February 23, 2011

Ut ver dat florem, studium sic reddit honorem


Recording also available at iPadio using this link.

Today's saying is Ut ver dat florem, studium sic reddit honorem. In English: "As spring brings the blossom, so education yields public esteem."

I thought I would indulge myself in just one more rhyming proverb before leaving these medieval delights behind. Listen to the Latin again for the rhyme: Ut ver dat FLOREM, studium sic reddit HONOREM. It is very reassuring to think that just as naturally as the spring brings the flowers, so too will hard work and study result in public esteem or respect. The problem is that sometimes the winter is very long indeed, and very cold, and very hard, so that you can almost give up hope. But eventually spring does come - and you get an email from someone thanking you for a blog post or for a webpage. With the help of the Internet, I do experience a sense of public recognition from my work sometimes, and I delight in that just as much as in the flowers of spring. I hope every teacher and every student can experience some kind of similar reward, with a bouquet of public recognition at the end of their long labors!

Unlike yesterday's proverb, this one actually does scan as a hexameter line which, with its internal rhyme, allows it to achieve the status of a Leonine verse!

For those of you who are fans of macrons, here is the Latin written with macrons:

Ut vēr dat flōrem, studium sic reddit honōrem.