Monday, 23 September 2013

Cum sancto

Cum sancto sanctus eris, cum perverso perverteris is a wise proverb.   It means roughly - with the holy man you will be holy, with the wicked man you will be wicked.  Thanks to Laura Gibbs, on whose Bestiaria Latina Blog I found this proverb.  Laura attributes it to Polydorus, however a quick search on Google shows that it comes from 2 Samuel, chapter 22, verses 26 and 27, which in the Latin Vulgate reads:

26. cum sancto sanctus eris et cum robusto perfectus  
27. cum electo electus eris et cum perverso perverteris 

Tuesday, 17 September 2013

Sopor Aeternus & Saltatio Mortis

Sopor Aeternus, which means eternal sleep, is the apt name of a German dark wave musical project.  Saltatio Mortis, which means dance of death, is a German medieval metal band.

sopor, soporis (m)  sleep; apathy
aeternus adj.  eternal; immortal
saltatio, -onis (f)  dance
mors, mortis (f)  death; corpse.

English words from mors, mortis and from aeternus are not hard to find.  The adjective soporific comes, of course, from sopor, soporis.

Sunday, 1 September 2013

Fenestra

Fenestra, -ae (f) meaning window is another Latin word which has passed in to various languages.

Dutch  venster
French  la fenetre (f) [the circumflex on the middle e has been omitted]
German  das Fenster (n)
Italian  finestra (f)
Welsh  ffenestr (f)

The English noun window is, of course, unrelated, however we do have a very specific verb from fenestra - defenestrate, which means to throw a person out of a window.

Friday, 30 August 2013

Amor populi praesidium reginae

Amor populi praesidium reginae is the apt legend on certain of Queen Elizabeth II's coins.  It means: the love of the people is the queen's protection.

Praesidium, -i (n) is a second declension noun, which means garrison or protection.

Thursday, 29 August 2013

Schola

Schola, scholae (f)  is an even better example than pons, pontis of a word in Latin being the source of cognate words in several modern languages.  Here are words for school in various European languages including English and German, which are, of course, not Romance languages:

English  school
French  l'ecole (f) [the acute accent on the first e has been omitted]
German  die Schule (f)
Italian scuola (f)
Portuguese  escola (f)
Spanish  escuela (f)


Sunday, 25 August 2013

Nisi dominus frustra

Nisi dominus frustra is the motto of the City of Edinburgh.  It means unless the Lord in vain, which is a contraction of 127th Psalm:

Except the Lord build the house, They labour in vain that build it
Except the Lord keep the city, The watchman waketh but in vain.

Nisi is a conjunction meaning unless,  dominus, -i means lord, master, and frustra is an adverb meaning in vain.

Thursday, 22 August 2013

Pons, pontis

Pons, pontis (m), as every schoolboy should know, means bridge.  Pons is a good example of how Latin is the source of so many words especially in  the Romance languages.  Below are the words for bridge in several languages:

French  le pont (m)
Italian  il ponte (m)
Portuguese ponte (f)
Spanish el puente (m)
Welsh  pont (f)

Pons is also the source of various places name in Britain.  For example, Pontypool in South Wales and Pontefract, which means broken bridge, in Yorkshire.