Cum vinum intrat, exit sapientia

In English: When wine enters, wisdom exits.

I wanted to do today's proverb because I heard someone on the radio say something just like this (in English, of course - not in Latin) earlier today, given that we have on our state ballot a proposition regarding the sale of liquor in liquor stores on election days!

Here is the text of that proposition:

Package store sales of these beverages are prohibited on election days while the polls are open. This measure would remove the ban on sales on election days. If this measure passes, package stores could sell alcoholic beverages on election days.

So yes, as voters walked into the voting booth today in Oklahoma, they were given the opportunity to express their views about selling liquor on election day.

Once upon a time, the idea was to protect people from the danger of drunken voters. You know, I worry a lot about UNINFORMED voters, and liquor is not necessarily the most pernicious cause of ignorance on voting day, despite what the Latin proverb tells us.

What's ironic, of course, is that bars are still selling liquor on election day. And you can get all the beer you want at the local 7-11 and all the other convenience stores; it's just the package stores (liquor stores) that we are being protected from on election day. So you can go to a bar on election day, drink your fill, and then vote: the wine goes in, the wisdom goes out, but your ballot still gets counted. There's no breathalyzer there at the voting booth.

I don't know what it's like in the state where you live, but Oklahoma is still littered with all kinds of wacky laws regarding liquor. For example, anyone under the age of 21 is barred, absolutely barred, from entering a liquor store. As a result, people have to leave their children unattended in the car outside. There's a liquor store in Oklahoma City where the owner, or his wife, will sit in the car with the kids so that their parents can shop in the store at leisure.

So, given the state proposition in Oklahoma, I'd say this proverb can be taken two different ways. On the one hand, there is the simple, literal way to take it: when people get drunk, they sure can get foolish! But I'd also like to suggest that it can be taken more broadly: when questions about alcohol end up on the political agenda, all kinds of foolishness can also result, like the strange set of ineffective and patently hypocritical laws surrounding alcohol here in Oklahoma.

So, we'll see what happens to this state question. Apparently, it is likely to go down to defeat. We'll see... if so, in order to drown my sorrows on election day, or perhaps to celebrate a victory (rare in my own voting life!), I'll have to visit the wine shop on Monday instead of election Tuesday.

As I type these words, the clock is ticking, the returns are rolling in, so I'll update this blog post when the results are final. I doubt this one is going to make the national news (except perhaps, alas, to make fun of Oklahoma).

*UPDATE* The Oklahoma State Constitution has been amended: the liquor stores in future will be able to be open on election day. We went by our favorite local liquor to congratulate them! It was 52% to 48%, but that's good enough for victory!

Meanwhile, here is today's proverb read out loud:

2244. Cum vinum intrat, exit sapientia.

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.

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Meum mihi, suum cuique carum

In English: To me mine is dear, and to each person his own is dear.

This will be my last proverb post on the "cuique suum," "to each his own" theme. As I hope to have shown in the past few days, it's possible to build up proverbs based on a simple theme. By adding more specific details to the basic form of the proverb, people were able to make explicit the meanings of the proverb that are only implicit in the simpler form, emphasizing one particular interpretation suited to the meaning they wanted to convey.

Today's proverb makes explicit that while I might have an attachment to something that is mine, other people are going to be attached to what is theirs. We can all understand how we are attached to our "own" things - our family, our country, our language, the food we eat, and music we listen to, and so on. That's the "meum mihi carum" part of the proverb. The second part of the proverb asks us to stretch that realization and to understand that in the same way that you care about your own stuff, other people do the same: "suum cuique carum."

I was thinking that this might be a good proverb on the eve of the elections here in the U.S. People are going to go out and vote tomorrow, and each person is going to vote differently from another person, based on what is dear to them. That's only natural! The democratic process is all about how a decision is reached by means of all those individual choices.

So: please vote, everybody!

And here is today's proverb read out loud:

941. Meum mihi, suum cuique carum.

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.

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Sua cuique hora

In English: To each his own hour.

I though this would be a good follow-up to yesterday's proverb about glory. Although it might be the case that everybody has his own moment (or moments!) of glory, it's not likely that someone would feel a sense of glory all the time. In fact, maybe you have never even had a moment of glory. Well, don't worry! Today's proverb assures you that, sooner or later, you hour will come!

We could consider this to be the ancient Latin equivalent of Andy Warhol's modern dictum, first pronounced in that momentous year of 1968: "In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." Warhol's words have since given rise to the proverbial phrase "fifteen minutes of fame."

Of course, Warhol's idea was basically a cynical one. He saw that the massive machinations of the popular media were able to make anyone famous, even someone with no claim to fame whatsoever - but that fame would last a mere 15 minutes or so, unable to last any longer. The pop band Sugar Ray named one of their albums 14:59 to indicate that their 15 minutes of fame were not up yet!

The Latin saying is not as cynical as Warhol's "fifteen minutes of fame," thank goodness. So if your moment of glory has not come yet, just wait: the Latin proverb promises you that your hour will come, although each person's hour comes at its own time!

With happy thoughts for your Latin "hora," whenever that may be, here is today's proverb read out loud:

935. Sua cuique hora.

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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Gloria cuique sua est

In English: To each his own glory.

I thought this would be a positive follow-up to the more cynical "cuique" proverb in yesterday's post. This proverb assures us that everyone has their own glory, their own achievement, although of course not everyone achieves glory in the same way.

This proverb gives me a good excuse to write something here about the Latin word gloria, which gives us the English word "glory" (and the name "Gloria" too, of course!). This means that the Latin word is easy to translate into English, but the ease of that translation masks the complicated history of this word.

The word gloria forms part of the classical Latin vocabulary and was an important part of Roman culture. The fame and renown of glory, and the pursuit of glory, were highly approved by the ancient Romans. Etymologically, the word appears to be related to the Latin word "cluere," "to be known as, famous for," as in the adjective "inclutus," "famed, famous." If you think about it, you can see the relationship between glo- and clu- since "g" and "c" are voiced/unvoiced versions of the same consonant, and the vowels "o" and "u" easily slide from one into the other (just look at the English pronounciation of the word "boot" if you want proof of how a long "o" can easily turn into an "u"!).

Yet the word gloria also acquired a special meaning in Christian Latin, as the equivalent of Greek "doxa," which in turn is used as the equivalent of Hebrew "shekinah," the in-dwelling of God and his radiant presence. You can read about the shekinah as light in the Jewish Encyclopedia online.

So, this Latin proverb has a quite different meaning based on whether you understand the Latin gloria in its classical Roman meaning, or in its later Christian meaning. For the Romans, the proverb means "everyone has his own fame." For the Christians, the proverb means "everyone manifests the presence of God in their own way."

So please keep in mind the multiple meanings of "gloria" as you listen to today's proverb read out loud:

934. Gloria cuique sua est.

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.

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Suus cuique crepitus bene olet

In English: To each person his own his fart smells nice.

Yesterday's proverb, suum cuique pulchrum est, "to each person his own is beautiful," was a kind of subtle dig at the way people have blinders on when it comes to judging the quality of something that belongs to them. This proverb puts it much more bluntly. People's sense of self-admiration is strong that they think even their own farts don't smell too bad!

The Latin word crepitus can actually refer to any kind of crackling or popping sound. For example, the phrase crepitus digiti means a "snap of the fingers." In this proverb, however, the context - smelling nice - indicates that the sound here is definitely the sound made by a fart.

You can read more about the Latin "crepitus" at Laudator Temporis Acti in his delightful posts Crackling Wind, God Save the King, The God Fart (with this follow-up post), as well as his discussion of today's proverb in a post entitled Executive Washroom. Cheers to Michael Gilleland for this excellent blog - if you have not visited it before, you will find all kinds of fascinating things to read there.

Not surprisingly, farts and farting are a motif found in proverbs and folklore from all over the world. Dan Ashliman's fantastic folklore and mythology website has this collection of stories in English for your reading pleasure, Breaking Wind: Legendary Farts, including The Historic Fart and The Father of Farts (1001 Nights); How Till Eulenspiegel Became a Furrier's Apprentice, Till Eulenspiegel and the Innkeeper at Cologne, Deceiving the Devil and Timmermann's Fart (Germany); and General Pumpkin (Korea).

Meanwhile, here is today's proverb read out loud:

1508. Suus cuique crepitus bene olet.

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.

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Suum cuique pulchrum est

In English: To each person his own is beautiful.

This is another in the series of proverbs I've done starting from cuique suum, "to each his own" a few days ago. It's amazing what a variety of proverbs can be generated based on this simple theme.

Today's proverb is one that seems to say something very obvious on the surface: each person thinks that his own thing, whatever that thing is, is something beautiful. Which is true... but there is a bit of sarcasm in this proverb as well, the idea being that each person thinks his own thing is beautiful - even when it is not at all! You can see a great illustration of this in an Aesop's fable:

Zeus had decided to award prizes to the most beautiful animal babies so he inspected each and every one of them in order to reach a decision. The monkey also participated, claiming to be the mother of a very beautiful baby: a naked, snub-nosed little monkey whom she cradled in her arms. When the gods took a look at that monkey, they all started to laugh but his mother insisted, 'The winner is for Zeus to decide! But in my eyes this one is the most beautiful of all.' This story has the following meaning for everyone, in my opinion: each person thinks that his own child is beautiful.'

So be careful when you use this proverb: although it does not say so outright, the words are making fun of the person, just like the monkey mother who thought her baby was the most beautiful of all.

Here is today's proverb read out loud:

940. Suum cuique pulchrum est.

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.

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Suus est mos cuique genti

In English: There is for each nation its own custom.

I thought this would be a good follow-up to yesterday's proverb about how each person loves his own country. This proverb explores the diversity of nations from a different angle: each nation has its own custom.

This is something we are all fully aware of, and there is probably an important item in the news every day which, in some way, relates back to the variety of customs among the different peoples of the world. For example, there has been a torrent of discussion in the news recently about the custom of veiling in different Muslim nations. (Here's a nice graphic from the BBC about different types of veils in the Muslim world.)

The key word in this proverb, mos, is one of my favorite Latin words. In the singular, as used here, it means "custom" or "practice" or even "law." This is where we get the English word "moral," since the stem of the Latin word is actually mor, although the "r" in the stem is not visible in the nominative singular form.

Now in the plural, mores means something quite different. It is the Roman word for "character" or "personality." In other words, a person's character is the whole collection of the many customs and habits, the assembly of characteristic behaviors (plural) that makes that person who they are. I think that is an ingenious way to to express the plurality of traits which is embodied in any person.

But wait: things get even better. There is another Latin word morosus, meaning "full of mores" (the Latin suffix -osus means "full of"). Just as with the corresponding English word "morose," the Latin word morosus means "grumpy, crabby, sullen, gloomy."

Isn't that great? Everyone has a personality composed of certain traits and behaviors, but if someone has too much personality, too much eccentricity and too many peculiar habits, then they become awfully hard to get along with!

So think about the lovely Latin word mos and its many meanings as you list to today's proverb read out loud:

931. Suus est mos cuique genti.

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.

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