life going forward. The Roman poet Phaedrus tells the story of Simonides' shipwreck in one of his fables.

Here's a recap: