Melior est pugillus cum requie quam plena utraque manus cum labore

In English: Better is a little handful accompanied by relaxation than both hands full, accompanied by exertion. (Ecc. 4:6)

I've been so busy with Aesop's fables and the fable book this summer, that I have not had much time for posting here, but I thought I would add another verse here today which carries on with the theme of parallelism which I've been exploring in some previous posts. Parallelism can be used for rhetorical purposes in aphorisms, and you can see that done very nicely here in this saying from the Book of Ecclesiastes, which features two parallel noun phrases, each featuring a prepositional phrase with cum.

The predicate adjective comes first, melior est, and the comparative form of the adjective leads you to expect two items. The better item comes first, in the nominative: pugillus cum requie, a small handful, a little fist full of something (of food, of money, the specifics are not important), accompanied by relaxation, cum requie. The thing being compared is then introduced by quam, "than," and the noun phrase has a structure which parallels the structure of the first noun phrase: plena utraque manus cum labore, "both hands full, accompanied by exertion." Both noun phrases consist of a noun and a prepositional phrase, cum:

Melior est
pugillus cum requie
quam
plena utraque manus cum labore.

The Latin has the added benefit of a bit of sound play between the p in pugillus and in plena.

The real charm of the verse in Latin, however, is the contrast between the words pugillus and plena utraque manus. The word pugillus is a diminutive of pugnus, a fist, meaning "a little fistful." The use of the fist here, and the diminutive of fist in particular, suggests the idea that there is so little of the stuff, whatever it is (money, food, etc.), that you have to clench your fist just to hold onto it, as opposed to hands that are so full you could not even close them into a fist if you wanted to.

At the same time, this tiny little handful comes with requie, peace and quiet, as opposed to the labore required for those two full hands. I'm definitely someone who has taken the "little fistful" approach to life, so this is a saying that I like very much.

As for the Latin pugnus, "fist," this is a very productive root in Latin, yielding the word pugnare, "to fight," and it is also where we get our term "pugilist" in English, meaning a boxer!

So, hoping you have fistfuls of happiness today, without any fistfights, here is today's verse read out loud:458. Melior est pugillus cum requie quam plena utraque manus cum labore.

The number here is the number for this proverb in Vulgate Verses: 4000 Sayings from the Bible for Teachers and Students of Latin.

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Fortis est ut mors dilectio, dura sicut inferus aemulatio

In English: Strong as death is love, hard as hell is envy. (Song of Solomon 8:6)

I thought this would be a great verse for further exploring the topic of parallelism which I had discussed in the previous post here. Parallelism is a style that enhances what you call the "poeticity" of a statement, and you can see some fine poetic qualities in this Latin translation of a verse from the Song of Solomon, also known as the Song of Songs, Canticum Canticorum in Latin.

The verse consists of two statements which begin with the predicate first: fortis est, "is strong" and simply dura, "hard," with the verb "to be" omitted, as you would expect in a parallel construction, dura (est). The fact that these words - fortis, dura - are already very close in meaning suggests from the start that the two parallel statements are going to express similar sentiments.

The predicate itself then expands with a poetic comparison: fortis ut mors, "strong as death," and dura sicut inferus, "hard as hell." Just as fortis and dura are closely related qualities, the concepts of death and hell, mors and inferus, are closely related.

In Latin, inferus is literally the lower place, the under world (compare the related English word "inferior"). It is from this Latin word for hell, inferus, that we get the English adjective "infernal." In later Latin you will actually find the word infernus used to refer to hell, and it is from this later Latin form we get the word "inferno," as in Dante's famous poem of that name. In some versions of the Latin Vulgate, you will actually find the later form infernus used in this verse, rather than the more classical form, inferus.

The vocabulary of the underworld and the afterlife is a fascinating topic in its own right. In the Greek version of this verse, the word used here is ᾅδης, which gives rise to the word "Hades" in English. The Hebrew word is Sh(e)ol; see this wikipedia article for more about the Jewish concept of the underworld afterlife. The King James translation is very disappointing here and says simply "grave," which does not begin to have the rich suggestions of the Latin Inferno, Greek Hades and Hebrew Sheol.

Another very elegant touch in the Latin verse is how the particle used to mark the comparison also varies slightly in the two statements, ut in the first statement, and the synonymous sicut in the second statement. For a truly poetic parallelism, there needs to be not just mechanical repetition of the parallel features, but also some quality of variation in the midst of the parallelism, which is just what you see here with ut and sicut.

Now, finally, the subjects of the statements, the answer to these two little poetic riddles! What is it that is "as strong as death," fortis ut mors? The answer is dilectio, "love, delight, pleasure." What is it that is "hard as hell," dura sicut inferus? The answer is aemulatio, "envy, having a rival." As with all poetic statements, there is a wealth of meaning packed into these two simple statements. Even after you have understood the meaning of the individual words and the grammatical constructions, there is still so much to think about here.

So, as you ponder the meaning of love and envy, of death and hell, here is the verse read out loud: 172. Fortis est ut mors dilectio, dura sicut inferus aemulatio.

The number here is the number for this proverb in Vulgate Verses: 4000 Sayings from the Bible for Teachers and Students of Latin.

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Ego sum vitis, vos palmites

Ego sum vitis, vos palmites. I am the vine, you are the branches. (John 15:5)

My apologies for not posting last week! If you read the Bestiaria Latina blog round-ups, you know that I've been working on harvesting all the Latin Aesopic fables I could find at Google Books and other online sources... finally telling myself to stop when I reached 4000 fables! You can see the results of those efforts at the Latin Aesopus wiki. I'm going to try to get back to my regular blogging schedule this week! :-)

As I did last week, I wanted to say something about the way Latin is able to rely on parallel structures to reinforce the meaning conveyed by the words themselves. In this verse, the parallelism is very strict: subject pronoun - verb - predicate noun. Precisely because of the close parallelism, it is possible for a word to be omitted in one of the two statements, because the presence of that missing word can be clearly supplied by the parallel structure itself. In this verse, it is a form of the verb "to be" which is omitted: Ego sum vitis, vos [estis] palmites, "I am the vine, you [are] the branches."

The Greek version of this verse is word-for-word the same as the Latin: ἐγώ (I) εἰμι (am) ἡ ἄμπελος (the vine), ὑμεῖς (you) τὰ κλήματα (the branches). In the Greek, just as in the Vulgate Latin, there is a verb in the first statement, but the verb is omitted in the second part of the statement, while being clearly implied by the parallel structure.

In the King James version, however, the verb is stated in both parts of the verb: "I am the vine, ye are the branches." Of course, we can leave out words that are implied by parallel structures in English, too, but the effect is strongly poetic, sometimes disconcertingly so: "I am the vine, you the branches." If you read that out loud in English, you will see that we rely very heavily on a pause between the word "you" and "branches" which takes the place of the missing word; without that pause in English, we don't realize that we've reached the end of the statement. Was there a corresponding pause in the Latin? That is a tantalizing question, and one to which we will never know the answer, alas (barring the development of time travel!). The written record provides all kind of evidence, direct and indirect, for Latin pronunciation, but for something as subtle as pauses between words in a sentence, we don't have any solid evidence to go with at all.

Yet even without solid evidence for the pronunciation in the ancient world, I do still think it is valuable both to read Latin aloud and to listen to it, so here is today's verse read aloud: 365. Ego sum vitis, vos palmites.

The number here is the number for this proverb in Vulgate Verses: 4000 Sayings from the Bible for Teachers and Students of Latin.

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Speciosa misericordia Dei in tempore tribulationis

Speciosa misericordia Dei in tempore tribulationis, quasi nubes pluviae in tempore siccitatis. Beautiful is the mercy of God in a time of trouble, just as a cloud of rain in a time of drought. (Sirach 35:20)

One of the most common stylistic features of Latin is its use of parallel structure, so I thought I would do a series of posts in this blog focusing on verses which feature a strongly parallel structure. That is why I chose today's verse, which is from the apocryphal wisdom book sometimes called The Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach, The Wisdom of Ben Sirach, or simply Sirach. In Latin, it is often referred to as Ecclesiasticus - not to be confused with the canonical book of Ecclesiastes!

The verse has two distinct parts which are parallel in structure. The first part is about the mercy of God:

Speciosa (est) misericordia Dei in tempore tribulationis.
Beautiful is the mercy of God in a time of trouble.

The second part is about a cloud of rain:

(Speciosa est) nubes pluviae in tempore siccitatis.
(Beautiful is) a cloud of rain in a time of drought.

The word quasi, "as if" or "like," is used to provide the explicit link between the two statements.

The parallelism is reinforced by the word order and by the grammatical structures, with misericordia Dei (noun+genitive) parallel to nubes pluviae (noun+genitive), and in tempore tribulationis parallel to in tempore siccitatis.

The word speciosa, "beautiful," is not stated in the second clause, but carries over from the parallel with the first clause. It is often the case with parallel structures that words or phrases which apply to both clauses can be omitted in one of the clauses, which adds to the poetic quality of the statement. Especially when you are a beginning a Latin student, it can be a big help to write out the missing words in a parallel construction, just to make sure you see how it all fits together grammatically!

Meanwhile, as you listen to the audio, see if you can let your mind "hear" the parallelism of the two statements here: 157. Speciosa misericordia Dei in tempore tribulationis, quasi nubes pluviae in tempore siccitatis.

The number here is the number for this proverb in Vulgate Verses: 4000 Sayings from the Bible for Teachers and Students of Latin.

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Pater, omnia possibilia tibi sunt

In English: Father, all things are possible for you. (Mark 14:36)

In the previous posts at this blog, I've been looking at the flexible options for Latin word order. What you see in this verse is a great example of how you need to identify the subject of the sentence correctly in order to see just what is going on here. The words omnia and possibilia COULD be a single noun phrase ("all possibilities"), but that is not what is going on in this verse. Instead, the word omnia stands as the subject, while the word possibilia is part of the predicate: "all things (omnia) are possible for you (possibilia tibi sunt)."

For English speakers, however, it is difficult to realize at first that there is a pause between omnia and possibilia - although those two words are sitting right next to each other, they belong to completely different parts of the sentence, the subject (omnia) and the predicate (possibilia). Notice that we use a little comma to offset the vocative Pater at the beginning of the sentence. How handy it would be if we had a punctuation mark, such as a virgule, to indicate the pause between subject and predicate, just as the comma is used to mark off a part of the sentence: Pater, omnia | possibilia tibi sunt.

In Greek, the word order follows the same pattern as the Latin, the only difference being that the verb is not expressed, and the Greek includes the Hebrew word Abba together with the Greek word for father: αββα ὁ πατήρ, πάντα δυνατά σοι. Just as in the Latin, the subject πάντα stands next to the predicate adjective, δυνατά, leaving it up to the reader to recognize that while the two words stand next to each other, they belong to different parts of the sentence.

In King James, the verse reads: "Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee." As you can see, the verb "are" marks a clear division between the subject, "all things" and the predicate adjective, "possible."

So, as you listen to the audio recording of the verse in Latin, see if you can feel what's going on in your brain as you experience the flow of the words, with the subject coming first, and the predicate coming after the subject... but without a verb to signal that division, as it does in English: 355. Pater, omnia possibilia tibi sunt.

The number here is the number for this proverb in Vulgate Verses: 4000 Sayings from the Bible for Teachers and Students of Latin.

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Pascua sunt divitum pauperes

In English: Poor people are the feeding grounds of the rich people. (Sirach 13:19)

In my comments about the past several verses, I've focused on examples of "wrapped" word order where a noun phrase is wrapped around a verb or around another noun phrase. This artful word order can produce some strong rhetorical effects, which is certainly the case here in this saying from the apocryphal book known as "The Wisdom of Ben Sira by Yeshua ben Sira" ("The Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach") or simply "Sirach." In the Latin tradition this book is often referred to as "Ecclesiasticus," not to be confused with the canonical book of "Ecclesiastes."

As you begin this sentence, you get the word pascua, "pasture lands" or "feeding grounds." Because it is a neuter noun, you cannot be sure if it is in the nominative or the accusative case, but the next word, sunt, strongly suggests that the word is nominative, serving either as the subject of the sentence, or the predicate. Although in English we expect the subject to come first in the sentence, there is no reason to expect the subject to come first in Latin. Very often it is the predicate of the sentence which comes first, not the subject.

The next word is a bit unexpected: divitum. This genitive plural can certainly be taken with pascua, and could form a complete sentence already as it is: Pascua sunt divitum, "They are the feeding grounds of the rich people." I have said "they" here, because we do not know what the subject is yet - although that question will be answered unambiguously by the last word.

Pauperes. With this last word, the statement is revealed to be a powerful metaphor indeed and a defiant bit of social criticism. Now we know what the subject of the sentence is - pauperes, "poor people" - and the sentence now reads, Pascua sunt divitum pauperes, "Poor people are the feeding grounds of the rich people."

Now, since Latin word is completely free, there are in fact 24 different ways in which these words can be arranged, each and every one of them grammatically correct. Try it out just to see what you discover! (Mathematically, this is referred to as 4!, a factorial expression, which is 4*3*2*1, or 24.) The question then is what is the special quality of this combination, the rhetorical features that let it rise to the top of those twenty-four possible combinations.

Here are some impressions I have of why this word order is especially expressive. First, it keeps the uninteresting verb sunt inside, not occupying the strong first or final positions. If we posit that the verb needs to go in second or in third position, that eliminates half of all the possibilities, bringing us down from 24 options, to just 12.

Next: word wrapping. If you decide that it is more powerful to wrap the predicate phrase around the verb or around the entire subject and verb, you can eliminate four more possibilities, leaving you with eight: four possibilities where the predicate phrase wraps around the verb (1-2-3-4), and four possibilities where the predicate phrase wraps around the entire sentence (5-6-7-8).

1. Pascua sunt divitum pauperes.
2. Divitum sunt pascua pauperes.
3. Pauperes divitum sunt pascua.
4. Pauperes pascua sunt divitum.

5. Pascua sunt pauperes divitum.
6. Divitum sunt pauperes pascua.
7. Divitum pauperes sunt pascua.
8. Pascua pauperes sunt divitum.

Now, keep in mind that this is a statement where the metaphorical level is already pretty high. Remember that the core sentence here is absolutely a metaphor: pascua sunt pauperes, "poor people are feeding grounds." That is a simple statement, but highly metaphorical. Metaphorical statements such as this already make some serious demands on your audience, and syntactic displacement also demands a high level of attentiveness from your audience. So, in order to avoid the extreme displacement of wrapping the predicate around the entire sentence, I would opt for a more limited displacement, wrapping the predicate around the verb.

Consider, then those remaining four possibilities:

1. Pascua sunt divitum pauperes.
2. Divitum sunt pascua pauperes.
3. Pauperes divitum sunt pascua.
4. Pauperes pascua sunt divitum.

As you can see, one of the main choices that you then have to make is whether you want to have the subject, pauperes, come first - or whether you want to save it for the end, as a dramatic surprise. That would be my preference, which leaves us with two possibilities:

1. Pascua sunt divitum pauperes.
2. Divitum sunt pascua pauperes.

Between these two options, the stylistic choice is then how you want to emphasize the paradoxical presence of two opposite words, rich and poor, divitum and pauperes, in the sentence. You can either put them in first and last position, as you see in possibility number two: Divitum sunt pascua pauperes. That is definitely a sentence with strong rhetorical force.

To my way of thinking, however, it is better to concentrate the force of the surprise at the end. You already have the surprise of pauperes at the end of the sentence, and you can heighten that sense of surprise by having the word divitum as the word immediately preceding pauperes.

That is the version of the saying we find in Sirach: Pascua sunt divitum pauperes. The sentence starts off innocuously, but also a bit mysteriously - something about feeding grounds. Then we find out these are the feeding grounds of the rich. Okay: but what is going on here exactly? We need to know more for the sentence to really make sense. And then - enter the poor. The poor are the feeding grounds of the rich, the very grass on which they feed, the food they consume. Those who are already richly fed are feeding on those without food to eat.

That is the paradox which the Latin word order drives home - and likewise in the Greek: νομαὶ πλουσίων πτωχοί.

So, with a bow to the author of this apocryphal wisdom book of the Bible - a book which is a joy to read, in Latin or English or Greek - here is today's verse read out loud: 160. Pascua sunt divitum pauperes.

The number here is the number for this proverb in Vulgate Verses: 4000 Sayings from the Bible for Teachers and Students of Latin.

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Caeci sunt duces caecorum

In English: They are blind leaders of the blind. (Matt. 15:14)

As in the previous verse I posted about - Deus cordis scrutator est verus - we are dealing again here with a split predicate phrase, although this time the displaced adjective is in the first position, rather than in last position. To make matters more puzzling, at least for English speakers, the subject of the sentence is not expressed, but is implied by the verb: sunt, "they are."

So, as you read through this verse, what you have is caeci, a predicate adjective, followed by the verb, sunt, "Blind they are," or in more natural English word order, "They are blind." That could be a complete sentence, and could stand on its own.

Yet there is more to come, duces. So they are caeci duces, blind leaders - a predicate phrase, wrapped around the verb. You've already got a bizarre situation: someone who is not able to see is not likely to be someone who would be in the lead.

Then, with the last word, the situation becomes even more unexpected: caecorum. It is not just that they are blind men who are in the lead, but the people they are leading are blind as well. If you want to render the gradual unfolding of the situation as the Latin word order has it, you would have to say in English: "Blind they are, blind leaders, and those they are leading are blind, too." Latin, however, is able to develop that same progression of ideas in four simple words, artfully arranged: Caeci sunt duces caecorum.

You find the same word order in the Greek: τυφλοί εἰσιν ὁδηγοί τυφλῶν, "Blind are they, leaders of the blind." Yet there is some variation in the Greek text, and you can find a quite different word order for this verse, but still with a split predicate: ὁδηγοί εἰσι τυφλοὶ τυφλῶν, "leaders they are, blind, of the blind." In this version, the rhetorical power comes from the juxtaposition of the nominative plural τυφλοὶ (Latin caeci) and the genitive plural τυφλῶν (Latin caecorum). Both arrangements are powerful - you can either have the two parallel words standing at the beginning and end of the sentence (τυφλοί εἰσιν ὁδηγοί τυφλῶν), or you can juxtapose them unexpectedly at the end of the sentence (ὁδηγοί εἰσι τυφλοὶ τυφλῶν).

There is some variation in the Latin text as well: in some versions, you can find an et inserted as follows: Caeci sunt, et duces caecorum, "Blind they are, and they are even leaders of the blind." If you choose the reading with et you have a compound predicate, rather than a single predicate phrase which is wrapped around the verb. The rhetorical force in either case is still the same, however, with caeci in the strong first position, and the unexpected caecorum in final position, creating a double-whammy of surprise, with or without the et introduced to make explicit the double nature of the paradox - blind leaders, and their followers are blind, too!

So, hoping the grammar commentary here has done better than to lead you into a syntactic ditch, here is today's verse read out loud: 145. Caeci sunt duces caecorum.

The number here is the number for this proverb in Vulgate Verses: 4000 Sayings from the Bible for Teachers and Students of Latin.

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Study Guide: Group 32

Here is the latest Study Guide! I have not provided English translations, since those are easy enough to find by consulting versions of the Bible in English. Instead, I have tried to call attention to the various grammatical features of the verses, along with interesting vocabulary items, the importance of a specific Biblical context, etc.

You will find more Study Guides at the Vulgate Verses wiki.

These verses contain no verbs, except for present tense forms of the verb "to be" (and usually no expressed verb at all):

395. As you can see from the "ch" this is a Greek word originally, which has been adopted into Latin; the letter "ch" is the Roman representation of the Greek letter called "chi," which is an aspirated "k." In some academic transliteration systems used today, the Greek letter is written as "kh" instead of the traditional Roman representation of the letter as "ch" as you can see here.

396. In translating the Latin pronoun hic, you might say simply "this" or provide a more specific English equivalent which reflects the gender of the pronoun, "this man."

397. The word vere is an adverb, and thus modifies the verb. This adverbial form is used less commonly than the other adverb formed from this same stem: vero.

398. With the freedom of Latin word order, the first position and last position in a phrase or sentence is reserved for the most important words, as you can see in this verse with hic in first position, and dilectus in the emphatic final position. The word order also closely imitates the Greek (where the adjective is joined to the first noun phrase with a serial article: οὖτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός).

399. Questions in Latin that begin with nonne expect the answer "yes" (Isn't this man the son of the carpenter? Yes, he is!). Here are some notes about Asking Questions in Latin.

400. The hic homo referred to here is Paul. His Roman citizenship protects him from interrogation and punishment by government officials.

401. Notice the use of the masculine form of the pronoun, hic, "this (masculine)," because the predicate noun, sanguis, is neuter. You can find these words used in Matthew 26 as well.

402. This is from the account of the Last Supper provided by Paul in I Corinthians.

403. Notice the use of the feminine form of the pronoun, haec, "this (feminine)," because the predicate noun, corpus, is neuter. The verb is implied but not stated: haec (est) via, "This (is) the way."

404. Notice the use of the neuter form of the pronoun, hoc, "this (neuter)," because the predicate noun, corpus, is neuter.

405. The use of the two different Latin prepositions, ex and de is not paralleled in either the Hebrew or Greek versions of this text; in both Hebrew and in Greek, the same preposition is used for both phrases.

406. Notice how the predicate phrase wraps around the verb: inimica Dei, with the genitive Dei parallel to the genitive phrase in the subject, huius mundi.

407. Notice the predicate adjective in the emphatic first position.

408. The verb is expressed but not implied. In English, a verb has to be supplied. Here is the King James version: "Peace be to this house."

409. Again, the verb is expressed but not implied. The dative, huic, suggests the dative of possession, and the King James version accordingly supplies the verb "hath" - "Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?"

410. Notice the pronominal adjective in the emphatic final position.

411. The use of these personal pronouns together with the verbs is emphatic; the verbs estis and sum express the subjects clearly, and the use of the pronouns serves to add emphasis.

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Deus cordis scrutator est verus

In English: God is a true examiner of the mind. (Wisdom 1:7)

In the previous three verses - stultorum infinitus est numerus; dignus est operarius cibo suo; and dominus est filius hominis etiam sabbati - there was a predicate phrase that wrapped around the entire sentence. In today's sentence, the subject comes in first position, Deus, but then the predicate phrase, cordis scrutator verus is wrapped around the verb. For English speakers, this is disconcerting, because we expect the word order to be Subject - Linking Verb - Predicate. In this Latin sentence, however, the word order is Subject - Predicate Part One - Linking Verb - Predicate Part Two.

The reason for choosing this kind of rhetorical presentation in Latin is to give a heightened emphasis to the portion of the predicate phrase that is reserved for the end. The sentence is going along just fine, and you might even think the sentence is over, but then - surprise! - there is a crucial piece of information which is tacked on at the very end, information that catches you by surprise because you did not expect it was coming.

Here's how that works. You start with Deus, a noun in the nominative case, so you know it is the subject of the sentence, or a predicate noun agreeing with the subject. As English speakers, we tend to assume that the subject comes first in the sentence, and in this instance at least we are not wrong in that assumption.

The next word, cordis, "heart" or "mind," is unambiguously in the genitive. It does not appear to go with the first word, so we are waiting for either a noun which needs this genitive as its complement, or for a verb which takes a genitive complement.

We get our wish with the next word, scrutator, "examiner" or "inspector." This is a word that very much wants to have a genitive complement: cordis scrutator, "an examiner of the mind." This could actually be a complete sentence already in Latin: Deus cordis scrutator, "God (is) an examiner of the mind." So, as we read on, we are already quite satisfied with what we have been told so far.

The next word, est, simply confirms what we have learned so far: Deus cordis scrutator est, "God is an examiner of the mind." That is a complete sentence, with a typical Latin word order pattern: Subject (Deus) - Predicate Phrase (cordis scrutator) - Verb (est). The sentence could very well stop here.

Yet there is another word at the end: verus. The predicate phrase, cordis scrutator turns out to be a more complete phrase, cordis scrutator verus, "a true examiner of the mind," which is wrapped around the innocuous linking verb est. It makes perfect sense to have wrapped the predicate phrase around the verb, since you want to reserve the first and last positions in any sentence or clause for the most important information. Putting the word verus in final position is much stronger rhetorically than having the more or less empty word est in final position.

It is possible to hint at this kind of word in English by using an incremental sentence structure that mimics the Latin: "God is an examiner of the mind, a true one." In English, we can put a noun phrase, "a true one," in apposition to the predicate, "an examiner of the mind." It is awkward and wordy in English, but that is the closest you can come to expressing the rhetorical force of the Latin word order, which is able to take the adjective verus from the predicate noun phrase and put it in the emphatic final position in the sentence. In Latin, this is easy to do because the word order is free and allows for precisely this kind of expression. In English, sadly, this power of expression is not readily available to us.

So, in honor of all the expressive possibilities of every language on the earth, both Latin and English and all the hundreds of other languages as well, here is today's verse read out loud: 124. Deus cordis scrutator est verus.

The number here is the number for this proverb in Vulgate Verses: 4000 Sayings from the Bible for Teachers and Students of Latin.

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Study Guide: Group 31

Here is the latest Study Guide! I have not provided English translations, since those are easy enough to find by consulting versions of the Bible in English. Instead, I have tried to call attention to the various grammatical features of the verses, along with interesting vocabulary items, the importance of a specific Biblical context, etc.

You will find more Study Guides at the Vulgate Verses wiki.

These verses contain no verbs, except for present tense forms of the verb "to be" (and usually no expressed verb at all):

381. The predicate genitive expresses the sense of possession: "the earth is the lord's" with a parallel structure in the second clause as well: (domini est) plenitudo eius, with the genitive pronoun eius referring back to terra, so plenitudo eius = plenitudo terrae.

382. The word terra is in the nominative case, serving as the subject of the sentence, while gloria is ablative, complementing the adjective plena.

383. The preposition in with the accusative can express duration of time, as here: his mercy (goes on) into eternity.

384. The verb "to be" is implied but not stated, with potestas eius as the subject noun phrase and potestas aeterna as the predicate noun phrase.

385. Notice that here the genitive pronoun eius could be a subjective or an objective genitive, with the meaning supplied by context. If it were subjective genitive, laus eius would mean that it is he who is doing the praising, but in context this is clearly an objective genitive, where laus eius means that he is the object of the praise, i.e. "his praise" means that he is being praised.

386. As in Verse #383 above, the phrase usque ad generationem et generationem is used to express duration of time. It can also be used to express the extent of space, but the word generationem shows that here the reference is to time.

387. Notice that the genitive pronoun eius refers back to the noun solis, while the genitive Domini complements the noun nomen.

388. You have two different statements here, with the verb "to be" omitted in both. In the first statement, the prepositional phrase provides the predicate, while in the second statement you have two noun phrases which are equated: nebulae, "the clouds," and pulvis pedum eius, "the dust of his feet."

389. Notice the parallel structure, which allows words to be omitted from the second clause because they parallel the words already found in the first clause: (quam) investigabiles (sunt) viae eius.

390. You have two different statements here, with the verb "to be" omitted in both, with two contrasting subjects: statera dolosa in the first clause (with abominatio as the predicate), and pondus aequum as the subject of the second clause (with voluntas eius as the predicate).

391. The verb sumus expresses indirectly the subject of the sentence: (nos) sumus, "we are." The noun phrase membra corporis eius wraps around the verb.

392. Notice the parallel structure, with omnis caro as the subject of the first clause, and omnis gloria eius as the subject of the second clause, with the pronoun eius referring back to the flesh, caro in the first clause.

393. Notice the parallel structure in both clauses, sicut... ita (et)..., with the pronoun eius referring back to the king, regis in the first clause.

394. The statement non sunt is declarative - "there are not" - with the noun phrase, tenebrae...ullae wrapping around the verb and the prepositional phrase.

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Dominus est Filius hominis etiam sabbati

In English: Dominus est Filius hominis etiam sabbati. (Mark 2:28)

Like the last two verses which I posted about - stultorum infinitus est numerus and dignus est operarius cibo suo - this verb provides a wonderful example of Latin word order, in which a noun, dominus, and its complement, sabbati, wrap around the entire statement, providing a strong sense of rhetorical completion.

For English speakers, however, this can be very disconcerting. We are used to sentences that are S-V-O, Subject-Verb-Object (or Subject-Linking Verb-Predicate). In this Latin sentence pattern, however, the word order is something quite different.

The first word, dominus, is unambiguously in the nominative, which is great. That means you are dealing either with the subject of the sentence, or with a predicate noun, the "lord" or the "master." The nominative is your best friend in Latin, because it serves only as the subject of a sentence or agrees with the subject.

The next word, est, lets you know that you are dealing with a sentence that is likely to have a subject in the nominative and a noun or adjective phrase that is the predicate, also in the nominative.

Then, with the next word, you get another noun in the nominative, filius. This is great. You know have a complete sentence, dominus est filius, with a verb and a subject and a predicate. Still, the meaning is not complete. This could be "the master is the son" or "the son is the master." So, you need to read onwards to see what else you can learn about the actual meaning of this sentence.

The next word, hominis, is a good clue: coming right after the word filius, you can guess that you are dealing with a common phrase in Biblical language, filius hominis, the "son of man," in other words, Jesus.

The next word is an intensifying adverb, etiam, meaning "even" or "also" (the word et by itself can be adverbial, but the form etiam is unambiguously adverbial; notice that in the Greek it is the simple "and" which is used adverbially: κύριός ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ τοῦ σαββάτου). So far, you don't know what the adverb is modifying (since the phrase "son of man" requires no such modification). So, you read onwards to find out what this adverb modifies.

Then, the final word provides the solution to it all: sabbati, a genitive noun, meaning "of the sabbath." You don't need a genitive noun to go with filius hominis, but you are still waiting for a word to complement dominus, the first word in the sentence. So here, with the last word in the sentence, you get the final complement, wrapping up the sentence into a perfect whole. You have a subject, filius hominis, "the son of man," and a predicate noun phrase which wraps around the subject, dominus etiam sabbati, "master even of the sabbath." The result, in English word order: The son of man is the master even of the sabbath.

The structure of the Latin sentence is doubly baffling to English speakers, given that it begins with the predicate rather than with the subject, and the predicate phrase itself is discontinuous, wrapping all the way around the sentence. Yet the rhetorical effect is very powerful, and is a natural possibility inherent in Latin, where it is the grammatical endings, and not the word order itself, which determines the syntactical relationships among the words.

So, in honor of the wrapped predicate phrase, here is today's verse read out loud: 119. Dominus est Filius hominis etiam sabbati.

The number here is the number for this proverb in Vulgate Verses: 4000 Sayings from the Bible for Teachers and Students of Latin.

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Study Guide: Group 30

Here is the latest Study Guide! I have not provided English translations, since those are easy enough to find by consulting versions of the Bible in English. Instead, I have tried to call attention to the various grammatical features of the verses, along with interesting vocabulary items, the importance of a specific Biblical context, etc.

You will find more Study Guides at the Vulgate Verses wiki.

These verses contain no verbs, except for present tense forms of the verb "to be" (and usually no expressed verb at all):

369. With pronouns in the ablative case, the preposition cum is added after the pronoun, and written as a single word: cum+vobis = vobiscum.

370. The subject of the verb, ego, is not expressed because it is fully conveyed by the verb sum.

371. The prepositional phrase vobiscum is being used predicatively, with the noun phrase gratia domini as the subject.

372. The prepositional phrase nobiscum is used predicatively. The noun dominus and the noun phrse deus noster are being used in apposition (the Latin word dominus, like the Greek word κύριος, is regularly used to substitute for the Hebrew tetragrammaton).

373. For a commentary on this verse, see the Vulgate Verses blog.

374. The dative vobis goes with the word necessaria, which is a predicate adjective agreeing with the subject, patientia.

375. Notice here that when the pronoun vobis is modified by the adjective omnibus, the preposition cum is not added to the end of the pronoun.

376. The nouns gratia and pax form a compound subject. Note that the noun deo and the noun phrase patre nostro are being used in apposition.

377. Note the use of the expressed verb sum in the first clause, while the verb is not expressed in the second and third clauses, which have a parallel structure, with a pronoun subject and a prepositional phrase as the predicate.

378. The interjection vae, which expresses suffering or fear, is usually found with the dative, vobis, while the nouns scribae et Pharisaei are in the vocative, with the noun hypocritae in apposition.

379. The interrogative adverb unde introduces a question which requests information ("from where?"), while nonne introduces a rhetorical question, one which expects an answer in the affirmative ("yes, they are"). Note that the adverb hinc and the prepositional phrase are being used in apposition to one another.

380. Note the word order, with ego as the subject, followed by the predicate prepositional phrase, vobiscum, followed by the verb, with additional adverbial information following the verb.

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Dignus est operarius cibo suo

In English: The worker is worthy of his food. (Matt. 10:10)

I chose this saying for today because, as in the last verse I posted about, you can find a good example here of "wrapping," where a phrase, in this case a predicate adjective phrase - dignus cibo suo - wraps around the subject, operarius. This lends the verse a kind of stylistic elegance in Latin which is difficult to capture in English. If you render the verse in English following the Latin word order, it would be: "Worthy is the worker of his food." That is poetic language in English, so poetic as to be almost non-natural; it is certainly not typical spoken English.

In Latin, however, this kind of word order is definitely elegant, but it is not unnatural or a purely written affectation. It is an easy and obvious possibility in Latin, because it is the case endings, not the word order, which govern the grammatical relationships between the words. Not surprisingly, the King James Bible opts for a more unpoetic translation in English, observing the standard rules of English word order: "the workman is worthy of his meat."

Greek, like Latin, is a highly inflected language with extremely free word order. In the Greek original of this verse, you can see the same exact style of "wrapping" word order as in the Latin: ἄξιος (worthy) ὁ ἐργάτης (the worker) τῆς τροφῆς αὐτοῦ (of his food, his nourishment). In the Greek, the linking verb "to be" has been omitted. This would also be possible in Latin, but the inclusion the verb est in the non-emphatic second position in the Latin verse helps make it clear that dignus is a predicate adjective, while operarius is the subject noun; otherwise, without the est, it might seem, at least at first, that you were dealing with a noun phrase, dignus operarius, "the worthy worker."

You might be surprised here by the word cibo, "food," since the more famous version of this verse is the example provided by Luke 10, which is also repeated in I Timothy 5, dignus est operarius mercede sua, "the worker is worthy of his reward" (or "his wages"). (In Greek: ἄξιος ὁ ἐργάτης τοῦ μισθοῦ αὐτοῦ.) King James renders this as "the laborer is worthy of his hire" (Luke) or "The laborer is worthy of his reward" (I Timothy).

As you can see, the Latin word dignus takes an ablative complement, although we translate this into English as "worthy of." Don't let the English fool you; the case here in Latin is ablative, not genitive. There are other constructions you can find with dignus in Vulgate Latin. The adjective can take an ut clause, as here: non sum dignus ut sub tectum meum intres, "I am not worthy that you enter under my roof" (Luke 7). It can also take an infinitive: non sum dignus solvere corrigiam calceamentorum eius, "I am not worthy to untie the lace of his sandals," (Luke 3) or Quis est dignus aperire librum?, "Who is worthy to open the book?" (Revelation 5). Here is an example with a passive infinitive: non sum dignus vocari filius tuus, "I am not worthy to be called your son" (Luke 15).

Luckily, these idiomatic uses of the word dignus in Latin are not so different from the idiomatic uses of the word "worthy" in English. What is different, however, is the extraordinary range of word order options that is always available to speakers and writers of Latin, which is simply not available in English. So, be glad that so many Latin idioms are quite similar to idioms in English, and then just relax and enjoy the unexpected twists and turns of Latin word order, which provides an expressive register which is something new - and exciting - for us speakers of English!

So, in honor of all the workers and their wages, here is today's verse read out loud: 41. Dignus est operarius cibo suo.

The number here is the number for this proverb in Vulgate Verses: 4000 Sayings from the Bible for Teachers and Students of Latin.

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Stultorum infinitus est numerus

In English: The number of fools is infinite. (Ecc. 1:15)

The grammar topic I would like to consider this time is the way that Latin can so elegantly "wrap" a phrase or sentence, with a noun phrase split into two parts as you can see here. The charm of this saying in Latin does not consist simply in what it says but in the elegant way in which the words are arranged, with the noun phrase stultorum numerus, "number of fools," split into two parts so that it encloses the whole sentence.

In English, unfortunately, there is no way to mimic this sentence structure since, unlike Latin, English depends on word order to define grammatical relationships, while Latin instead relies on an inflectional system of word endings.

If you want to follow the Latin word order in English, you have to change the syntax considerably: "When it comes to fools, infinite is the number." That is awkward in English, but at least it does convey the word-by-word development of the sentence in Latin.

For many English speakers, learning to savor Latin word order can be difficult at first, but once you relax and let go of your English assumptions, Latin word is delightfully expressive. Cognitively, you have plenty of clues - it may feel like you are walking a tightrope, but that is not the case at all. Even if it's not quite safe to look down, you do have handrails you can hang onto! In this sentence, for example, the first word, stultorum, is unambiguous: it is a genitive plural. That means it is looking for some noun to form a noun phrase, or else it is seeking out a verb that takes a genitive complement.

When you get to the second word, infinitus, you are dealing unambiguously with an adjective. Even better, it is an adjective in the nominative case. That means it does not link up directly with stultorum; instead, it is looking for a noun as well - either a noun to agree with in a noun phrase that will be the subject of the sentence, or a noun that can be the subject with this adjective in the predicate. The nominative case is absolutely your best friend in Latin, because the only thing words in the nominative can do is to serve as the subject of the sentence, or as the predicate, agreeing with the subject. So, you are not surprised to next see the verb est, a nice linking verb joining the subject and predicate.

Then comes the last word, numerus, which ties it all together for you: this is the noun which takes the genitive complement to make a noun phrase, stultorum numerus, "the number of fools," with the adjective as predicate, infinitus est, "is infinite." You are dealing with two phrases in this sentence: stultorum numerus, "the number of fools," and infinitus est, with the first phrase elegantly wrapped about the second.

Reading a "wrapped" sentence like this requires some mental operations that are quite different from what your brain does when you read English. That is why - at first - reading Latin can be a real challenge for English speakers (but less so for speakers of other highly inflected languages, such as Russian or Polish). My recommendation is always just to read very, very slowly, pausing at each word, and sniffing out any clues you can discover about the phrases that are taking shape. You need to be aware of how the words are connected together to form phrases even if those connections are disrupted by the word order, rather than reinforced by it. Once you get the hang of it, you can do this unconsciously, just as you don't think about how you are moving your feet when you are riding a bicycle. Proverbs and Bible verses are a great way to get started, since they are short and often familiar - kind of like training wheels on a bike for beginners!

Meanwhile, hoping you have managed to steer clear of that infinitive number of fools in your day's endeavors, here is today's verse read out loud: 40. Stultorum infinitus est numerus.

The number here is the number for this proverb in Vulgate Verses: 4000 Sayings from the Bible for Teachers and Students of Latin.

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Study Guide: Group 29

Here is the latest Study Guide! I have not provided English translations, since those are easy enough to find by consulting versions of the Bible in English. Instead, I have tried to call attention to the various grammatical features of the verses, along with interesting vocabulary items, the importance of a specific Biblical context, etc.

You will find more Study Guides at the Vulgate Verses wiki.

These verses contain no verbs, except for present tense forms of the verb "to be" (and usually no expressed verb at all):

359. Note the absence of the verb "to be," with the pronoun nos as the subject, and stulti as a predicate adjective.

360. Note the absence of the verb "to be" in the first clause, with the pronoun nos as the subject, and lutum as a predicate noun, while the verb is expressed in the second clause.

361. Note the absence of the verb "to be" in the both clauses, with the prepositional phrases being used as predicates.

362. The pronoun vos is in the nominative case, the subject of the verb estis. Notice that while a predicate adjective has to agree with the subject in gender, number, and case, the predicate noun has only to be in the nominative case; it does not have to agree in gender and number with the subject.

363. See the note to the preceding verse. Although the predicate noun lux is feminine singular, it can still serve as a predicate noun with the plural pronoun vos as the subject.

364. Note the use of the postpositive particle autem in second position in the second clause. The word Christi in the first clause is genitive singular: you are "of Christ," you are "Christ's," etc. The second clause parallels the first with Dei in the genitive singular as well.

365. Note the use of the verb "to be" in the first clause, while it is omitted in the second clause. Both vitis and palmites are predicate nouns in the nominative case.

366. The prepositional phrases are being used predicatively. Note the word order: subject - predicate phrase - linking verb.

367. Like any other noun, pronouns can be modified by adjectives which agree with the noun in gender, number, and case: omnes vos. The word fratres is a predicate noun. Note the word order: subject (noun phrase) - predicate noun - linking verb.

368. The prepositional phrase is being used predicatively. Note the word order: interjection - subject (noun phrase) - predicate - linking verb.

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Verse: Quid timidi estis, modicae fidei?

In English: Why are you afraid, you people of moderate faith? (Matt. 8:26)

As I mentioned in the previous post, I'm going to be focusing these posts for the next few months on grammar topics and how those can be explored through Bible verses and other Latin sayings. One very important grammar dilemma that students of Latin face is learning how to ask and answer questions in Latin. Like the previous verse I blogged about here, this verse was chosen for the way it asks a question, this time using the word quid.

Of course, quid is a familiar question word, used to ask "what?" - just as the corresponding form quis is used to ask "who?" As you can see in this question, however, the word quid is used to ask "(for) what (reason)?" or, more simply in English, "why?" The Greek verse also uses the same construction, with the Greek interrogative pronoun, τί: τί δειλοί ἐστε, ὀλιγόπιστοι;

It's very important to recognize the use of quid to mean "why?" as it is a quite common construction, although you can only determine from context that you are dealing with a "why" question rather than a "what" question. Remember that quid can be either nominative or accusative case. So, if the verb in the question is in need of a subject, or if it is need of an object, then you are probably dealing with a "what" question, but if the verb does not need a subject or an object, then you are probably dealing with a "why" question, as is the case in this verse.

There's an interesting comparison here between the Greek and Latin versions. Greek has a ready-made adjective for someone who has little faith. They are ὀλιγόπιστοι, "small-faithed." In Latin, there is not a similar compound word, so you find a noun phrase used predicatively here: modicae fidei. This is a genitive noun phrase which has a descriptive purpose, much like the "of" phrases in English we use to describe someone or something (someone "of sound mind and body" or someone "of good character," for example, or something "of exceptional value").

It's also worth pointing out that the Latin does not exactly say of "little" faith, as the Greek does, but rather "limited" faith, modicus. You probably know the English word "modicum," which is adopted into English directly from this Latin adjective. A modicum is a moderate amount of something... but definitely tending towards the small end of the scale. The same here is true of the modicae fidei in Latin. The adjective modicus means "moderate" or "restrained," and thus tends towards the small end of the scale. To tell the truth, I prefer the way that it works here in Latin than in the Greek or the usual English translation, "little faith." With the phrase modicae fidei, it's as if your faith is waiting to burst those limits - it's not that your faith is small, but simply that it has been reined in by moderation. If only you would let go, it would expand to fill a much larger spiritual space!

So, with thoughts of immoderately large amounts of faith and hope, here is today's proverb read out loud: 265. Quid timidi estis, modicae fidei?

The number here is the number for this proverb in Vulgate Verses: 4000 Sayings from the Bible for Teachers and Students of Latin.

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Verse: Nonne militia est vita hominis super terram?

In English: Isn't man's life upon the earth a military campaign? (Job 7:1)

As I mentioned in the previous post about the grammar of Latin particles, I'm going to be focusing my blog posts for the next few months on grammar topics and how those can be explored through Bible verses and other Latin sayings. One very important grammar dilemma that students of Latin face is learning how to ask and answer questions in Latin. I chose today's verse as a good model of one way that a question can be asked in Latin.

As you can see at the beginning of this verse, the first word is nonne, which is really the word non with the enclitic particle ne added afterwards. When non and ne are combined in this way at the beginning of a sentence, it indicates a question to which the expected answer is an affirmative: Isn't man's life upon the earth a military campaign? Implied answer: Yes, it is!

The rule for making this kind of question in English is actually quite similar to the Latin rule: you add "not" (like adding Latin non).

So, for example, in English, you could ask the open-ended question: Is man's life upon the earth a military campaign? Nothing in the question implies whether the answer is yes or not. The form of the sentence, with the verb preceding the subject, indicates that the sentence is a yes-or-no question, but there is nothing implied about the answer. If you add "not," then the question expects an affirmative answer: Is not man's life upon the earth a military campaign? Yes, it is!

In Latin, word order does not indicate anything about whether a sentence is a question or not (unlike English, Latin word order is remarkably free). Instead, in Latin, the particle ne is used to indicate a question: Militiane est vita hominis super terram? That would be the neutral form of the question in Latin, expecting either an affirmative or a negative answer. Throw the non into the mix, just like in English, and an affirmative answer is expected. Conventionally, the non attracts the ne and stands first in the sentence: Nonne militia est vita hominis super terram?

This verse from the Book of Job is found as a question in some versions of the Vulgate, while in other versions of the Latin text (as in the Vulgata Clementina), it appears as a simple direct statement: Militia est vita hominis super terram, "Man's life upon the earth is a military campaign."

If you ask me, the rhetorical form of the question with nonne is much more compelling. A question that starts with nonne implies an affirmative answer, so it conveys the same information as a simple affirmative statement, but it does so in a way that pulls you in, compelling your assent. We can appreciate the rhetorical style of different forms of questions in English, and it's important to be able to "feel" the different qualities of different forms of questioning in Latin, too. The word nonne wants to pull you in and compel your assent - but it cannot exert that rhetorical force unless you are able to understand its meaning!

So, in the spirit of rhetorical questions compelling your assent: Aren't you going to listen to the audio? :-)
127. Nonne militia est vita hominis super terram?

The number here is the number for this proverb in Vulgate Verses: 4000 Sayings from the Bible for Teachers and Students of Latin.

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Study Guide: Group 28

Here is the latest Study Guide! I have not provided English translations, since those are easy enough to find by consulting versions of the Bible in English. Instead, I have tried to call attention to the various grammatical features of the verses, along with interesting vocabulary items, the importance of a specific Biblical context, etc.

You will find more Study Guides at the Vulgate Verses wiki.

These verses contain no verbs, except for present tense forms of the verb "to be" (and usually no expressed verb at all):

349. This is an existential use of the verb "to be," meaning that the phrase non est can be rendered in English as "there is no..." From the Latin word macula we get the English word "immaculate" as in the Immaculate Conception.

350. The word tecum is equivalent to the prepositional phrase, cum te.

351. You can find references to the fons vitae in Proverbs, Psalms, and Ecclesiasticus.

352. These words form part of the Hail Mary prayer.

353. See the note to Verse #350 for tecum. See Verse #331 for a note about the phrase Dominus Deus.

354. These are the words spoken by Amasai to David, as he pledges the support of his tribe for David's battle.

355. Be careful to distinguish between the subject omnia and the predicate possibilia.

356. The verb is implied but not expressed: Dominus exercituum (est) nomen tibi. The dative tibi expresses possession.

357. The adjective similis can take a genitive complement, and the word tui serves as the genitive of the pronoun tu here (not to be confused with a form of the possessive adjective, tuus).

358. The adverb valde modifies the prepositional phrase iuxta te: "very near to you." For more information about the word valde, see Verse #233.

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Verse: Messis quidem multa, operarii autem pauci

In English: The harvest, indeed, is great; the workers, however, are few. (Matt. 9:37)

Following up on the previous post about the postpositive particle quidem, I have chosen a verse which also uses the particle quidem, which this time is parallel with the postpositive particle autem.

The first particle, quidem, is emphatic, calling our attention to the word immediately preceding the particle, harvest. It is something like putting it in all-caps in English: The HARVEST is great (or, if you are speaking aloud, quidem is like a stage direction telling you to raise your voice).

The autem particle is called an "adversative" particle, indicating that the new statement is going to in some way contradict or oppose what came before. That is exactly what we see happen here, where the second statement about the paucity of workers stands in contrast to the abundance of the harvest.

It is important to understand that autem is being used here as a postpositive particle, a kind of "verbal punctuation," rather than a true conjunction. Just as in English, there is an adversative conjunction in Latin: sed, "but" in English. Yet this verse does not use the word "but," sed - instead, it uses the two postpositive particles in tandem in order to create an expressive effect. In the English translation that I've provided above, I used the English "however," which also functions in a postpositive role here, and the same also with "indeed," which I have used for quidem. Using the particles in this way, I have tried to imitate something of the Latin word order.

Not surprisingly, if you look at the Greek, you will see a pair of postpositive particles there as well: ὁ μὲν θερισμὸς πολύς, οἱ δὲ ἐργάται ὀλίγοι - although in this case, I prefer the elegance of the Latin which is able to create the parallel statements without the interference of the definite articles that you see in the Greek.

I show also note that the Latin gains in expressive density by being able to rely on implied verbs (and the same is true of the Greek, too). This is an example of what is often called the "omitted copula" in Latin. These two little sentences both have a subject (messis and operarii), and they both have a predicate (multa and pauci), but the linking verb, the form of the verb "to be" (est and sunt) can be safely omitted from each statement here in Latin, unlike English.

So, hoping you are finding workers for your harvest, whatever that might be, here is today's verse read out loud: 69. Messis quidem multa, operarii autem pauci.

The number here is the number for this proverb in Vulgate Verses: 4000 Sayings from the Bible for Teachers and Students of Latin.

If you are reading this via RSS: The Flash audio content is not syndicated via RSS; please visit the Vulgate Verses blog to listen to the audio.

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Study Guide: Group 27

Here is the latest Study Guide! I have not provided English translations, since those are easy enough to find by consulting versions of the Bible in English. Instead, I have tried to call attention to the various grammatical features of the verses, along with interesting vocabulary items, the importance of a specific Biblical context, etc.

You will find more Study Guides at the Vulgate Verses wiki.

These verses contain no verbs, except for present tense forms of the verb "to be" (and usually no expressed verb at all):

331. This verse is from the apocryphal book of Baruch. The phrase Dominus Deus in Latin, κύριος ὁ θεός in Greek, represents the Hebrew phrase, "YHWH elohim." From reverence, the name of God, YHWH, was replaced with the word "Adonai," which means "lord, master" in Hebrew, hence the use of Dominus in Latin, and κύριος in Greek.

332. Be careful to distinguish between the subject, tu, and predicate, Deus clemens et misericors.

333. This verse is from the apocryphal prayer called the "Prayer of Manasseh." The words benignus, longanimis and misericors are adjectives, agreeing with Dominus, while the word multum is an adverb from the adjective multus. (Many adverbs take the same form as a the neuter singular of an adjective.)

334. The verb is implied but not expressed: tu (es) excelsus in aeternum, Domine.

335. This verse is from the apocryphal prayer called the "Prayer of Manasseh." The adjective, altissimus, is a superlative form, which can mean "the highest" or "very, very high."

336. These are the words that King David speaks to God.

337. The adjective solus has a range of meanings in English, "one, alone, only."

338. The verb is implied but not expressed: Tu (es) lucerna mea, Domine.

339. Notice that Domine has a distinct vocative form, but the noun Deus does not have a distinct vocative.

340. Notice that the subject comes at the end of the sentence, tu, and the predicate comes first. This word order is very natural in Latin but can be confusing for English-speakers.

341. Notice the use of pater noster in this verse. The English word "paternoster" comes from the Latin phrase, pater noster, which are the first words of the Lord's prayer proclaimed by Jesus in the Gospel (Matthew 6).

342. Notice that the subject comes at the end of the sentence, tu, and the predicate comes first (after the introductory vocative, Domine). This word order is very natural in Latin but can be confusing for English-speakers.

343. These are the words spoken by a voice from heaven when Jesus is baptized.

344. The word christus comes from Greek, as shown by the "ch" which is the Latin way to represent the letter "chi" which is lacking in the Latin alphabet. In Greek, the word means "anointed." The Latin equivalent would be unctus. If the early Latin-speaking Christians had translated the Greek word instead of transliterating it, then we would say Jesus Unct, instead of Jesus Christ.

345. These words form part of the "Hail Mary" prayer, which you can read about at wikipedia.

346. These are the words that the Sidonian widow speaks to the prophet Elijah (Latin Elias).

347. The verbs are implied but not expressed: Deus (est) in caelo et tu (es) super terram.

348. The word fili is the vocative form of the noun filius. In the final portion, be careful to distinguish between the subject, omnia mea and the predicate, tua sunt.

Verse: Spiritus quidem promptus; caro vero infirma

In English: The spirit is willing; the flesh is weak. (Mark 14:38)

I haven't blogged here for a while because I've been working on a book manuscript - Aesop's fables in Latin, which should be out in August with Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers - and finally I've gotten the manuscript done so I can start blogging again. Yeah!

In that book manuscript I was working on some Latin grammar topics which will also be the focus of my blogging here. One of my main topics of interest is the use of postpositive particles in Latin, which you can see very nicely here in Mark 14:38. Although there is no verb stated, you have a very clear subject-predicate relationship in each of these two parallel statements, with the particles quidem and vero marking out the two statements very clearly:

[subject] Spiritus quidem [predicate] promptus;
[subject] caro vero [predicate] infirma

So often it is a temptation to translate the particles with words - mere words, I would say - in English, when the particles are actually serving not so much a communicative function but instead a metacommunicative function, organizing the sentence, punctuating it verbally.

In English this is often rendered as "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak," although the Latin here is subtly different. There is not a conjunction, "but" (Latin sed) which connects these two statements. Instead, the statements are connected by their parallel structure. The postpositive particle vero has both a connecting and adversative function. It strongly affirms the statement - the flesh truly is weak - while at the same time also emphasizing a contrast with the previous statement - the flesh truly is weak (unlike the spirit).

The postpositive particle quidem in the first statement is an emphatic particle. I often compare that to the same effect as putting a word in all-caps or in bold: The SPIRIT is willing (but) the flesh (truly) is weak. The particle quidem is the particle that puts the word SPIRITUS in all-caps, while the particle vero conveys the idea both of "truly" (the flesh truly is weak) and also "but" (the spirit is willing but the flesh is not; it truly is weak).

Not surprisingly, there is also a pair of particles used in the Greek here, the familiar combination μὲν ... δὲ:

τὸ μὲν πνεῦμα πρόθυμον ἡ δὲ σὰρξ ἀσθενής.

Students of Greek are given many opportunities to study and learn about the use of particles, while this is something often ignored in Latin studies, unfortunately. In the coming weeks, I will try to provide some more examples here in the blog of nice uses of Latin particles in the Vulgate text.

Meanwhile, here is today's verse read out loud: 226. Spiritus quidem promptus; caro vero infirma.

The number here is the number for this proverb in Vulgate Verses: 4000 Sayings from the Bible for Teachers and Students of Latin.

If you are reading this via RSS: The Flash audio content is not syndicated via RSS; please visit the Vulgate Verses blog to listen to the audio.

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Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, audio and more.