Today is a catch-up day to review any lesson(s) you missed this past week and/or to work on whatever kind of practice is most useful to you. Here are the lessons from this week, plus previous weeks... and of course there's a random cat below. :-)
From another project I'm working on (riddles!), I learned how to make crossword puzzles this week, so I have a crossword puzzle with all this week's sayings! Here's a link to a printable crossword PDF. Screenshots below. I hope you will have fun with this way of reviewing the week's work!
This is the end of third-declension genitive week! Next week, you'll start reviewing all the things you've learned about the three different declensions.
To get ready for today's sayings, here are the sayings you've seen earlier this week; I've underlined and colored the genitive phrase in each saying to help you see the patterns:
Genitive-Noun:
Damoclis gladius.
Matris imagofilia est.
Virtutis iter arduum.
Voluptatis soror est tristitia.
Noun-Genitive:
Signum pacis amor.
Speculum mentis est facies.
Somnus est frater mortis.
Mors est latro hominis.
Luna oculus noctis.
Militia est vita hominis.
Ratio est radius divini luminis.
Wrapped Genitive:
Tota hominis vita unus est dies.
Split Phrases:
Pacis Amor deus est.
Veri amoris nullus est finis.
Aestatis hirundo est nuntia.
As you look at today's proverbs, you will see a variety of different word patterns. Most of the genitives are third-declension, but there are genitives from the other declensions too:
1. Sicut fremitus leonis, et regis ira.
As (the) the lion's roar, (so) too the king's anger.
sicut FRE-mitus le-O-nis, et regis ira
The word sicut, "so as, just as," is a compound: sic-ut. You've seen the ut, "as," part of the compound before: Est rota fortunae variabilis, ut rota lunae.
The noun fremitus, "roar, roaring," is from the verb fremere, "to roar, growl."
The genitive leonis is from leo, which you know from this saying: Non leo sed mus.
The word et is usually a conjunction, "and," but here it is being used as an adverb: "also, even."
The genitive regis is from rex, a noun you've seen before; for example: Novus rex, nova lex.
You've seen the noun ira before: Maximum remedium irae mora est.
Notice the criss-cross word order here, which is known as chiasmus:
noun-genitive || genitive-noun = fremitus leonis || regis ira
2. Dies imago vitae; nox mortis est.
(The) day (is the) image of-life; night is (the image) of-death.
dies i-MA-go vitae; nox mortis est
You've seen the noun dies before: Nullus dies omnino malus.
You've also seen imago here: Vultus imago animi.
The first-declension genitive vitae is from vita, a noun you've seen before; for example: Senectus vitae hiems est.
You know nox from this saying: Nunc nox, mox lux.
The genitive mortis is from mors, which you've also seen before: Somnus est frater mortis.
The contrast between the light of the day and the darkness of the night sets up a comparison to life versus death.
3. Pulchra est harmonia cordis et oris.
(The) harmony of-heart and of-mouth is beautiful.
pulchra est har-MO-nia cordis et oris
The feminine adjective pulchra, "lovely, beautiful" gives us English "pulchritude."
The adjective is feminine because it agrees with the feminine noun harmonia, which gives us English "harmony."
The genitive cordis is from cor, "heart, mind," which you can see in English "cordial."
The genitive oris is from os, which you've seen in this saying: Bursa avari os est diaboli.
The metaphor of harmony here suggests that you can hear honesty, and that honesty will sound beautiful, unlike the ugly sound of lies and hypocrisy.
4. Crimen nullum vini est, sed culpa bibentis.
No fault is (the) wine's, but (the) blame (is the) drinker's.
crimen nullum vini est, sed culpa bi-BEN-tis
The neuter noun crimen, "fault, crime," gives us English "crime."
The neuter adjective nullum is one you've seen before: Nullum malum impunitum.
The second-declension genitive vini is from vinum, which you've seen before: Vinum animi speculum.
You've also seen the conjunction sed before: Non leo sed mus.
You've seen the noun culpa too: Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
The genitive bibentis is from bibens, "(someone) drinking, a drinker," a participle from the verb bibere, "to drink."
Compare the English saying: "Guns don't kill; people do" (a pro-gun NRA slogan). The Latin saying is in defense of wine, not guns: it's not the fault of the wine if someone gets drunk; the drinker is the one who should be blamed.
5. Principium dulce est, sed finis amoris amarus.
(The) beginning (of love) is sweet, but (the) end of-love (is) bitter.
prin-CI-pium dulce est, sed finis a-MO-ris a-MA-rus
The neuter noun principium, "beginning," is related to the Latin word primus, "first." You can see this root in English words like "primary" and "prince."
The neuter adjective dulce agrees with the neuter principium. You've seen dulce before: Dulce otium.
The masculine noun finis is a word you've also seen before: Finis miseriae mors est.
The genitive amoris is from amor, which you've seen before: Veri amoris nullus est finis.
The masculine adjective amarus agrees with the masculine finis.
The power of this proverb relies on the sound play between amoris and amarus, contrasting the dulce principium of love with its amarus finis.
The focus for today's lesson is more third-declension genitives, and what I wanted to show you today is how you can sometimes guess the stem of a third-declension noun based on the English words that are derived from these Latin words.
pax .... pacis .... pac- ..... pacify
nox .... noctis .... noct- ..... nocturnal
mens .... mentis .... ment- ..... mental
mors .... mortis .... mort- ..... mortify
amor .... amoris .... amor- ..... amorous
mater .... matris .... matr- ..... matrilineal
homo .... hominis .... .homin- ..... hominid
lumen .... luminis .... lumin- ..... luminous
And here are today's proverbs:
1. Aestatis hirundo est nuntia. (The) swallow is (the) messenger of-summer.
aes-TA-tis hi-RUN-do est NUN-tia
The genitive aestatis is from aestas, "summer." The root of the Latin word is aestus, which means "heat." So, summer is "hotness."
The feminine noun hirundo is "swallow," i.e. the bird, which migrates south for the winter, and then returns to Europe.
The feminine noun nuntia, "messenger," gives us English words like "announce." There is a masculine word for messenger, nuntius, but this saying uses the feminine form because the swallow, hirundo, is feminine.
Notice how the genitive phrase aestatis nuntia, "summer's messenger," wraps around the whole sentence! So elegant, and impossible to do in English.
2. Voluptatis soror est tristitia. Sadness is (the) sister of pleasure.
volup-TA-tis soror est tris-TI-tia
The genitive voluptatis is from voluptas, "pleasure."
The noun soror, "sister," gives us English "sorority."
The noun tristitia, "sadness," is a feminine noun, so that's why "she" is a sister of pleasure, soror voluptatis.
The saying warns that when you are feeling pleasure, be aware that you might soon be feeling sadness: pleasure and sadness are sisters, and you're likely to meet them both. Compare the saying you say about brothers yesterday: Somnus est frater mortis.
3. Speculum mentis est facies. (The) face is (the) mind's mirror.
SPE-culum mentis est FA-cies
You've seen the noun speculum already: Vinum animi speculum.
The genitive mentis is from mens, "mind," and gives us English "mental."
The idea is just as the mirror shows you its face when you look into the mirror, when you look at someone's face, you are seeing their mind reflected there, as if the face itself were a mirror.
4. Ratio est radius divini luminis. Reason is (a) ray of-divine light.
RA-tio est RA-dius di-VI-ni LU-minis
We use the Latin word ratio in English, and "ratio" is one of the meanings of Latin ratio, but it also refers to any kind of calculation or reckoning, along with the faculty of mind that does the reckoning. Just take a look at the dictionary entry for ratio to get a sense of its huge range of meaning in Latin.
We also use the Latin word radius in English, and "radius" is one of the meanings of Latin radius, but it's main meaning is the "spoke of a wheel," and hence "ray," in the sense of something that radiates out from a source.
The neuter adjective divini is from divinum, "divine." The neuter form of the adjective is used here because it agrees with luminis, which is a neuter noun.
The genitive luminis is from lumen, "light, source of light," and we use the word "lumen" as a scientific term in English, and you can also see this root in words like "luminous" and "illuminate."
The idea that reason is a manifestation of the divine is an idea associated with Platonism, and it also because part of the Christian tradition.
5. Tota hominis vita unus est dies. (A) person's whole life is one day.
tota HO-minis vita unus est dies
You've seen the feminine adjective tota in its masculine form in several sayings already, such as this one: Patria mea totus mundus est. The adjective is feminine because it agrees with vita in the phrase tota vita, "whole life." The genitive hominis is from homo, and you saw this word in yesterday's saying: Militia est vita hominis.
You've seen the feminine noun vita in several sayings also, such as: Dum vita est, spes est. Notice how the noun phrase, tota vita, wraps around the genitive, hominis, to create the genitive phrase totahominisvita, "a person's whole life."
You've seen the masculine unus before in this saying: Vir quidem unus, nullus est. The form is masculine because it agrees with dies, a masculine noun you've also seen before in this saying: Nullus dies omnino malus.
Notice how the noun phrase unus dies wraps around the verb: unus est dies.
The idea is that any person's life is both long and short, as short as if it were just a single day.
The genitive Damoclis is from Damocles, "Damocles," an ancient Greek name.
You've seen gladius before in this saying: Fames est gladius acutissimus.
Damocles was a courtier of King Dionysius of Syracuse. When Damocles expressed envy for the king's life of luxury, the king offered to switch places with him for one day. Damocles sat on the king's throne, feasting and drinking, but then he looked up: there was a sword over his head, dangling by a single thread. He was terrified! That was how King Dionysius taught Damocles what it was really like to be king. You can read more about this story at Wikipedia: Damocles.
2. Matris imago filia est. (The) daughter is (the) image of-(the)-mother.
matris i-MA-go FI-lia est
The genitive matris is from mater, "mother," which you've seen in this saying already: Qualis mater, talis et filia, another saying about mater and filia which has essentially the same meaning as this saying.
You've also seen imago before: Vultus imago animi.
3. Luna oculus noctis. (The) moon (is the) eye of-(the)-night.
luna O-culus noctis
You've seen luna before in this saying, where it appears in the genitive: Est rota fortunae variabilis, ut rota lunae.
You've also seen oculus in a saying similar to this one: Sol oculus mundi.
The genitive noctis is from nox, "night," which you've already seen in this saying: Nunc nox, mox lux.
4. Virtutis iter arduum. (The) way of-virtue is steep.
vir-TU-tis iter AR-duum
The genitive virtutis is from virtus, which gives us English "virtue." The Latin word is derived from vir, "man," and in classical Latin, virtus means "manliness, strength, bravery," but in the later Christian Latin tradition, it took on the meaning of "goodness, moral worth."
The neuter noun iter, "way, journey," whose stem is itiner-, which gives us English "itinerary."
The neuter adjective arduum, "steep, difficult," gives us English "arduous."
The image is of a steep uphill climb; metaphorically, it means a journey that is difficult and strenuous. Living virtuously is not easy! If you don't want the Christian connotations of virtue, this could also be translated as "The path to excellence is steep."
5. Militia est vita hominis. Man's life is (a) war.
mi-LI-tia est vita HO-minis
The word militia means "warfare, battle, a soldier's life," and it is from the word miles, "soldier" (stem: milit-). You can see this root in the English word "military."
You've seen vita before in this saying: Vita est somnium.
The genitive hominis is from homo, a form you saw yesterday: Mors est latro hominis.
These words come from the Latin translation of the Biblical Book of Job. The Latin translation of the Bible is called the Vulgate, and the English translation of the Vulgate is known as the Douay-Rheims translation.
Today we'll start on the genitive forms of the third-declension nouns and adjectives. Just like with the first and second declensions, you put a genitive ending on the stem to get the genitive form of the word. The genitive ending for the third declension is -is.
What's tricky, though, is that you cannot always figure out the stem of the third-declension nouns and adjectives just by looking at their nominative form. With the first declension, you just removed the final -a, and with the second declension you just removed the final -us or -um. But the third declension is not so simple.
This is where the Latin dictionary comes to your rescue! In a Latin dictionary, you can find BOTH the nominativeAND the genitive of third-declension words. For an online dictionary, I highly recommend the wiktionary at Wikipedia. So, for example, here is the word pax, "peace" at the wiktionary: pax.
pāx f (genitive pācis); third declension
That gives you all the information you need: pax is a feminine noun (f), and its genitive form is pacis.
And what is the stem? Take the genitive pacis and removed the ending -is and that's the stem: pac-. You can then use that stem to generate all the other forms of this word. For right now, though, all you need is the genitive form.
I know that might seem a little overwhelming right now, but don't worry: we'll practice the third-declension genitives all this week. Then, for the next couple of weeks we'll practice with words from the first, second, and third declensions together so you can become completely familiar with all the different endings.
And I apologize for this long-ish post, but it's still under 1000 words; I checked!
So, to get started with those third-declension genitives, here are today's proverbs:
1. Signum pacis amor. Love (is the) sign of-peace.
signum pacis amor
The neuter noun signum is the origin of the English word "sign" and you can also see it in "signal."
The genitive singular pacis is from pax, which you have seen already in this saying: Non est regnum Dei esca et potus, sed justitia et pax.
You also know amor from several sayings, including this one: Ubi amor, ibi oculus.
Remember that word order is free in Latin, so both signum pacis and pacis signum mean "sign of peace."
2. Pacis Amor deus est. Love is (the god) of-peace.
pacis Amor deus est
You know deus from many sayings, such as this one: Et vocatus et non vocatus, deus est.
Notice the elegant word order here: the genitive phrase pacis deus, "god of peace," is wrapped around the word amor. In English word order, you would say: Amor est deus pacis, but Latin has free word order, so you can put the emphasis on pacis by making it the first word of the sentence.
3. Veri amoris nullus est finis. (There) is no end of-true (of)-love.
veri a-MO-ris nullus est finis
You have two genitives here: veri and amoris. You already know that an adjective agrees with its noun in gender; now you can see that it also agrees with the noun in case. Both veri and amoris are masculine in gender and they are both genitive in case.
The adjective veri is the genitive of verus, a second-declension adjective you know from this saying: Amicus verus rara avis.
The noun amoris is the genitive of amor, a third-declension adjective. Here it is at the wiktionary: amor, showing both the gender and the genitive:
amor m (genitive amōris); third declension
You already know nullus from this saying: Nullus dies omnino malus.
You also know finis already: Finis miseriae mors est.
Notice how the phrase nullus finis wraps around the verb est.
Because the genitive expresses the idea of possession you could also translate Veri amoris nullus est finis as "True love has no end."
4. Somnus est frater mortis. Sleep is (the) brother of-death.
somnus est frater mortis
The noun somnus means "sleep," and you can see this root in English "insomnia."
The noun frater means "brother," which you can see in English "fraternal" and "fraternity."
You already know the noun mors, and now you know the genitive form: mortis. Here is the wiktionary: mors entry:
mors f (genitive mortis); third declension
Now you also know that mors is a feminine noun, although you don't need to know the gender in order to understand this saying. But now that you know that mors is feminine, you could also say: Mors est soror somni, "Death is the sister of sleep."
5. Mors est latro hominis. Death is (a) thief of-man.
mors est latro HO-minis
The word latro, "thief," is the root of English "larceny."
You already know the word homo (as in homo sapiens), and now you can see that the stem is homin- (a in English "hominid"), which results in the genitive hominis. Here is the wiktionary: homo entry.
homō m (genitive hominis); third declension
For more sayings like this, see the wonderful medieval Latin text that you can read in English here: The Debate between Pippin and Alcuin. Anyone who has lost a loved one knows that it feels like you have been robbed, hence death-the-robber, death-the-thief.
Here's a recap of today's sayings; I've underlined and bolded the genitive in each one:
Over the past two weeks, you've been working on the nominative and genitive forms of the first and second declensions.
Almost all first-declension words end in -a and are feminine; there are just a few masculine first-declension nouns which you will learn later. The genitive ending is -ae.
Almost all second-declension words are either masculine or neuter, with just a few feminine nouns; the masculines end in -us (as do the feminines), while the neuters end in -um. The genitive ending is -i.
But with the third declension, things are messy!
The third declension contains a mix of feminine, masculine, and neuter words, and you cannot tell the gender just from looking at the word.
The other thing that is confusing about third-declension words is the variety of nominative endings. I've listed below the third-declension words you have seen so far organized by the ending. The majority of third-declension words end in -S (or -X):
-IS/E: amabilis, brevis, difficilis, dulcis, inevitabilis, instabilis, invisibilis, natalis, omnis, qualis, talis, variabilis (the masc. and fem. forms end in -is; the neuter forms in -e: amabilis / amabile, etc.)
-US: tempus, Venus
-TUS: juventus, servitus, senectus
-AX: fugax, mendax, pax
-EX: judex, lex, lux, nox, rex, senex
But you have seen some other endings also:
-C: lac
-L: fel, mel, sal, sol
-T: caput
-EN: nomen, omen
-O: cupido, homo, imago, nemo
-TIO: illuminatio, imitatio, peregrinatio
-AR: pulvinar
-ER: carcer, mater, pater, pauper
-OR: amor, dolor, dulcior, melior, minor
-TOR: adulator, laudator
Today's sayings feature some more third-declension nouns and adjectives, all in the nominative case... and tomorrow you will start learning about the genitive forms. Sneak preview: all the genitive forms will end in -is! So it's not as bad as you might expect from these many different nominative endings.
So, here are today's sayings:
1. Semper fidelis. Forever faithful.
semper fi-DE-lis
The word semper is an adverb you seen before: Semel malus, semper malus.
The third-declension adjective, fidelis, "faithful," is masculine or feminine, depending on context. You can see this root in English "fidelity."
This is the motto of the United States Marine Corps, and as such it has its own Wikipedia article: Semper fidelis, often shortened to "Semper fi" (with "fi" pronounced as if it rhymed with pie, which is not a very Latin pronunciation).
2. Non leo sed mus. Not (a) lion but (a) mouse.
non leo sed mus
The third-declension noun leo, "lion," shows up in the name "Leo" and also in "leonine," plus it is also the origin of English "lion."
The third-declension noun mus, "mouse," comes, like English "mouse," from the Indo-European múh₂s. You can see Latin mus in English "muscle" (really! a muscle looks like a little mouse, musculus, running under your skin).
This saying applies to a situation where something has turned out to be far inferior to whatever was promised: you were expecting a lion, but all you got was a mouse.
3. Novus rex, nova lex. New king, new law.
novus rex, nova lex
You can see both the first- and second-declension forms, nova and novus, in this saying: novus rex is "new king" and nova lex is "new law." This Latin root shows up in English "novelty".
You've seen the third-declension nouns rex and lex before in this saying: Rex est lex vivens. This saying applies to what is happening in the United States right now!
4. Omnis amans amens. Every lover (is) demented.
omnis amans amens
You've seen the third-declension adjective omnis before in many sayings, including: Omnis est misera servitus.
The third-declension adjective amans is a present participle from the verb amare, "to love," so it literally means "loving, someone who loves," hence "lover." You've seen another word formed from this verb, amabile, in this saying: Omne pulchrum amabile.
The third-declension adjective amens, "demented," is literally a-mens, "without a mind, witless."
The point of this saying is the play on words between amans and amens, "lover" and "demented." The words are not related in any way, but their similarity in sound makes it seem like they are: someone who is in love cannot help but lose their minds because amans sounds so much like amens.
5. Tempus optimus judex. Time (is the) best judge.
tempus OP-timus judex
You've seen the third-declension noun tempus before: Tempus est vitae magister.
You've also seen the second-declension adjective optimus before: Optimus magister bonus liber.
Plus you've already seen the third-declension noun iudex in this saying: Judex est lex loquens. The idea is that we should not rush to make judgments, but instead wait before passing judgment so that we can see how the consequences take shape in time.
