Ch 12 · Lesson 9Latin · Chapter 12 · Lesson 9 · Grammar primer
Latin for the permanent record: phrases that suit anyone
Carpe , spiro spero, : orders, first-person verbs and sayings that are grammatical on any arm. The wearer's gender and carpe X come next.
The short version
Check the ending before the needle
spiro spero - while I breathe, I hope
Why?Hide
The famous tattoo Latin is fine: carpe , , spiro spero. The mistakes come from customising it - an -us adjective on a woman's arm, a noun swapped into carpe without its accusative. works for anyone; does not. Four questions before the appointment: endings agree, verb form checked, word order , source real.
The famous phrases are fine. Horace, Vergil, Caesar and the Vulgate do not make mistakes. The errors come from customising: an adjective that does not match the wearer, a noun dropped into carpe without its accusative, a phrase nobody ever wrote in Latin. Here are 36 phrases checked, then the errors that actually get inked.
| Verdict | Example | Why |
|---|---|---|
| safe for anyone | spiro spero | the verb has a person, not a gender |
| check the wearer | invictus | the adjective describes you |
| wrong ending | carpe (seize life) | carpe needs the accusative |
| not Latin at all | illegitimi carborundum | a mock-Latin joke |
How much a phrase depends on who wears it is a gradient:
- dum spiro speroverbs only
- semper fortisone form for both
- invictus maneo-us: a man
Orders: carpe diem and memento mori
An imperative gives an order to the person reading it, and its object goes in the accusative. Nothing in these describes the wearer, so they suit anyone.
| Source | Phrase | Literally |
|---|---|---|
| Horace, Odes 1.11 | carpe | pluck the day |
| a later motto | | remember to die |
| Augustus, in Greek | festina lente | hurry slowly |
| a proverb | | live so that you may live |
| D'Annunzio | | remember always to dare |
| Vegetius, adapted | | if you want peace, prepare war |
| Delphic maxim | | know yourself |
| Matthew 5:16 | luceat | let your light shine |
is literally remember to die; the sense is remember that you will die. is the imperative of , and is the infinitive of the .
Luceat is the odd one out: luceat is a jussive subjunctive, an order to a third party, let it shine. Carpe means pluck, as you pluck ripe fruit, which is gentler than seize.
The Matrix's temet is also correct: temet is with the emphatic -met, know your own self. Cicero quotes the maxim as plain .
I breathe, I hope: first-person verbs
A Latin verb ending carries the person (I, you, he/she), never the gender. These are the safest tattoos there are.
| Source | Phrase | Literally |
|---|---|---|
| South Carolina | spiro spero | while I breathe, I hope |
| Caesar, in Suetonius | | I came, I saw, I conquered |
| São | | I am not led, I lead |
| Descartes | cogito | I think, therefore I am |
| Horace, Odes 3.30 | | I shall not wholly die |
| attrib. Hannibal | | I shall find a way or make one |
The ending is the thing to check. One letter changes who is speaking:
spero- I hope.sperat- he/she hopes.
does contain an adjective describing the speaker, , whole. It is third declension, one form for men and women, so it is right on anyone.
Sayings about the world
Proverbs and mottoes with their own subject talk about the world, not the wearer, so they suit anyone too.
With a verb
| Source | Phrase | Literally |
|---|---|---|
| Vergil, Ecl. 10.69 | | love conquers all |
| Vergil, Aen. 10.284 | iuvat | fortune helps the daring |
| Terence, Phormio 203 | adiuvat | fortune helps the brave |
| after Vergil | | time flees |
| after Suetonius, Jul. 32 | alea iacta | the die has been cast |
fluctuat mergitur | is tossed but not sunk | |
| Scotland | impune lacessit | no one provokes me unpunished |
| a proverb | | he conquers who conquers himself |
| Oregon | alis volat | flies with its own wings |
| papal coronation | | thus passes the glory of the world |
| Eusebius, in Latin | | in this sign you will conquer |
| a proverb | , | while there is life, there is hope |
in Terence's line is an accusative plural (the usual spelling is ): the brave. Read as a nominative it would make fortune brave, which is not what he meant.
Vergil wrote , the older spelling of , and inreparabile , from which is cut. Suetonius has the words in the order iacta alea . Volat is he, she or it flies; Oregon translates its motto as she flies with her own wings.
No verb needed
| Source | Phrase | Literally |
|---|---|---|
| Nietzsche | | love of fate |
| after Hippocrates | , | art is long, life is short |
| a motto | | deeds, not words |
| Sallust, Cat. 54.6 | | to be rather than to seem |
| a motto | astra | through hardships to the stars |
| a motto | | towards better things |
| Francis Drake | | great things from small |
Latin leaves out freely: is art (is) long. In astra both nouns are accusative neuter plurals, because per and ad both take the accusative.
Going further: Phrases that describe you and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.
Practice
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One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end.
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