Quem deus vult perdere, dementat prius

Quem deus vult perdere, dementat prius means: "Whom God wishes to destroy, he first drives mad."

In English, we are more familiar with the plural version that appears in Longfellow's poem The Masque of Pandora: "Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad."

Rex, Regis - a Third Declension Noun with Genitive Plural in -um

Rex, regis (m) king - is a third declension noun with its genitive plural ending in -um. It is declined as follows:

rex
rex
regem
regis
regi
rege

reges
reges
reges
regum
regibus
regibus

Most increasing (masculine & feminine) third declension nouns, which have more syllables in the genitive singular than the nominative singular, are declined in the same way.  Examples include:

iudex, iudicis (c) judge
lex, legis (f) law
leo, leonis (c) lion
flos, floris (m) flower
miles, militis (m) soldier

Nolo Contendere

Nolo contendere is an alternatively plea allowed in US federal and state laws.  The literal meaning is: "I do not wish to contend."  It has the same effect as a guilty plea in the particular criminal trial, but may have different consequences in subsequent civil cases and criminal trials.  Wikipedia explains it a little more.

nolo  I do not wish (the verb is nolle  not to wish, to be unwilling)

Evacuavi quae erant parvuli III

In the phrase cum essem parvulus (when I was a child), the conjunction cum takes a verb in the subjunctive, whereas in the phrase quando factus sum vir (when I became a man), the conjunction quando takes an indicative verb.

Evacuavi quae erant parvuli II

There are seven verbs in this short passage.  All are first person singular except erant, and except essem all are indicative.  The first four referring to the earlier "when I was a boy" are in the imperfect, the next two referring to "when I became a man" are in the perfect and the final verb is again in the imperfect.

essem  1st person singular imperfect subjunctive of esse to be

loquebar  1st person singular imperfect of the deponent vert loquor, loqui, locutus to speak

sapiebam  1st person singular imperfect of sapio, -ere, -ivi, -ui

cogitabam  1st person singular imperfect of cogito, -are, -avi, -atum to think

factus sum  1st person singular perfect passive of  facio, -ere, feci, factum

evacuavi  1st person singular perfect active

erant  3rd person plural imperfect of esse to be

Ne Quid Nimis

Ne quid nimis is another excellent motto.  I saw it on a bottle Heverlee_Lager and looked it up on wikipedia.  It is apparently the motto of the Abbey of Premontre in Leuven in Belgium with which the beer is associated.  The meaning of ne quid nimis is: "nothing to excess".


ne  adv  not
nimis  adv  too much, very much

Evacuavi quae erant parvuli

Here is the famous verse 11 of chapter 13 of First Corinthians, which in English starts "When I was a child" and ends "I put away childish things".  In Latin it reads:

Cum essem parvulus,
loquebar ut parvulus,
sapiebam ut parvulus,
cogitabam ut parvulus,
quando factus sum vir,
evacuavi quae erant parvuli.

In English, this is:

"When I was a child, 
I spoke as a child, 
I understood as a child, 
I thought as a child. 
But, when I became a man, 
I put away childish things."

parvulus, -i  (m)  child  [from adj  parvulus  very small,  from adj  parvus  small]

Dominus Anulorum

Dominus Anulorum is, of course, the Latin for "Lord of the Rings".  It is easy enough to translate the title of this epic into Latin; the story itself is another matter.  Whilst Lord of the Rings has not been translated into Latin yet, The Hobbit has as Hobbitus Ille.

anulus, -i  (m)  ring
draco, -onis  (m)  dragon
magus, -i  (m)  wizard
nanus, -i  (m)  dwarf
Terra Media  Middle Earth