Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs

Friday, December 20, 2024

Latin Lesson 2: Noun-(is)-noun, cont.

Today's lesson is a continuation from yesterday, with more examples of "Noun (is) noun" sayings. So, start by reviewing the sayings from yesterday's lesson to see how well you remember them. Read them out loud; hopefully you will feel confident about the meaning as you pronounce the Latin words:

Scientia potentia.
Conscientia testis.
Innocentia eloquentia.
Nocumentum documentum.
Juventus ventus.

If you are not feeling 100% confident about the meaning, just take a look back at yesterday's post.

For today, here are some more proverbs that use the same 2-word formula, Noun-(is)-noun.

1. Eloquentia sagitta.
Eloquence (is an) arrow.
E-lo-QUEN-ti-a sa-GIT-ta.

You learned the word eloquentia yesterday: Innocentia eloquentia.

The word sagitta means "arrow" and it gives us "Sagittarius," the constellation of the archer. As for the the word sagitta, it is not Indo-European in origin; it is an indigenous Mediterranean word that predates the arrival of the Latins in Italy.

By using the metaphor of the arrow, the saying helps us to understand the power of language: speech is like a weapon, it can travel straight and travel far, and words that have been spoken cannot be called back... just like an arrow!

2. Homo bulla.
(A) human (is a) bubble.
HO-mo BUL-la.

The word homo in Latin means a person, as opposed to an animal. So, homo refers both to men and to women. (The word for man in Latin is vir and the word for woman is mulier.) From Latin homo we get the English word "human."

The word bulla means "bubble," especially the bubbles of liquid as it is boiling; the Latin verb meaning to boil is bullire. Because of the round shape of bubbles, the round wax seal on an official document was also called a bulla, and that eventually gives us the English word "bulletin," an official document that, in the past, would have been sealed with a wax seal.

The meaning of this proverb is that a person's life is fleeting: we come into existence, as fragile as bubbles, and then we vanish into nothingness.

2. Sapientia potentia.
Wisdom (is) power.
Sa-pi-EN-ti-a po-TEN-ti-a.

This is a variation on the saying you saw yesterday: Scientia potentia.

The word sapientia means wisdom, from the verb is sapi- which means both to be wise but also to taste, to be able to sense the flavor of something. That is the root metaphor of wisdom in Latin: someone who is wise, sapiens, is able to discern flavors; they have acute powers of perception. Hence the name of our species: homo sapiens, "wise person." From the sapi- root in Latin, we get the English word "savour" and also "savant" (the "p" sound shifted to a "v" in French, which is how the words came to English).

3. Sapientia felicitas.
Wisdom (is) happiness.
Sa-pi-EN-ti-a fe-LI-ci-tas.

The word felicitas is a noun formed from the Latin adjective felix, which originally meant "fruitful, productive," but then came to mean "lucky, successful," and eventually "happy," which is how felicitas comes to mean "happiness." The English words "felicity" and "felicitations" come from this root, as do the names Felix and Felicity.

5. Nomen omen.
(A) name (is an) omen.
NO-men O-men.

The word nomen is from the Indo-European root h₁nómn̥, which is also the origin of English "name," so Latin nomen and English "name" are cousins. You can see the Latin root in English words like "nomination" and "nomenclature."

The word omen means a sign of something to come, a foreboding. Omens can be good or bad, but they often have bad connotations. We use this Latin word in English, "omen," which also gives us the word "ominous" in English. Meanwhile, the origin of the Latin word itself is a complete mystery; here are some possible origins of the Latin word omen.

This saying is like the Iuventus ventus saying from yesterday: the words nomen and omen are not linguistically related, but it seems like there should be some connection between them since they are so similar in sound! The idea is that a person's name is something more than just a name; the name can be a sign or clue as to a person's character. A name like Felix, for example, is a name of good omen!

Eloquentia sagitta.
Homo bulla.
Sapientia potentia.
Sapientia felicitas.
Nomen omen.

And here is today's audio:

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Thursday, December 19, 2024

Latin Lesson 1: Noun-(is)-noun

The focus for today's lesson is a simple proverb formula: Noun (is) noun. You already saw an example of this in yesterday's post:

Scientia potentia.
Knowledge (is) power.

As you can see, Latin does not require the verb "to be" in order to make this a complete statement. The meaning of the sentence is clear in Latin without having to state the verb. There is a Latin verb est which means "is," and you will be learning about that verb later. For now, though, the focus is on nouns, not verbs. Today's proverbs feature nouns, and only nouns.

The reason Latin does not need the verb to make a complete sentence is because the nouns scientia and potentia are in what is called the "nominative case." Each Latin noun has six different "cases" that indicate the grammatical role that the noun plays in a sentence, changing the ending of the word to indicate the grammatical case. English, on the other hand, does not use cases the way that Latin does; there are only a few exceptions, like English "she" and "her" or "who" and "whom" (and English speakers mix those up all the time!). Instead of cases, English relies heavily on word order to indicate the grammatical role of each word in a sentence.

You will be learning about the Latin case endings later, but don't worry about that right now. Instead, concentrate on learning these Noun-(is)-noun sayings. I'd encourage you to pick out one or two favorites to memorize!

You might also have noticed that Latin does not have definite articles ("the") or indefinite articles ("a"). Those words simply do not exist in Latin. So the Latin word documentum means "a document" or "the document" based on context. (I am sure all the non-native speakers of English are glad to know that Latin does not have definite and indefinite articles, and all the impossible-to-memorize rules that go with them in English!)

So, here are today's proverbs:

1. Scientia potentia.
Knowledge (is) power.
Sci-EN-ti-a po-TEN-ti-a.

The Latin word scientia gives us the word "science" in English. The root is sci- which means "to know."
You can see the Latin word potentia in the English word "potential" and also in words like "potent" and "potentate." The root is pot- which means "to control" or "to be able." The English word "power" also derives from this same Latin root.
The saying originates with Francis Bacon, the English philosopher and scientist, in his Meditationes Sacrae (Sacred Meditations), written in 1597.

2. Conscientia testis.
Conscience (is a) witness.
Con-sci-EN-ti-a TES-tis.

The Latin word conscientia is a compound: con-scientia. The prefix con- means "with," so the idea behind conscientia (English "conscience") is "knowledge with/within oneself." From the related Latin adjective conscius we get English "conscious."
You can see the root of Latin testis, which means "witness," in English words like "testify" and "testimony."
The idea is that even if there is not someone who has witnessed some crime you committed, your own conscience is a witness of what you did.

3. Innocentia eloquentia.
Innocence (is) eloquence.
In-no-CEN-ti-a e-lo-QUEN-ti-a.

The word innocentia is a compound noun: in-nocentia. The prefix in- is a negating prefix, and the verbal root noce- means "to harm" or "to injure," so the noun innocentia means "not harmful" or "innocent," just like in English.
The word eloquentia is also a compound noun: e(x)-loquentia, "speaking out," and it has the same meaning as English "eloquence."
The idea behind this saying is that your innocence will speak out in your defense; you don't need fancy arguments or an expensive lawyer. Your innocence will be able to speak for you.

4. Nocumentum documentum.
(An) injury (is a) lesson.
No-cu-MEN-tum do-cu-MEN-tum.

The word nocumentum, "injury," is another noun formed from the verb noce-.
The word documentum, "lesson," is a noun formed from the verb doce- which means "to teach." We have borrowed the Latin word documentum directly into English as "document."
The idea is that when you suffer an injury or make a painful mistake, you will learn your lesson and not repeat that same mistake again. Compare the English expression about "The School of Hard Knocks."

5. Juventus ventus.
Youth (is) wind.
Ju-VEN-tus VEN-tus.

This proverb has a lovely play on words: Latin juventus and ventus are actually not related words, but it sure looks like they are related, right?
The root of juventus is juven- meaning "young," which you can see in English "juvenile." (And Juventus is also the name of a famous European football team!)
The Latin word for wind, ventus, is from the Indo-European root h₂wéh₁n̥ts, which is also the origin of English "wind." In other words, Latin ventus and English "wind" and Indo-European cousins, sharing the same remote ancestor.
Of course, being young is not literally the wind; instead, this saying is a metaphor: your youthful life passes by as quickly as the wind, and then it is gone.

Here's a recap:

Scientia potentia.
Conscientia testis.
Innocentia eloquentia.
Nocumentum documentum.
Juventus ventus.

And here is today's audio:

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Wednesday, December 18, 2024

Starting Latin

Welcome to Latin Proverbs/Grammar ~ Grammar/Proverbs!

The goal of this project is to present Latin grammar, step by step, using Latin proverbs to illustrate how the grammar works.

Instead of the meaningless Latin sentences and mind-numbing Latin charts typically found in a Latin textbook, all the Latin you will be reading is meaningful... and hopefully worth committing to memory!

A few words about the Latin alphabet and pronunciation:

Latin alphabet. The Latin alphabet is basically the same as the English alphabet. The English alphabet is made up of Roman letters! So, here is the Latin alphabet:

A B C D E F G H I L M N O P Q R S T V X

The letters J and U are missing. That's because J is actually a form of Latin I, and U is a form of Latin V. Later Latin texts do use the J and the U, which is what I will be doing in this blog.

The letter K is also missing; it is very rarely used in Latin. The letters Y and Z appear only in Greek words (although the Romans did use Greek words; many Romans were fluent Greek speakers).

Pronunciation. Unlike English, Latin is highly phonetic. Each vowel and each consonant is pronounced; there are no silent letters. And unlike English, each Latin vowel and consonant has the same pronunciation in every word. So, you will find Latin spelling and pronunciation much easier than English.

Vowels. There are 5 vowels: A E I O U. You can pronounce them like the corresponding English vowels in the words: A in "tan" ~ E in "ten" ~ I in "tip" ~ O in "top" ... and the U like the "u" in "duo."

Vowel length. The vowels in Latin can be long or short, although that is a distinction that is difficult for English speakers because in English, vowels can have different "quality" but that is not the same as the difference in "quantity," i.e. a long vowel versus a short vowel. A long vowel is literally pronounced for a longer time than a short vowel. In some Latin texts, the long vowels have a long mark above them: ā is a long a, for example. But the Romans did not mark the long vowels when they wrote in Latin, and in this blog I will not be marking the long vowels except when it is helpful in explaining the grammar.

Diphthongs. There are also diphthongs, or vowel combinations, in Latin. The most common Latin diphthongs are AE, pronounced like English "eye" ~ AU, pronounced like the "ow" in "now" ~ and EI, pronounced like the "ay" in "may." You will also see some Greek diphthongs; for example, OE which is pronounced like the "oy" in "boy."

Consonants. Some notes about consonants:

The C is always hard like in "cat."

The G is also hard like in "go."
The H was more of a stop-breath, not really a true consonant, but you can go ahead and pronounce Latin H like English "h" in "hat."

The J is a semivowel, like the English "y" in "yell."
The V is like the English "w" in English "wet" (later, in Catholic Latin, it is pronounced like English "v").
The X is a double consonant, just like in English: X = "ks" like in English "box."

Word stress. There are rules for Latin word stress, but I'm not going to teach you the stress rules right away. Instead, I will be marking the syllables for you, with the stressed syllable in all-caps. My hope is that by reading out loud, you will actually figure out the stress rules on your own. It will be fun to see how that experiment works! Meanwhile, the most important thing right now is just to read out loud with a heavy stress so that you will have an auditory memory of how each word is stressed.

So-called "correct" pronunciation. My main advice about pronunciation is NOT to worry about so-called "correct" pronunciation. Instead, the most important thing is to read out loud. In other words: to ALWAYS read out loud! The way you learn a language is with your ears, not your eyes. That's why reading out loud is essential.

Practice. Here are some Latin proverbs and sayings you can use to practice reading out loud. There's audio for you to listen to, and I repeat each proverb twice so you have a chance to listen and then repeat with me. I've provided English translations; the words in parentheses are words we use in English but which are not words that appear in the Latin. (You'll learn more about that when we start the grammar in the next post!)

l. Scientia potentia.

1. Knowledge (is) power.

l. Sci-EN-ti-a po-TEN-ti-a.