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Latin Via Proverbs: Home - Previous - Next

 

Group 120: Latin

 

1561. Hora fugit.

1562. Ruit hora.

1563. Curas cithara tollit.

1564. Musica pellit curas.

1565. Cura curam trahit.

1566. Gratia gratiam parit.

1567. Scapham scapham dicit.

1568. Fallacia alia aliam trudit.

1569. Umbram suam metuit.

1570. Aranearum telas texit.

1571. Naturam Minerva perficit.

 

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Study Guide

 

1561. The moment is fleeing. (The full form of this saying is tempus volat hora fugit. The Latin word hora can be translated with a wide range of English words, and you need to choose the one that sounds best to you in context: moment, hour, time, season, etc.)

 

1562. The moment rushes by. (This was the personal motto of Hugo Grotius, the 17th-century Dutch philosopher and poet.)

 

1563. The lyre takes away worries. (The Latin word cithara gives us the English word "guitar" and the word "zither" too!)

 

1564. Music expels worries. (Very often English has many words derived from compound Latin verbs, but with no corresponding English word for the unprefixed form, as is the case here. English features the words "expel," "compel," "impel," "dispel," and so on, but there is not a simple verb "to pel.")

 

1565. One problem brings another. (I keep thinking there is an English parallel for this proverb, but I cannot bring it to mind! The closest thing I can come up with is "It never rains but it pours." If anybody has a suggestion, please leave a comment. The idea is that you never have one problem - as soon as you've got one problem, another one is bound to follow. There's an Aesop's fable that explains why bad things always arrive quickly in a crowd, while things arrive only rarely and one at a time.)

 

1566. One favor engenders another. (In other words: if you do favors for others, you will benefit from return favors in the future. The Latin word "gratia" means both "favor" and also "thanks" for a favor, as in the Spanish phrase "gracias" - or when you say "grace" at the dinner table, thanking God for his good favor in bestowing food for the meal. This saying made its way into Erasmus's Adagia, 1.1.34.)

 

1567. He calls a skiff a skiff. (In other words, as we say in English, "calling a spade a spade." The phrase is used to refer to a person is a straight-talker, without obfuscation or euphemisms.)

 

1568. One deceit drives out another. (In other words: one act of trickery calls for another act of trickery in response. This saying is found in the Roman playwright Terence.)

 

1569. He fears his own shadow. (You will find this saying used by Cicero.)

 

1570. He's weaving spider webs. (This saying about "weaving spider webs" was used to refer to someone who exerted great pains and effort for something that was ultimately frivolous and unsubstantial. This saying finds its way into Erasmus's Adagia 1.4.47.)

 

1571. Minerva puts the finishing touches on Nature. (The Roman goddess Minerva, Greek Athena, was the goddess of arts and crafts. The idea is that art takes what is created by nature, refining and perfecting it, bringing it to a more ideal state of completion.)