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.

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 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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