In English: The earth covers the doctors' mistakes.
Yes, as so many of you have perhaps experience, this has been the winter of the cold and flu season from hell! My husband got sick and then I got sick but now, hallelujah, we are both pretty much back to normal. In honor of the medical system's inability to do much about the so-called common cold, however uncommonly bad it has been this year, I chose today's proverb.
This is a saying you will find in all the major European languages. You can find it in Spanish, "los errores de los médicos, la tierra los cubre" and in Italian, "gli errori dei medici, la terra li copre" and also in Polish: "błędy lekarza pokrywa ziemia." I also found this similar saying in Polish about young doctors in particular: "nowy lekarz, nowy cmentarz," "a new doctor, a new cementary."
That last Polish example rhymes (lekarz-cmentarz), which is what gives it its charm, just as the Latin proverb relies on its nicely alliterative terra tegit to give the saying a truly proverbial feel. Proverbs do not gain their currency just from what they say, but from how they say it. This particular Latin proverb relies on its elegant expression (terra tegit), and also the dissonance of what exactly a doctor's error consists of. An error, according to the metaphor of this proverb, is not a mistake in judgment, an action (or inaction) which resulted in a negative outcome. No, quite literally, an error is a human corpse, a body that is covered up by the earth itself.
It reminds me of the body of Abel, murdered by his brother Cain. Of course, the earth communicated to God about that particular body: vox sanguinis fratris tui clamat ad me de terra, "the voice of your brother's blood is crying out to me from the earth." The earth may cover that body, but the voice of the murdered man's blood can still call out to God from the earth.
In English, there is a nice variation on the Latin saying about the errores medicorum which is about doctors and rich men, two of the favorite targets of proverbial acumen, combined here into one: "Physicians' fault are covered with earth, and rich men's with money."
Well, I survived my cold without going to the doctor... which is a good thing, since I am not a rich man either! Ha ha. In any case, I'm glad to be blogging again this week, more or less fully recovered!
Hoping you have avoided any possible doctor's errors in this season of cold and flu, here is today's proverb read out loud:
1763. Errores medicorum terra tegit.
The number here is the number for this proverb in Latin Via Proverbs: 4000 Proverbs, Mottoes and Sayings for Students of Latin.
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February 18, 2008
February 06, 2008
Nihil annis velocius
In English: Nothing is faster than the years.
I've been very remiss about blogging here (although I have been blogging away at various Latin things, as you can see at Bestiaria Latina). February 7 is the Chinese New Year, though, so I thought I would post a proverb here in honor of that change of year. Happy Year of the Rat!
Today's saying, about the swiftness of the passage of time, is derived from a passage in Ovid's Metamorphoses. It comes from Book X when the great bard Orpheus has just told the sad and terrible story of Myrrha, the unfortunate woman who was seized by sexual desire for her father and thus became pregnant with his child.
Transformed into a tree, Myrrha gave birth to that child who was none other than Adonis, who would become the lover of Venus herself. Here is what Orpheus sings:
So, with a salute to the quickly passing years - goodbye Year of the Pig and hello Year of the Rat - here is today's proverb read out loud:
721. Nihil annis velocius.
The number here is the number for this proverb in Latin Via Proverbs: 4000 Proverbs, Mottoes and Sayings for Students of Latin.
If you are reading this via RSS: The Flash audio content is not syndicated via RSS; please visit the Latin Audio Proverbs blog to listen to the audio.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
I've been very remiss about blogging here (although I have been blogging away at various Latin things, as you can see at Bestiaria Latina). February 7 is the Chinese New Year, though, so I thought I would post a proverb here in honor of that change of year. Happy Year of the Rat!
Today's saying, about the swiftness of the passage of time, is derived from a passage in Ovid's Metamorphoses. It comes from Book X when the great bard Orpheus has just told the sad and terrible story of Myrrha, the unfortunate woman who was seized by sexual desire for her father and thus became pregnant with his child.
Transformed into a tree, Myrrha gave birth to that child who was none other than Adonis, who would become the lover of Venus herself. Here is what Orpheus sings:
Labitur occulte fallitque volatilis aetas,As always, Ovid is dazzling. He warns us that the years slip by quickly and that the passage of time can be deceiving. How much more so when the generations become entangled, so that someone manages to be a son to his grandfather or with his mother as his sister. The strangely crossed and tangled family lineage of Adonis seems like some kind of chronological accident with time going by so quickly that it has gotten ahead of itself somehow. But no matter: Adonis speeds through his childhood development in order to be a full-grown and beautiful young man, just in time for the next tragic love story that Ovid will tell.
et nihil est annis velocius: ille sorore
natus avoque suo, qui conditus arbore nuper,
nuper erat genitus, modo formosissimus infans,
iam iuvenis, iam vir, iam se formosior ipso est,
iam placet et Veneri matrisque ulciscitur ignes.
Fleeting time glides by furtively and slips away,
and nothing is faster than the years: that man, born of his own sister
and a son to his grandfather, only just sheltered in a tree,
only just born, so recently a most beautiful baby,
now a youth, now a man, now more beautiful than he himself had been,
now he delights even Venus, and avenges his mother's passion.
So, with a salute to the quickly passing years - goodbye Year of the Pig and hello Year of the Rat - here is today's proverb read out loud:
721. Nihil annis velocius.
The number here is the number for this proverb in Latin Via Proverbs: 4000 Proverbs, Mottoes and Sayings for Students of Latin.
If you are reading this via RSS: The Flash audio content is not syndicated via RSS; please visit the Latin Audio Proverbs blog to listen to the audio.
Keep up with the latest posts... Subscribe by Email. I also post a daily round-up of all the Bestiaria Latina blogs: fables, proverbs, crosswords, and audio.
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