Per usual on Wednesday, there's a vocabulary slideshow quiz, with cats too! Here's a link to the full-size show. There's an English prompt and also some Latin sayings to help jiggle your memory: can you supply the Latin word? The next slide will tell you if you identified the word correctly. As always, if you want to review the notes and translation for a saying, you can use the Sayings list or Dictionary, which both have links to the original posts.
Here's another way that you can review: it's a slideshow with all the sayings so far, randomized. The English translation appears, linked to the original blog post if you want to review the notes. You've now seen literally hundreds of sayings, and reviewing some of them at random like this is really good practice! Reading Latin out loud is the best kind of review. Read slowly, with feeling... and hopefully you will start to "feel" the meaning in Latin, not English.
The focus for today's lesson is practicing some more with the -am accusative nouns from the 1st declension. Just like yesterday, you will see a variety of word order patterns, sometimes subject-verb-object (like in English), but you'll also see verb-subject-object, object-subject-verb, and subject-object-verb. The freedom of word order is one of the most important features of Latin style! So, as you read each saying, analyze the word order to see the different patterns.
To prepare for today's sayings, here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
So, here are today's proverbs:
1. Amat victoria curam.
Victory loves carefulness.
amat vic-TO-ria curam.
The verb amat, "loves" is related to words you have seen before: the participle amans, "loving," and the adjective amabile, "lovable."
This saying expresses the same idea as yesterday's Cura dat victoriam. This time, however, victoria is the subject, personifying "victory" as if it were a person... a person who loves, amat, carefulness, curam.
The 3rd-declension noun exceptio gives us English "exception."
The verb probat means "tests, demonstrates, approves," and this root gives us English "proof" and "prove," and also "probe."
The word regulam is the accusative of regula, "rule," which gives us English "rule" and also "regulate." The root of regula is the same that you have seen in the words rex (stem reg-), "king, ruler," and also regnum, "kingdom."
This Latin saying is the origin of the English saying: "The exception proves the rule." For details about this legal principle, see the wiktionary.
3. Minervam sus docet.
(The) pig is-teaching Minerva.
Mi-NER-vam sus docet.
The word Minervam is the accusative of Minerva, which is the Roman name of the goddess known as Athena in Greek, the goddess of wisdom and learning.
The 3rd-declension noun sus means "pig," and it is related to the English words "sow" and "swine." These words all come from the Indo-European root suH-.
The pig in this saying is a fool: there is nothing a pig could hope to teach Athena that the goddess of wisdom does not already know! If you are curious, you can listen to a discussion in Latinof this saying in this YouTube video: Sus Minervam.
The 3rd-declension noun cornix means "crow," specifically "she-crow."
The verb provocat gives us English "provoke" and "provocative." The Latin word is a compound: pro-vocat, "forth-call," i.e. "calls forth." You've seen the noun that gives the root of this verb: vox (stem voc-), "voice."
Like the previous saying, the idea here is that something absurd is happening: the crow might have a loud voice, but for a crow to squawk at a mighty bird like the eagle, provoking the eagle to a fight, is ridiculous.
5. Elephas muscam non curat.
(An) elephant doesn't worry (about) a fly.
E-lephas muscam non curat.
The 3rd-declension noun elephas gives us English "elephant." The -ph- is a clue that the word is of Greek origin, with "ph" being used to transliterate the Greek letter phi.
This saying takes up the same idea as the previous sayings, but from a different angle: a mighty animal like the elephant doesn't worry about something as small and unimportant as a fly.
Compare the English saying, "Don't sweat the small stuff."
Today is something new: the accusative case! So far you have learned the nominative case, which is used for the subject of the verb, along with the genitive case, which expresses possession. Now with the accusative case, the verbs can have objects.
We'll start with the accusative case of the 1st-declension nouns:
victoria: victory (subject of verb)
victoriae: of the victory, victory's
victoriam: victory (object of verb)
The accusative case ending is -m. Just add that -m to the -a- vowel that marks the 1st declension, and you get -am.
In English, we only have the accusative case for a few pronouns, and sometimes the English accusative ending is also -m, like in Latin: him is the accusative of he ("I saw him"), whom is the accusative of who, them is the accusative of they.
For English nouns, however, there is no accusative case marker. You cannot tell if a noun is the subject or object of the verb just by looking at the noun; instead, English uses word order, with the subject coming before the verb, while the object comes after the verb.
In Latin, the word order does not matter; what matters is the word ending. If you see the word victoria, then you know it is the subject of the verb; if you see the word victoriam, then you know it is the object of the verb.
So, as you look at today's sayings, pay close attention to the word endings, especially when the object comes before the verb and/or the subject comes after the verb. Anything is possible!
To get ready for today's sayings, here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
And now here are today's proverbs, each of which features an accusative 1st-declension noun (for today, I've underlined those accusative nouns to help them stand out):
1. Cura dat victoriam.
Carefulness bestows victory.
cura dat vic-TO-riam.
The verb dat means "gives, bestows," and you can see this root in English "data" and also "date."
The idea is that if you want to win, you need to take care, prepare, pay attention to what you are doing, etc.
Here the word order is the same as in English: subject-verb-object.
The noun copia, "abundance," is the root of English "copious," and you can also see the Latin word in "cornucopia." The word nauseam is the accusative form of nausea, which gives us English "nausea." The Latin word is a borrowing from Greek ναυσία, "seasickness" from the Greek word ναῦς, which mean "ship."
The verb parit means "gives birth to, produces," and it is the root of English "parent."
Compare the English saying "You can have too much of a good thing."
This time the word order, subject-object-verb, which is different from English subject-verb-object.
The word aquilam is the accusative of aquila which gives us English "eagle" and also "aquiline."
The verb vincit, "conquers, defeats, beats" can be seen in English "invincible" (i.e. un-beatable) and also "convince." The verb vincit shares the same root as the noun victoria.
This saying was used to refer to some surprising turn of events: in a race between the slow-moving tortoise and the swiftly flying eagle, of course the eagle would win... but — surprise! — this time the turtle beats the eagle, much like the tortoise defeats the hare in the famous Aesop's fable.
In this sentence, the object comes first!
4. Superbia anteit ruinam.
Pride precedes ruin.
su-PER-bia AN-teit ruinam.
The noun superbia, "pride," has the same root as in English "superb" and "superior."
The verb anteit, "precedes, goes before," is a compound: ante-it, "before-goes." You can see the ante in English words like "anterior" and "anteroom," and also the "ante" in poker.
The word ruinam is the accusative of ruina, "ruin, downfall, disaster." The noun is related to a verb you have seen before: ruit.
Compare the English saying "Pride goeth before a fall."
This sentence has the word order that you would have in English: subject-verb-object.
5. Industriam adiuvat deus.
God helps effort.
in-DUS-triam AD-iuvat deus.
The word industriam is the accusative of industria, "activity, work, effort," which gives us English "industry."
The verb adjuvat, "helps, assists," gives us English "adjutant."
Here you have yet another word order option here: object-verb-subject. This is exactly the opposite of English subject-verb-object word order.
Compare the English saying, "God helps them that help themselves."
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. There's also a slideshow below to help you review all the verbs of the four different conjugations. You've had 51 different verbs so far!
And here's a slideshow you can use to review all the sayings with verbs... with cats. This time all the verbs are organized by conjugation: 1st conjugation (-at blue), 2nd conjugation (-et purple), 3rd conjugation (-it yellow), and finally the 4th conjugation (-it green). Remember that you can access the original post with more information by using the Sayings page or the Dictionary page which link to the relevant post.
I also made a printable crossword PDF with this week's sayings as the prompts. Screenshots below. I hope you will like the way the crossword puzzle gives you some hints as you try to supply the missing word.
Remember also to pay attention to the word order so that you can get used to the way that, in Latin, the subject can sometimes come before the verb!
And here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before:
And here are today's proverbs:
1. Nihil perpetuo durat.
Nothing lasts forever.
Nihil per-PE-tuo durat.
You haven't seen the adverb perpetuo, "forever, perpetually" before, but you have seen the neuter noun, perpetuum.
Likewise, the verb durat, "lasts, endures," is new, but it is related to the adjective dura, "hard," which you have seen in the superlative form: durissima, "hardest."
A fuller form of this saying, Nihil durare potest tempore perpetuo, "Nothing can endure for everlasting time," appears in the graffiti preserved at Pompeii. You can see a photograph and transcription from Pompeii here. That is a very ironic bit of graffiti: Pompeii was destroyed... but the graffiti has endured.
2. Fervet olla, vivit amicitia.
(The) pot boils, friendship lives.
Fervet olla, vivit ami-CI-tia.
The verb vivit, "lives, is alive," is new, but you have seen the participle: vivens, "living."
This is another version of the saying you saw yesterday: Amicus dum olla fervet.
Notice that you have two verbs here, and for both verbs, the subject comes after the verb.
3. Omne nimium nocet.
Every excess harms.
Omne NI-mium nocet.
The verb nocet, "harms, hurts," is new, but you have seen the noun nocumentum, "injury, harm."
The word nimium is a neuter adjective, "excessive," but it is being used as a noun here: "excess" (i.e. "excessive thing").
This is another version of a saying you saw earlier: Omne nimium non bonum.
4. Abundans cautela non nocet.
Abundant caution doesn't hurt.
A-BUN-dans cau-TE-la non nocet.
The 3rd-declension adjective abundans gives us English "abundant." The root is unda, "wave, flood," so something that is "abundant" is like a river overflowing its banks, full of water.
The adjective is feminine in form, agreeing with the feminine noun cautela.
Compare the English phrase, "out of an abundance of caution..." The English phrase even has its own wiktionary entry, which explains that it is an imitation of the Latin.
5. Veritas non erubescit.
Truth doesn't blush.
VE-ritas non eru-BES-cit.
The verb erubescit literally means "turns red," i.e. "blushes." The root is rubeus, "red," as in English "ruby."
This is another one of those verbs with -sc- that indicates a process: turning red. Some other -sc- verbs you have seen include crescit, "grows, increases," arescit, "turns dry, dries," and senescit, "grows old."
You have also seen several words with this -itas suffix, which creates an abstract noun: brevitas, "brevity," caritas, "charity," felicitas, "happiness, felicity," mediocritas, "mediocrity," utilitas, "utility," and veritas, "truth, verity."
This saying has a life of its own in English too: Truth doesn't blush. The idea is that the truth, no matter what it might be, has nothing to be ashamed of.
Today and tomorrow there will be some more practice with verbs... and then next week you will learn about the accusative case which is used for the objects of verbs. You will then b able to read all kinds of sentences in Latin. For now, just remember that you now know three different verb endings:
-at: 1st-conjugation verbs
-et: 2nd-conjugation verbs
-it: 3rd-conjugation AND 4th-conjugation verbs
And here is a little slideshow (with cats) of the words you have seen before to review some words you will see again today:
From the Latin noun varietas we get English "variety." You've also seen some related Latin adjectives already: varius and variabilis.
Notice that the the subject comes after the verb, a word order that English cannot imitate. I think that the variety of word order in Latin is one of Latin's many delights!
The verb docet, "teaches," is the root of English "docent" and also "doctor." You've already seen some Latin nouns from this same root: doctrina and documentum.
This is a saying that you can often find on sundials, where the sun's shadow teaches you the time. You can see an example here.
This is another example of the subject coming after the verb.
3. Aqua haeret.
(The) water is-stuck.
Aqua haeret.
You can see the Latin noun aqua, "water," in English "aquatic" and "aquarium."
The verb haeret, "sticks, is stuck," is the root of English "adhere" and "adhesive."
This is a Latin idiom used when anything gets stuck and cannot proceed as planned. Since water naturally flows and does not stop flowing, when the water is stuck, aqua haeret, that means things are definitely not going as planned. The Roman politician Cicero was in the habit of using this phrase in his letters, and he indicates that it was a popular saying by adding the words ut aiunt, "as they say."
4. Amicus dum olla fervet.
(A) friend while the pot boils.
A-MI-cus dum olla fervet.
The noun olla means "pot," in the sense of a cooking pot.
The verb fervet, "boils, seethes, is hot," and gives us English "fervent" and "fervid."
The idea here is that when you can feed your friends, your friends will be plentiful, but when there is no more food, your friends will disappear. The same is true metaphorically for whatever you might share with your friends: when those good times are over, the friendship will be over too.
5. Crescit fama.
Rumor grows.
Crescit fama.
You know all the words in this saying already, and this is one more example of the subject coming after the verb. The noun fama can mean "fame" in the sense of a good reputation, but it can also mean "rumor" in the sense of a report that goes around, perhaps true, but probably false. This saying emphasizing that as a rumor is told to one person and then to another and to another, the rumor "grows," i.e. it becomes more and more exaggerated. Compare a saying you saw earlier: Mendax fama.
