In English: The master's footstep is the best fertilizer.
I decided to post this as the saying for today since it provides a good thematic follow-up to the similar saying, Dominus habet oculos centum, "The master has a hundred eyes," which I wrote about last time. I have had a great fondness for this saying ever since it caused a moment of complete hilarity in a Latin class many years ago.
As you can guess, this is a saying that, out of context, is fraught with considerable peril. The word stercus is already a problem - the word "shit" is a vital part of English vocabulary, but with all kinds of dangerous connotations, and the safer translation, "manure," is not a word much used in English anymore, since we are not busy hauling our manure to our fields to fertilize them these days.
But the real problem is the word dominus. For students who have done some reading in the Bible or who pray in Latin, the temptation to translate dominus as "Lord" (with a capital L), is often irresistible, and they often even go one step further and say "God." So, a very nice Catholic student in my class, stammering with embarrassment, provided the translation, "God's track is the best shit" (clearly hoping that the Latin "shit" might have the same weird slang meaning as English does in phrases like "this is damn good shit"). The intonational question mark at the end of his statement let everyone know that he was not very confident about this, and the whole class burst into very long laughter about the whole thing.
Yet when I asked if anybody could figure out how this proverb worked and what it meant, I got no takers out of a room of thirty people. That happened quite often, though, whenever a proverb depended on some kind of agricultural metaphor that was just not part of their everyday thinking. For myself, I had vivid memories (including vivid olfactory memories) of the days when the folks on the farm where I lived in Poland would put handkerchiefs over their noses and mouths and load up wagons full of manure to haul it to the fields for fertilizer, even emptying the outhouse for that purpose (we did not have running water, so the outhouse was a fully functioning establishment).
So, given that I could immediately associate stercus with one of its main uses (perhaps its only real "use"), the proverb was easy for me to understand. For things to go well on a farm, the most important thing is for the master to walk around and see for himself what is going on. His pacing about the farm and the footsteps he leaves as he goes about his rounds would do even more to make the farm prosper than the use of manure thickly spread on the ground for fertilizer. In other words, very much the same message as in dominus habet oculos centum.
There are a host of other Latin sayings that express this same idea: Fertilissimus in agro oculus domini, "The master's eye is most productive in the field" (i.e. not sitting at home, ignorant of what is happening), Oculi et vestigia domini, res agro saluberrimae, "The eyes and steps of the master are things most beneficial for the field," and - another one of my favorites for its weirdly graphic quality - Optimus est fimus, qui cadit de calceis domini in agrum, "The best manure is that which falls from the heels of the master in the field."
So, hoping that nothing important in your household has escaped your watchful eye, here is today's proverb read out loud:
248. Stercus optimum vestigium domini.
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.
January 20, 2008
January 18, 2008
Dominus habet oculos centum
In English: The master has a hundred eyes.
This is a proverb that you can find in many variants: Dominus videt plurimum in rebus suis, "The master sees the most when it comes to his own business," or Dominus videt multum in rebus suis, "The master seems much when it comes to his own business," etc. I definitely prefer this hyperbolic vision of the master having one hundred eyes, however - kind of like the mythological Argos Panoptes! (You can see some wonderful depictions of Argos here at theoi.com.)
There's actually an Aesop's fable that illustrates this saying very nicely - here's the version from Barlow's Aesop:
1334. Dominus habet oculos centum.
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.
This is a proverb that you can find in many variants: Dominus videt plurimum in rebus suis, "The master sees the most when it comes to his own business," or Dominus videt multum in rebus suis, "The master seems much when it comes to his own business," etc. I definitely prefer this hyperbolic vision of the master having one hundred eyes, however - kind of like the mythological Argos Panoptes! (You can see some wonderful depictions of Argos here at theoi.com.)
There's actually an Aesop's fable that illustrates this saying very nicely - here's the version from Barlow's Aesop:
Persecutus a Canibus, Cervus ad stabulum Bovium confugiebat et ibi totum corpus, praeterquam cornua, abscondebat. Adibat stabulum Servus et ille, oscitanter et negligenter huc et illuc oculos circumferens, mox decessit. Fortunae suae nimis applausit laetabundus Cervus et sese tutissimum autumabat. Sed statim, ipso Hero ingrediente locum et rebus curiosius perlustratis, cornua Cervi detexit et fustibus cum Vicinis adoriebatur.So, hoping you are enjoying the benefits of many-eyed vigilance of your own affairs, here is today's proverb read out loud:
Chased by dogs, a stag fled into a stable of oxen, and there he his entire body, except for his horns. A servant entered the stable but he soon went out, having sleepily and carelessly cast his eyes here and there. The stag rejoiced and applauded overmuch his good luck, and declared he was completely safe. But soon the master himself entered the place, and when things have been inspected more attentively, he uncovered the horns of the stag, and then with his neighbors he attacked the stag with sticks.
1334. Dominus habet oculos centum.
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.
January 13, 2008
Dum vitant stulti vitia, in contraria currunt.
In English: When fools try to avoid errors, they run into the opposite errors.
I'm having a difficult time finding an elegant way to express this lovely Latin sentence in English! There is wonderful sound-play in the Latin, with vitant...vitia and in contraria currunt. The idea, of course, is that a foolish person, in trying to avoid one kind of defect, goes to the opposite extreme. I chose this proverb to be something to keep in mind at the beginning of the new school semester. I am always one for continual self-improvement, fixing mistakes in my courses, trying to compensate for problems I've had with the classes in the past, etc. In my zeal to improve things, I don't want to tip the balance and end up making mistakes in the opposite direction!
The saying is one that can be found in one of Horace's Satires. After citing this maxim, Horace goes on to give some funny examples of one extreme, and the other: Maltinus tunicis demissis ambulat, est qui / inguen ad obscaenum subductis usque facetus, "Maltinus walks around in baggy clothes, while this joker wears his clothes so short you can see his ugly crotch;" pastillos Rufillus olet, Gargonius hircum, "Rufillus stinks of peppermint candies, while Gargonius smells like a goat." Two thousand years later, the baggy pants and skimpy clothes still bedevil us, along with people wearing obnoxious perfume or smelling of too much sweat.
Horace then concludes with this sad observation about how things seem to go in his day: nil medium est, "Nothing is in the middle." In other words, there is nothing in moderation, no "happy medium," as we might say in English. This is a popular theme in Roman proverbs, of course! For another saying on this theme, see my previous post about aurea mediocritas, the "golden mean."
Meanwhile, hoping you are happily standing on middle ground, here is today's proverb read out loud:
2037. Dum vitant stulti vitia, in contraria currunt.
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'm having a difficult time finding an elegant way to express this lovely Latin sentence in English! There is wonderful sound-play in the Latin, with vitant...vitia and in contraria currunt. The idea, of course, is that a foolish person, in trying to avoid one kind of defect, goes to the opposite extreme. I chose this proverb to be something to keep in mind at the beginning of the new school semester. I am always one for continual self-improvement, fixing mistakes in my courses, trying to compensate for problems I've had with the classes in the past, etc. In my zeal to improve things, I don't want to tip the balance and end up making mistakes in the opposite direction!
The saying is one that can be found in one of Horace's Satires. After citing this maxim, Horace goes on to give some funny examples of one extreme, and the other: Maltinus tunicis demissis ambulat, est qui / inguen ad obscaenum subductis usque facetus, "Maltinus walks around in baggy clothes, while this joker wears his clothes so short you can see his ugly crotch;" pastillos Rufillus olet, Gargonius hircum, "Rufillus stinks of peppermint candies, while Gargonius smells like a goat." Two thousand years later, the baggy pants and skimpy clothes still bedevil us, along with people wearing obnoxious perfume or smelling of too much sweat.
Horace then concludes with this sad observation about how things seem to go in his day: nil medium est, "Nothing is in the middle." In other words, there is nothing in moderation, no "happy medium," as we might say in English. This is a popular theme in Roman proverbs, of course! For another saying on this theme, see my previous post about aurea mediocritas, the "golden mean."
Meanwhile, hoping you are happily standing on middle ground, here is today's proverb read out loud:
2037. Dum vitant stulti vitia, in contraria currunt.
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.
January 10, 2008
Bos currum trahit, non bovem currus
In English: The ox pulls the cart, not the cart the ox.
I thought this would be a fun proverb to do today, since the fable of the day today is also about a cart (although it's a different story - the squeaky wheel wanting the grease). Today's proverb is one that is best known in English as "putting the cart before the horse" - something that the Latin proverb plainly tells you will not work!
There are many variations on the Latin saying. The version I have given here comes from Manutius's additions to Erasmus's Adagia. Another version is Currus bovem trahit, "The cart is pulling the ox," or Plaustrum bovem trahit, "The plow is pulling the ox," which is to say that something ridiculous is going on!
The form Plaustrum bovem trahit is the verison which appears in Erasmus's Adagia. Here are Erasmus's own comments on the saying: De re, quae praepostere geritur. Veluti, si uxor praescribat marito, si discipulus reprehendat praeceptorem, si populus imperet principi, si ratio pareat affectui, "This saying is used about something which is being done backwards-forwards, as if a wife were to give orders to her husband, or a student were to correct his teacher, or if the people were to command their ruler, or if reason were to obey emotions."
Erasmus's comments here are very revealing, aren't they? I am used to seeing this proverb applied to very obviously impractical situations: you are putting the cart in front of the ox when you build a new sports stadium before a team has even agreed to play there (if you build it, they will not necessarily come!). Erasmus, though, lists a whole series of situations that are not inherently absurd, but which are absurd based on the values of a particular society. Every single one of the examples he has listed here are things that we really do not consider preposterous at all these days: wives often do make decisions for their husbands, students are encouraged to correct their teachers when their teachers are wrong, the people are supposed to participate in their own governance, and as latter-day Romantics we often seek to involve the element of emotion, in addition to the claims of reason.
So, hoping anyway that your life is not too backwards-forwards or topsy-turvy at the moment, here is today's proverb read out loud:
1907. Bos currum trahit, non bovem currus.
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 thought this would be a fun proverb to do today, since the fable of the day today is also about a cart (although it's a different story - the squeaky wheel wanting the grease). Today's proverb is one that is best known in English as "putting the cart before the horse" - something that the Latin proverb plainly tells you will not work!
There are many variations on the Latin saying. The version I have given here comes from Manutius's additions to Erasmus's Adagia. Another version is Currus bovem trahit, "The cart is pulling the ox," or Plaustrum bovem trahit, "The plow is pulling the ox," which is to say that something ridiculous is going on!
The form Plaustrum bovem trahit is the verison which appears in Erasmus's Adagia. Here are Erasmus's own comments on the saying: De re, quae praepostere geritur. Veluti, si uxor praescribat marito, si discipulus reprehendat praeceptorem, si populus imperet principi, si ratio pareat affectui, "This saying is used about something which is being done backwards-forwards, as if a wife were to give orders to her husband, or a student were to correct his teacher, or if the people were to command their ruler, or if reason were to obey emotions."
Erasmus's comments here are very revealing, aren't they? I am used to seeing this proverb applied to very obviously impractical situations: you are putting the cart in front of the ox when you build a new sports stadium before a team has even agreed to play there (if you build it, they will not necessarily come!). Erasmus, though, lists a whole series of situations that are not inherently absurd, but which are absurd based on the values of a particular society. Every single one of the examples he has listed here are things that we really do not consider preposterous at all these days: wives often do make decisions for their husbands, students are encouraged to correct their teachers when their teachers are wrong, the people are supposed to participate in their own governance, and as latter-day Romantics we often seek to involve the element of emotion, in addition to the claims of reason.
So, hoping anyway that your life is not too backwards-forwards or topsy-turvy at the moment, here is today's proverb read out loud:
1907. Bos currum trahit, non bovem currus.
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.
December 30, 2007
Annus producit, non ager
In English: The year brings the yield, not the field.
Well, for once, the English version of this saying has a nice touch that is lacking in the Latin: the English rhymes (yield-field), while the Latin has only alliteration to rely on (annus-ager). You can find the saying in Erasmus's Adagia, 1.1.44. Erasmus includes this variation, also with alliteration: Annus producit fructum, non arvum, "The year yields the fruit, not the field." Erasmus also provides a nice extended metaphorical application of the proverb, arguing that it is education, not birth, which yields virtuous character: ad virtutem educationem longe plus adferre momenti, quam genus, "one's education is of far more importance in contributing to virtue than one's lineage." As a teacher, of course I agree with that one, too!
I wanted to choose a proverb today in honor of the New Year that is about to begin. I am a fan of the changing of the year. I suppose, in fact, that it is my favorite holiday. This year, I will get to celebrate it twice! Once, at 7 PM (that is midnight in Scotland) with some friends who have to get up very early in the morning to go to work and who cannot celebrate at midnight E.S.T. So, after our celebration on Scottish time, we will then have another celebration for the arrival of the New Year on the east coast of the U.S. As for Scotland, you might check out the Latin translation of the Scottish song, Auld Lang Syne, which I've posted at Andrew Reinhard's eClassics ning website.
The message of today's proverb is a very positive one for the coming New Year and for the passage of time. Of course, the field where you do your planting is important, and you do have to sow the seeds... but be patient: even the best field and the best seeds will not give you a harvest over night. Instead, you have to let time work its magic: annus producit, non ager.
With the new year comes the new semester, so I'll be taking new week off from blogging in order to get my courses ready for Spring 2008 (for those of you who don't know, my real job has nothing to do with Latin - I teach online courses in Myth-Folklore, World Literature and Indian Epics at the University of Oklahoma).
So, I'll see you again here a week from today. For now, Happy New Year, and here is today's proverb read out loud:
1613. Annus producit, non ager.
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.
Well, for once, the English version of this saying has a nice touch that is lacking in the Latin: the English rhymes (yield-field), while the Latin has only alliteration to rely on (annus-ager). You can find the saying in Erasmus's Adagia, 1.1.44. Erasmus includes this variation, also with alliteration: Annus producit fructum, non arvum, "The year yields the fruit, not the field." Erasmus also provides a nice extended metaphorical application of the proverb, arguing that it is education, not birth, which yields virtuous character: ad virtutem educationem longe plus adferre momenti, quam genus, "one's education is of far more importance in contributing to virtue than one's lineage." As a teacher, of course I agree with that one, too!
I wanted to choose a proverb today in honor of the New Year that is about to begin. I am a fan of the changing of the year. I suppose, in fact, that it is my favorite holiday. This year, I will get to celebrate it twice! Once, at 7 PM (that is midnight in Scotland) with some friends who have to get up very early in the morning to go to work and who cannot celebrate at midnight E.S.T. So, after our celebration on Scottish time, we will then have another celebration for the arrival of the New Year on the east coast of the U.S. As for Scotland, you might check out the Latin translation of the Scottish song, Auld Lang Syne, which I've posted at Andrew Reinhard's eClassics ning website.
The message of today's proverb is a very positive one for the coming New Year and for the passage of time. Of course, the field where you do your planting is important, and you do have to sow the seeds... but be patient: even the best field and the best seeds will not give you a harvest over night. Instead, you have to let time work its magic: annus producit, non ager.
With the new year comes the new semester, so I'll be taking new week off from blogging in order to get my courses ready for Spring 2008 (for those of you who don't know, my real job has nothing to do with Latin - I teach online courses in Myth-Folklore, World Literature and Indian Epics at the University of Oklahoma).
So, I'll see you again here a week from today. For now, Happy New Year, and here is today's proverb read out loud:
1613. Annus producit, non ager.
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.
December 26, 2007
Improbe Neptunum accusat qui iterum naufragium facit.
In English: The man who shipwrecks a second time unjustly accuses Neptune.
I thought this proverb would be a good one to include today as people begin the process of getting ready for those New Year's Resolutions, pondering what things you might have done wrong this year in order to try to get them right next year. As today's proverb reminds us, making a serious mistake once is something you might be able to explain away, blaming your first shipwreck on Neptune, the god of the seas. The second time around, however, you cannot just blame Neptune: you are going to have to take some responsibility for yourself.
An English saying with a similar message is "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." I always hear that particular English proverb with a Scottish accent since I remember learning it as a child when it was using by Scottie on Star Trek! Thanks to the bizarre miracle that is Wikipedia, you can read all about that particular episode of Star Trek here, including a reference to this particular proverb and its role in the show (the character Chekhov claims it is an old Russian saying, of course!).
The Latin saying, meanwhile, is one found in Publilius Syrus. I was also delighted to find the saying included in this book by the great English poet Edmund Spenser (1552 – 1599), The Shepheardes Calender, which is available online, thanks to the University of Oregon. Here is the Renaissance English version of the saying: "The soueraigne of seas he blames in vaine, / That once seabeate, will to sea againe." The book even includes a Renaissance "Glosse" to aid the reader, citing the Latin saying from Publilius (who is here referred to by his professional calling, Mimus, rather than to his identity as a Syrian, Syrus): "The soueraigne of Seas is Neptune the God of the seas. The saying is borrowed of Mimus Publianus, which vsed this prouerb in a verse. Improbe Neptunum accusat, qui iterum naufragium facit."
The Latin saying also makes its way into a work by Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626), based on Publilius, under the delightful title, Ornamenta Rationalia, or Elegant Sentences: "He accuseth Neptune unjustly, who makes shipwreck a second time."
Not surprisingly, the saying shows up in Erasmus's Adagia, even if it is not one of the headings; this inclusion of the saying in Erasmus, attributed to "Mimus Publianus," was probably a key element in its Renaissance success. Erasmus locates the saying under the heading, Iterum eundem ad lapidem offendere, "To stumble twice against the same rock." In other words: it is your own fault to stumble twice over the same thing!
So, hoping you enjoy smooth sailing and no stumbling as we draw near here to the end of 2007, here is today's proverb read out loud:
2024. Improbe Neptunum accusat qui iterum naufragium facit.
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 thought this proverb would be a good one to include today as people begin the process of getting ready for those New Year's Resolutions, pondering what things you might have done wrong this year in order to try to get them right next year. As today's proverb reminds us, making a serious mistake once is something you might be able to explain away, blaming your first shipwreck on Neptune, the god of the seas. The second time around, however, you cannot just blame Neptune: you are going to have to take some responsibility for yourself.
An English saying with a similar message is "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." I always hear that particular English proverb with a Scottish accent since I remember learning it as a child when it was using by Scottie on Star Trek! Thanks to the bizarre miracle that is Wikipedia, you can read all about that particular episode of Star Trek here, including a reference to this particular proverb and its role in the show (the character Chekhov claims it is an old Russian saying, of course!).
The Latin saying, meanwhile, is one found in Publilius Syrus. I was also delighted to find the saying included in this book by the great English poet Edmund Spenser (1552 – 1599), The Shepheardes Calender, which is available online, thanks to the University of Oregon. Here is the Renaissance English version of the saying: "The soueraigne of seas he blames in vaine, / That once seabeate, will to sea againe." The book even includes a Renaissance "Glosse" to aid the reader, citing the Latin saying from Publilius (who is here referred to by his professional calling, Mimus, rather than to his identity as a Syrian, Syrus): "The soueraigne of Seas is Neptune the God of the seas. The saying is borrowed of Mimus Publianus, which vsed this prouerb in a verse. Improbe Neptunum accusat, qui iterum naufragium facit."
The Latin saying also makes its way into a work by Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626), based on Publilius, under the delightful title, Ornamenta Rationalia, or Elegant Sentences: "He accuseth Neptune unjustly, who makes shipwreck a second time."
Not surprisingly, the saying shows up in Erasmus's Adagia, even if it is not one of the headings; this inclusion of the saying in Erasmus, attributed to "Mimus Publianus," was probably a key element in its Renaissance success. Erasmus locates the saying under the heading, Iterum eundem ad lapidem offendere, "To stumble twice against the same rock." In other words: it is your own fault to stumble twice over the same thing!
So, hoping you enjoy smooth sailing and no stumbling as we draw near here to the end of 2007, here is today's proverb read out loud:
2024. Improbe Neptunum accusat qui iterum naufragium facit.
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.
December 23, 2007
Nulla sine sole umbra
In English: There is no shadow without the sun.
I was prompted to include this proverb today because of the winter solstice yesterday, and the secular HumanLight holiday which takes place today, December 23, in conjunction with the solstice. Today's proverb is about the perpetual interplay between light and dark which is marked in such a profound way at the winter solstice, when the sun seems to stop receding from us in the sky: the longest night of year arrives, and from here until the summer solstice, the daylight will grow longer and longer with each passing day.
I especially like the way this simple proverb provokes us to think metaphorically: when we see a shadow, darkness, the form of the absence of light, instead of thinking about that shadow as a thing in itself, we should think about the fact that it was cast by light, by sunlight in particular, if we are looking at a shadow out of doors.
Metaphorically, this is something that points in many different directions: the interplay between death and life, between insight and blindness, between good and evil, and so on.
As you might expect, this motto is one that is found inscribed on sundials. From this magnificent list of sundial mottoes, here are some others based on the idea of "nothing without the sun (or the shadow)" as in today's saying:
NIHIL SINE SOLE: nothing without the sun
QUID SINE SOLE? NIHIL: what (is there) without the sun? nothing
SINE LUMINE NIHIL: without the light, nothing
NIL NISI CAELESTI RADIO: nothing, unless by the heavenly beam
SINE UMBRA NIHIL: without the shadow, nothing
CUM UMBRA NIHIL, SINE UMBRA NIHIL: with the shadow, nothing, without the shadow nothing [quite a lovely brain-teasing paradox!]
I especially like the ones where the sundial itself is made to speak, as here:
SINE SOLE NIHIL SUM: without the sun, I am nothing
NIHIL NISI SOL MIHI: there's nothing for me unless there is sun
PHOEBO ABSENTE NIL SUM: when Phoebus is absent, I am nothing
SINE SOLE NIHIL SUM, SINE DEO TU NIHIL POTES: without the sun I am nothing; without God you can do nothing
SINE SOLE EGO, TU SINE FIDE NIHIL POSSUMUS FACERE: I without the sun, you without faith, can do nothing
So, hoping your mixture of sun and shadow meets your needs today, here is today's proverb read out loud:
353. Nulla sine sole umbra.
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 was prompted to include this proverb today because of the winter solstice yesterday, and the secular HumanLight holiday which takes place today, December 23, in conjunction with the solstice. Today's proverb is about the perpetual interplay between light and dark which is marked in such a profound way at the winter solstice, when the sun seems to stop receding from us in the sky: the longest night of year arrives, and from here until the summer solstice, the daylight will grow longer and longer with each passing day.
I especially like the way this simple proverb provokes us to think metaphorically: when we see a shadow, darkness, the form of the absence of light, instead of thinking about that shadow as a thing in itself, we should think about the fact that it was cast by light, by sunlight in particular, if we are looking at a shadow out of doors.
Metaphorically, this is something that points in many different directions: the interplay between death and life, between insight and blindness, between good and evil, and so on.
As you might expect, this motto is one that is found inscribed on sundials. From this magnificent list of sundial mottoes, here are some others based on the idea of "nothing without the sun (or the shadow)" as in today's saying:
NIHIL SINE SOLE: nothing without the sun
QUID SINE SOLE? NIHIL: what (is there) without the sun? nothing
SINE LUMINE NIHIL: without the light, nothing
NIL NISI CAELESTI RADIO: nothing, unless by the heavenly beam
SINE UMBRA NIHIL: without the shadow, nothing
CUM UMBRA NIHIL, SINE UMBRA NIHIL: with the shadow, nothing, without the shadow nothing [quite a lovely brain-teasing paradox!]
I especially like the ones where the sundial itself is made to speak, as here:
SINE SOLE NIHIL SUM: without the sun, I am nothing
NIHIL NISI SOL MIHI: there's nothing for me unless there is sun
PHOEBO ABSENTE NIL SUM: when Phoebus is absent, I am nothing
SINE SOLE NIHIL SUM, SINE DEO TU NIHIL POTES: without the sun I am nothing; without God you can do nothing
SINE SOLE EGO, TU SINE FIDE NIHIL POSSUMUS FACERE: I without the sun, you without faith, can do nothing
So, hoping your mixture of sun and shadow meets your needs today, here is today's proverb read out loud:
353. Nulla sine sole umbra.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)