There are moments in the conversation when ordinary words are no longer enough, or they seem inconspicuous in front of a deep meaning that I want to convey, and then winged sayings come to the rescue - Latin of them are the most significant in terms of strength of thought and conciseness.
Latin is alive!
A great many words and phrases in different languages of the world are borrowed from Latin. They are so deeply rooted that they are used all the time.
For example, the well-known aqua (water), alibi (proof of innocence), index (index), veto (ban), persona non grata (a person whom they did not want to see and did not expect), alter Ego (my second Self), alma mater (mother-nurse), capredem (seize the moment), as well as the well-known post-script (PS), used as a postscript to the main text, and a priori (relying on experience and faith).
Based on the frequency of use of these words, it is too early to say that the Latin language has long died. He will live in Latin sayings, words and aphorisms for a long time.
The most famous sayings
A small list of the most popular Latin expressions known to many lovers of history works and philosophical conversations over a cup of tea. Many of them are almost native in frequency of use:
Doom spiro, spero. - While I breathe I hope. This phrase was first encountered by Cicero in his Letters and also by Seneca.
De mortus out bene, out nichil. - About the dead is good, or nothing. It is believed that this phrase was used by Chilon in the fourth century BC.
Vox populi, Vox Dia. - The voice of the people is the voice of God. The phrase, sounded in the poem of Hesiod, but for some reason it is attributed to the historian William of Malmesbury, which is fundamentally wrong. In the modern world, the movie "V means vendetta" brought fame to this saying.
Memento Mori. - Memento Mori. This expression was once used as a greeting from trapist monks.
Note Bene! - Call to pay attention. Often written in the margins of texts of great philosophers.
Oh, tempore, oh, more! - About times, about morals. from Speech Against Catilina by Cicero.
After the fact. - Often used in designating actions after an already accomplished fact.
About this counter. - Pros and cons.
In bono veritas. - The truth is good.
Wolens, Nolens. - Willingly or not. You can also translate as "you want, you do not want"
Truth in wine
One of the most famous Latin proverbs sounds like “in vino veritas”, in which the truth is veritas, in vino is the wine itself. This is a favorite expression of people who often attach to a glass, in such a cunning way they justify their craving for alcohol. Authorship is attributed to the Roman writer Pliny the Elder, who died during the eruption of Vesuvius. At the same time, its authentic version sounds somewhat different: “Truth drowned in wine more than once,” and the implication is that the drunk person is always more truthful than sober. The great thinker was often quoted in his works by the poet Blok (in the poem "The Stranger"), the writer Dostoevsky in the novel "The Teenager" and some other authors. Some historians argue that the authorship of this Latin proverb belongs to a completely different, Greek poet Alkey. There is also a similar Russian proverb: “What is sober on the mind, then on the drunk on the tongue.”
Quotes from the Bible translated from Latin into Russian
Many phraseologisms used now are gleaned from the greatest book in the world and are the seeds of great wisdom, passing from century to century.
He who does not work does not eat (from the second epistle of the Apostle Paul). Russian counterpart: who does not work, he does not eat. The meaning and sound are almost identical.
Let this cup pass by me. - This is taken from the Gospel of Matthew. And from the same source - the student does not stand above his teacher.
Remember that you are dust. - Taken from the book of Genesis, this phrase reminds everyone who are proud in their greatness that all people are made from one “test”.
The Abyss invokes the abyss (Psalm.) The phrase in the Russian language has an analogue: trouble does not come alone.
Do what you conceive (Gospel of John). - These are the words spoken by Jesus to Judah before the betrayal.
Everyday Phrases
Latin sayings with transcription in Russian (for easier reading and memorization) can be used in ordinary conversation, decorating your speech with wise aphorisms, giving it a special sharpness and uniqueness. Many of them are also familiar to most:
Dies diem doc. - Every previous day teaches a new one. The authorship is attributed to Publius Syrah, who lived in the first century BC.
Ekze Homo! - Behold the Man! The expression is taken from the Gospel of John, the words of Pontius Pilate about Jesus Christ.
Elephantham ex musca fatsis. “You make an elephant out of a fly.”
Herrara humanum est. - It is human nature to make mistakes (these are also the words of Cicero) ..
Essays kwam videri. - Be, not seem to be.
Ex animo. - From a pure heart, from a soul.
Excitus act is prob. - The result justifies the means (action, act, deed).
Seek someone profitable
Qui bono and qui prodest (quid prodest). - The words of the Roman consul, who was often quoted by Cicero, who, in turn, is widely quoted by detectives in modern films: "Who benefits, or look for who benefits."
Researchers of ancient treatises on history believe that these words belong to the lawyer Cassian Raville, who investigated the crime in the first century of our century and addressed the judges with such words.
Cicero's words
Mark Tullius Cicero - the great ancient Roman orator and politician who played a leading role in exposing the Catiline conspiracy. He was executed, but many sayings of the thinker for a long time continue to live among us, like Latin sayings, and after all, few people know that it belongs to him.
For example, everyone knows:
Ab Ignam Ignam. - From fire to fire (Russian: from fire to fire).
A true friend is known in a wrong deed (in a treatise on friendship)
To live is to think (weaver eats a cogitara).
Either let him drink or leave (out bibat, out abeat) - the phrase was often used at Roman feasts. In the modern world it has an analogue: they don’t go to another’s barracks with their charter.
Habit is second nature (treatise "On the Highest Good"). This statement was also picked up by the poet Pushkin:
The habit from above is given to us ...
The letter does not blush (epistula non erubescyte). From a letter from Cicero to a Roman historian in which he expressed his satisfaction with the fact that on paper he could express much more than words.
Everyone tends to make mistakes, but only to a fool is to persist. Adapted from the work of Philippi
About love
This section contains Latin sayings (with translation) about the highest feeling - love. Reflecting on their deep meaning, you can trace the thread connecting all times: Trahit sua quemque voluptas.
Love is not treated with herbs. The words of Ovid, which was later rephrased by Alexander Pushkin:
The disease of love is incurable.
Femina nihil pestilentius. - There is nothing more destructive than a woman. Words belonging to the great Homer.
Amor omnibus come on. - Part of Virgil’s saying, “love is one for all.” There is another variation: all ages are submissive to love.
Old love must be beaten out with love, like a stake. The words of Cicero.
Analogs of Latin expressions and Russian
A lot of Latin sayings have proverbs identical in meaning in our culture.
The eagle does not catch flies. - Each bird has its own six. It hints at the fact that one must adhere to one's moral principles and rules of life, without falling below one's level.
Too much food disturbs the sharpness of the mind. - The words of the philosopher Seneca, having a related proverb among the Russians: the full belly to science is deaf. Perhaps that is why many great thinkers lived in poverty and hunger.
There is no silver lining. There is an absolutely identical saying in our country. Or maybe some Russian fellow borrowed it from the Latin, and since then it has become a tradition?
Which king - such is the crowd. The analogue is what is pop, such is parish. And about the same thing: it’s not a place that colors a person, but a person is a place.
What is permitted to Jupiter is not permitted to the bull. About the same: Caesar - Caesarean.
Those who have done half the battle have already begun (they attribute Horace to: "Dimidium facti, qui clings, habet"). With the same meaning, Plato has: “The beginning is half the battle,” as well as the old Russian saying: “The good beginning was half the battle.”
Patrié fumus igne alieno luculentsior. - The smoke of the fatherland is brighter than the fire of a foreign land (Russian - The smoke of the fatherland is sweet and pleasant to us).
The mottos of great people
Latin sayings were also used as mottos of famous people, communities and fraternities. For example, "the eternal glory of God" is the motto of the Jesuits. The motto of the Templars is “non-nobis, Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam”, which translates as: “Lord, not to us, but give glory to your name”. And also the famous "Capre diem" (catch the moment) - this is the motto of the Epicureans, taken from the opus of Horace.
"Or Caesar, or nothing," is the motto of Cardinal Borgia, who took the words of Caligula, the Roman emperor, famous for his exorbitant appetites and desires.
"Faster, higher, stronger!" - Since 1913 it is a symbol of the Olympic Games.
“De Omnibus Dubito” (I doubt it all), is the motto of Rene Descartes, a philosopher scientist.
Fluctuat nec mergitur (swims, but does not sink) - on the coat of arms of Paris there is this inscription under the boat.
Vita blue libertate, nihil (life without freedom is nothing) - with these words, Romain Roland, a famous French writer, walked through life.
Vivere eats the military (to live is to fight) - the motto of the great Lucius Seneca the Younger, a Roman poet and philosopher.
About the benefits of being a polyglot
There is a story surfing the Internet about a resourceful student in the medical faculty who witnessed how a gypsy got attached to a stranger girl with calls to "gilt a pen and tell fortune." The girl was quiet and shy and could not correctly refuse the beggar. The guy, sympathizing with the girl, came up and started shouting the names of the diseases in Latin, waving his arms widely around the gypsy. The latter hastily retreated. After a while, the guy and girl happily married, remembering the comic moment of meeting.
The origins of the language
Latin got its name from the Lanites who lived in Lazium, a small area in the center of Italy. The center of Latsium was Rome, which from the city grew to the capital of the Great Empire, and Latin was recognized as the state language in the vast territory from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea, as well as in parts of Asia, North Africa and the Euphrates River Valley.
In the second century BC Rome conquered Greece, ancient Greek and Latin were mixed, giving rise to many Romance languages (French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, among which the Sardinian language is considered the closest in sound to Latin).
Medicine is inconceivable without Latin in the modern world, because almost all diagnoses and medicines sound in this language, and the philosophical works of ancient thinkers in Latin are still an example of the epistolary genre and cultural heritage of the highest quality.