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... before we move on to imperatives next week. (Yes, you'll be able to boss people around in Latin starting next week!)
Meanwhile, here are the lessons from this week, plus previous weeks, and you'll find the review slideshow before:
And here's a slideshow with all the sayings from the week... and their cats! Read them out loud while you watch; in fact, you can read them out loud twice: once with the English prompt, and once with the cat.
I also made a printable crossword PDF with this week's sayings as the prompts; screenshots below.
The focus for today's lesson is more practice with those neuter nouns and adjectives of the 3rd declension. Here is a list of some of the proverbs you've seen with 3rd-declension neuter nouns and adjectives; I've put those 3rd-declension neuter words in bold, and I've underlined the ones that are in the accusative case:
Forma dei munus.
Rotat omne fatum.
Tempusbreve est.
Roma caput mundi.
Caput Nili quaerit.
Futurum invisibile.
Finis coronat opus.
Tempus neminem manet.
Virtutis iter arduum.
Inevitabile est fatum.
Male olet omne caenum.
Sola apis mel conficit.
Omne initium difficile.
Frangit iram dulce verbum.
Timet naufragus omne fretum.
To get ready for today's new sayings, here is a little slideshowof the words you have seen before:
So, here are today's proverbs, and I have underlined the accusative 3rd-declension nouns and adjectives below too:
1. Simile appetit simile.
Like seeks like.
SI-mile AP-petit SI-mile.
The neuter adjective simile gives us English "similar." You see the adjective here twice: once in the nominative as the subject of the verb, and once in the accusative as the object of the verb.
The verb appetit, "seeks, grasps at," is the Latin root you see in English "appetite."
Compare the English saying, "Birds of a feather flock together."
2. Vinum os facundum facit.
Wine makes (the) mouth eloquent.
vinum os fa-CUN-dum facit.
You've seen the neuter noun os before, and the word vinum is also neuter, so it is only from the context of the sentence that you can tell which one is the subject, vinum, and which one is the object, os.
The neuter adjective facundum, "eloquent," agrees with the neuter noun os.
The idea is that when someone drinks, they speak freely, and in this drunken "eloquence," they might say things that they would not say when sober.
The word incustoditum, "unguarded," is a compound: in-custoditum. You haven't seen this word before, but you have seen the verb custodit.
The verb captat, "raids, snatches, seizes," and you can see this same root in Latin "captive." You haven't seen the word ovile, "sheepfold," before, but you have seen the noun ovis. The neuter noun ovile takes an accusative adjective: incustoditum. This noun phrase incustoditum...ovile wraps around the verb.
This neuter 3rd-declension noun is in the accusative case, the object of the verb; lupus, in the nominative case, is the subject.
4. Deus ipse solem, quasi lumen, accendit.
God himself lights (the) sun like (a) lamp.
Deus ipse solem, quasi lumen, ac-CEN-dit.
You haven't seen the verb accendit, "light, set fire to," but you have seen another verb that shares the same root: incendit.
The verb takes two objects: solem is a 3rd-declension masculine noun in the accusative case, and lumen is a 3rd-declension neuter noun.
The words from the Roman politician and philosopher Cicero.
5. Est verbum verum: frangit Deus omne superbum.
(It) is (a) true word: God shatters every proud (thing).
est verbum verum: frangit deus omne su-PER-bum.
You haven't seen the neuter adjective superbum before, but you have seen a related noun: superbia. The adjective is being used substantively here, as a noun: "proud (thing)."
The noun Deus is in the nominative case, the subject of the verb, so that means the noun phrase omne superbum is in the accusative case, the object of the verb.
The saying rhymes, which is often a feature of medieval Latin proverbs; classical Latin poetry does not use rhyme, but it is a feature of medieval Latin poetry and therefore of proverbs too.
There's something new for today's lesson: the accusative form of 3rd-declension neuter nouns and adjectives. So far, you've seen masculine and feminine 3rd-declension accusatives which end in -em.
But what about 3rd-declension accusatives...? Do you remember the rule for neuter nouns and adjectives in Latin? In Latin, as also in English and in all the Indo-European languages, the neuter accusative is the same as the nominative form.
So, the neuter nouns and adjectives of the 3rd declension do not have a special ending for you to learn; instead, you get to just use the nominative form for the accusative!
To get ready, here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
You already know finis which is a 3rd-declension masculine noun; it's in the nominative case, so you know it's the subject of the sentence.
The verb coronat is new, but you already know the noun: corona, "crown." Here's the 3rd-declension neuter noun, opus, "work." We use this word in the phrase magnum opus, literally, "a great work," or "masterpiece." The word could be in the nominative or accusative case; since finis is in the nominative case, that lets you know opus must be accusative, the object of the verb.
The idea here is that the reason why you complete a project is so that you can have a "crowning achievement," reaching your final goal.
2. Caput Nili quaerit.
(Someone) seeks (the) head of-the-Nile.
Caput Nili quaerit.
You already know the word caput, and it's a neuter 3rd-declension noun. That means it could be the subject of the verb or the object, and the only way to know is by context. The sentence makes sense if caput is the object of the verb; it doesn't make sense as the subject.
The word Nili is the genitive of Nilus, the name of the river Nile.
This is a proverbial way to refer to an incredibly difficult task, perhaps an impossible task. That's because the headwaters of the Nile were a mystery to the Romans. We now know that the Nile actually has two main sources: the Blue Nile and the White Nile. The Blue Nile flows out of Lake Tana in Ethiopia, and the White Nile from from Lake Victoria in Uganda (they meet in Khartoum, Sudan). You can see a map at Wikipedia: Nile.
3. Sola apis mel conficit.
Only (a) bee makes honey.
Sola apis mel CON-ficit.
You already know the feminine adjective sola and the feminine noun apis; the phrase sola apis is in the nominative case, the subject of the verb.
You also know the word mel, a 3rd-declension neuter noun. It could be either nominative or accusative; the verb already has a subject, sola apis, so you know that it is the object. The verb conficit, "makes, prepares," is new to you, but it is a compound of a verb you have seen already: facit. You can see this Latin root in English "confection."
The idea is that a bee, and only a bee, can make honey. Other insects build hives, like wasps for example, but for honey, you need a beehive.
The verb rotat is new to you, but you already know the noun that it comes from: rota. Latin rotat gives us English "rotate."
You already know the neuter 3rd-declension adjective omne. In this sentence, the adjective is being used substantively, as a noun: "every(thing)."
You also know the neuter 2nd-declension noun fatum.
From context, you can see that fatum must be the subject of the verb, while omneis the object.
The metaphor here is the proverbial "Wheel of Fortune," Rota Fortunae. Sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down: Fortuna never stops spinning her wheel.
The word naufragus, "shipwrecked," is new to you, but you can recognize the parts of this compound: nau- (ship, a root you've seen in nauta, "sailor") and frag- from the verb frangit, "breaks." So a naufragus is a "ship-break," or what we call "shipwreck" in English.
The word fretum means "strait" and also, more generally, the "sea" itself. It is a neuter 2nd-declension noun, and omne agrees the noun: omne fretum, "every sea." This phrase could be nominative or accusative; because naufragus is nominative, that lets you know that omne fretum is the accusative, making it the object of the verb.
Compare the English saying, "Once bitten, twice shy." If someone met a disaster at sea, every sea, even a calm sea, is a source of fear.
Here is this week's vocabulary review: the slides have the English translations, plus links back to the original posts if you want to review the notes... along with the cats!
These are the instructions for how to use the slideshow as a quiz, and here's a link to the full-size show. There are lots of way syou can use this material, the key thing being to read out loud, repeating the sayings over and over. If you want, it can be like a quiz where you are trying to supply the missing word, but you can also just skip over the slide with the blanks, reading the saying out loud once, then again with the cat, and one more time without the English prompt. The more you say, the more you hear, which means... the more you learn!
If you want to do even more reviewing, here's are the review slideshows from Week 19, Week 18, andWeek 17. You can never do too much reviewing!
The focus for today's lesson is 3rd-declension accusatives (again!), and this time there are several proverbs about elephants... plus a cat saying and a fly saying too!
You've already had one proverb about elephants; do you remember?
Elephas muscam non curat. An elephant doesn't worry about a fly.
The idea is that someone big, strong, and important, like elephant, doesn't worry about something puny, small and unimportant, like a fly. As the English saying goes, "Don't sweat the small stuff."
You'll see that same contrast between big-and-small in the elephant sayings today.
To get ready, here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
So, here are today's proverbs:
1. Feles et regem aspicit.
(A) cat looks even (at the) king.
feles et regem AS-picit.
You've seen felis, "cat," before. The word feles is simply a variant spelling of felis; they mean the same thing.
The word regem is the accusative form of a noun you know already: rex.
The word et is being used adverbially here: "even, also." So et regem means "even the king."
The verb aspicit means "look at," and it's a compound: a(d)-spicit, "at-look." This is the root in English "aspect."
Compare the English saying, "A cat may look at a king." The idea is that even a common person has the right to look at anything or anyone, including the king. This old English saying was made famous in modern times by its appearance in Alice in Wonderland: , when the Cheshire Cat is looking at the King of Hearts: "A cat may look at a king," said Alice. "I've read that in some book, but I don't remember where."
2. Habet et musca splenem.
Even (a) fly has spleen.
habet et musca splenem.
The word splenem is the accusative form of splen, "spleen," and this Latin word gives us both "spleen" and "splenetic" in English.
This et is also adverbial: et musca, "even a fly."
The meaning of this saying depends on the ancient idea of the bodily humors. The fluid of the spleen was supposed to give someone an angry disposition. So, the idea here is that even someone who is tiny and weak can still get angry, and perhaps even be dangerous as a result. You can find out more about the theory of the humors at Wikipedia: Four Temperaments. English words like splenetic, sanguine, choleric, melancholic, bilious and phlegmatic all derive from this ancient model of embodied emotions.
3. Murem elephas non capit.
(An) elephant doesn't catch (a) mouse.
murem E-lephas non capit.
You know all the words in this saying already!
The word murem is the accusative of a word you've seen before: mus.
The idea is that someone big and strong, like an elephant, isn't going to waste their time catching mice. Compare the elephant proverb you saw earlier: Elephas muscam non curat.
4. Elephas murem non mordet.
(An) elephant doesn't bite (a) mouse.
E-lephas murem non mordet.
You know all the words in this saying too!
The meaning is the same as in the previous saying, but now with a nice bit of sound-play, specifically, alliteration: murem...mordet. You can read more about alliteration at Wikipedia.
5. Elephantus culicem non curat.
(An) elephant doesn't care-about (a) gnat.
ele-PHAN-tus CU-licem non curat.
The Romans used both the word elephantus and the word elephas to mean "elephant."
The word culicem is the accusative form of culex, which is a "gnat" or "midge."
As you can see, this is another variation on the saying you saw earlier: Elephas muscam non curat.
The focus for today's lesson is more practice with 3rd-declension accusatives, and there is a common theme: all the proverbs are about some kind of absurd situation or something paradoxical.
There's not a lot of vocabulary since the sayings are short, so I made a slideshow containing other paradoxical proverbs. Hopefully reviewing these proverbs will get you in the right mood for some new paradoxes!
The masucline adjective surdus, "deaf," is being used substantively here as a noun: "deaf (man)." The word can also mean "mute," and so in English the word "surd" is a linguistic term that refers to a voiceless consonant.
The word tibicinem is the accusative form of the 3rd-declension noun tibicen, "flute-player." The word is a compound, tibi-cen, "flute-singer."
The idea is that someone who is deaf would not need or enjoy a flute-player. Compare these other paradoxical sayings with poscit from the slideshow: Nauta aratrum poscit and Speculum caecus poscit.
2. Cancer leporem capit. (The) crab catches (the) rabbit.
cancer LE-porem capit.
The 3rd-declension noun cancer means "crab" in Latin, and it gives us the astrological sign "Cancer." The use of "cancer" in English to means the disease because ancient Greek medical writers noted a similarity between cancerous tumors and the shape of a crab.
The word leporem is the accusative form of the 3rd-declension noun lepus, a word you know already.
The absurdity here is that a rabbit runs fast, while a crab cannot even walk straight, much less run. Compare a similar saying about fast and slow: Aquilam testudo vincit.
The word plaustrum, "wagon," is a 2nd-declension neuter noun, which means it could be nominative or accusative here. Because bovem is accusative (from the 3rd-declension noun bos), that lets you know plaustrum is nominative.
The verb trahit, "pulls, drags." You can see this Latin root in English "tractor."
Compare the English saying about the absurdity of "putting the cart before the horse."
As you can see, this saying unpacks the previous saying, making sure people understand the difference between the normal situation, bos currum trahit, and the absurd topsy-turvy situation: bovem currus.
