Wednesday 26 June 2013

Redde Caesari

Jesus, when asked whether it was lawful under Jewish law to pay tax to Caesar, replied with the question "Whose head is on the coin?"  When he was told that it was Caesar's head - ie the head of the Roman emperor, he replied in the King James edition of the Bible "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's."

In Latin, this is "Redde Caesari quae sunt Caesaris, et quae sunt Dei Deo."  This immortal phrase is a simple illustration of how it usually takes less words to say something in Latin than in English; Here ten and sixteen words respectively.

Caesar, Caesaris is a third declension noun.  Caesari is the dative singular - to Caesar, and Caesaris is the genitive singular - of Caesar.

Similarly, Deus, Dei is a second declension noun.  Dei is the genitive singular - of God, and Deo is the dative singular - to God.

Sunday 23 June 2013

Vincit qui se vincit

The motto vincit, qui se vincit means: he conquers, who conquers himself.  Of course, it also means: she conquers, who conquers herself.  That's the beauty of third person singular and plural verb endings in Latin;  They can be masculine, feminine or neuter as the context requires.