Ashes to Ashes

Last night, my brother told Mama to be careful inside the comfort room because it was wet and slippery.

I told my brother, “What are you so afraid of?  She has a funeral plan.”

Our mother who’s used to my antics laughed her heart out.

My brother replied, “Her plan does not cover the plot that will maintain her remains.”

I retorted, “We’ll just have to cremate her if we can’t find one.  And, I’m sure you’ll deal with the ashes according to your Catholic customs.  If you let me keep her ashes, I might flush them down the pozo negro (cesspit).”

Remember, our mother was laughing as she listened to us.

Through the laughter, I imagined Mama thinking and singling me out, “You’re disinherited.  Don’t even bother attending the reading (of the last will and testament).”

Latin Adjectives

As discussed in my previous post “Alma Mater,” Latin nouns and adjectives have gender, and they take different forms according to their gender: masculine, feminine, and neuter.

The adjective “alma” in alma mater means nourishing and is the feminine form of “almus” (masculine) and “almum” (neuter).  “Mater” means mother.  So, alma mater literally means nourishing mother.  Take note of the endings: -us (masculine), -a (feminine), and -um (neuter).  Their plural forms are: -i (for -us), -ae (for -a), and -a (for -um) – this means that alma may be feminine singular or neuter plural.

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	-us	-a	-um
Plural	-i	-ae	-a

Most Latin nouns and adjectives that end in -a are feminine with a small number of exceptions like nauta (sailor) and agricola (farmer) which are masculine.

Italian, Spanish, French and other romance languages – and many English words – are derived from Latin.  Many Filipino words are derived from Spanish because the Philippines was occupied by the Spaniards for over 300 years.  Notice that many Spanish (like Latin) words that end in -a are feminine, e.g., viuda (widow), madrasta (stepmother), colegiala (schoolgirl), etc. – these examples are spelled biyuda, madrasta, kolehiyala and mean the same thing in Filipino.

Let’s take a Latin word as an example: alumnus.

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	alumnus	alumna	alumnum
Plural	alumni	alumnae	alumna

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	-	femina	-
Plural	-	feminae	-

Alumnus as a noun means student or foster child.  As an adjective, alumnus means nourished or brought up.  In the English-speaking world, alumnus is a graduate or product of a certain school.  Alumnus means the person being referred to is a man (because of the -us ending).  Alumna is a woman, and alumnum is neuter or is a thing (living or inanimate).  Latin nouns and adjectives that end in -um are usually neuter, e.g., pomum (apple, fruit).  The plural of alumnus is alumni, the plural of alumna is alumnae, and the plural of alumnum is alumna.  Alumna is both feminine singular and neuter plural.

A noun has one or more genders.  “Femina” (woman) can only be feminine, but the masculine alumnus may transform to feminine alumna or neuter alumnum.  The gender of an adjective is dependent on the gender of the noun it describes.

Let’s go back to alma.

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	almus	alma	almum
Plural	almi	almae	alma

If used simply as an adjective without any noun being described, alma can be interpreted as “nourishing woman” or anything nourishing that is feminine like the moon (luna) and water (aqua).  Notice the -a ending of luna and aqua.  Almus as a stand-alone word may mean “nourishing man” or anything nurturing that is masculine like amicus (friend).  Notice the -us ending of amicus.  Context is key.

Other examples: formosus -a -um (handsome, beautiful); and magnus -a -um (big).

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	formosus	formosa	formosum
Plural	formosi	formosae	formosa

“Man” in Latin is “vir” or “homo.”  “Vir formosus” or “homo formosus” means handsome man.  Formosus as a stand-alone word may mean handsome man.  Femina means woman.  “Femina formosa” means beautiful woman or one can simply use the word “formosa” to mean the same thing.  Latin adjectives usually come after the nouns they describe.  They come before nouns in idiomatic expressions like alma mater and when they describe size or quantity, e.g., “magna femina” (big woman).  Formosum describes a beautiful thing that is neither masculine nor feminine, e.g., “praemium formosum” (beautiful reward).  Notice the -um ending of praemium.  As mentioned earlier, the gender of an adjective is dependent on the gender of the noun it describes.  A feminine noun can only take a feminine adjective just as a masculine noun can only take a masculine adjective.  “Femina formosus” is wrong because femina is feminine and formosus is masculine.  Genders do not mix.

H’m.  Women and men can not mix.  So, Latin is homosexual?  Oops!  Forgive me for the indulgence.

As I was saying…

“Virus” in Latin means poison or venom, not man.  Virus, even with an -us ending, is a neuter noun and so takes -a for its plural form, i.e., the plural of virus in Latin is vira (viruses in English).  Vir does not have an -us/-a/-um ending yet is masculine.  The plural of vir (man) is viri (men).  Grammar, of any language, gets crazy when exceptions or additional rules set in.

Man	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	vir	-	-
Plural	viri	-	-

Virus	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	-	-	virus
Plural	-	-	vira

Viri.  Vira.  Don’t we sometimes get weary of our viri when they act like vira?

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	magnus	magna	magnum
Plural	magni	magnae	magna

Magnus means big and may mean a big man, magna may mean a large woman, and magnum means something large.  If you are proud of your boyfriend’s equipment, you can say, “My man carries a magnum between his legs.”

“V” is always pronounced “w” in Latin.  “Vita” (life) is wita, not veeta.  “Weary” and “viri” sound a little alike.  “H” is never silent.  “C” is pronounced “k.”  Cicero is kikero and not sisero (but is chichero like the ch- in the word “church” in Ecclesiastical or Church Latin).  Church Latin employs Italian pronunciation.  “J” is y.  Julius Caesar is Yu-li-us Kay-sar (“ae” is pronounced as “i” like in high, might, etc.).  “gn” is pronounced n at the beginning of a word but is ngn in the middle in Classical Latin, e.g., magna is pronounced mang-na, not mag-na; dignitas (worth, dignity) is ding-nitas, not dig-nitas.  In Church Latin, gn is pronounced ñ, e.g., magna is maña or manya; dignitas is diñitas or dinyitas.  Honestly though, who’s looking when you’re saying mag-na instead of mang-na or manya?  Pronounce Latin in a way that suits you.  Let the Romans come.

Many, but not all, Latin adjectives have -us/-a/-um endings.

“Subpoena” (under penalty) is a very common word in the legal profession.  Of all the professionals, lawyers are the ones who use a lot of Latin in their jobs (apart from Latin teachers, of course).  So, if you have Latin words in mind and you have a lawyer friend who will not send you a bill, ask her or him what these Latin words mean.  Also, Catholic priests are usually good in Latin (these days, not all seminaries require training or fluency in Latin).  My Latin is rusty, as in tetanus rusty, so kindly confirm with your friendly neighborhood priest, lawyer or Latin teacher.

Other examples of Latin adjectives with -us/-a/-um endings:

Primus -a -um (first, foremost, chief).

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	primus	prima	primum
Plural	primi	primae	prima

Mirus -a -um (wonderful).

A wonderful woman is “femina mira” or simply mira which may also mean wonder woman just as mirus may mean wonder man.  Remember the importance of context in translation.

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	mirus	mira	mirum
Plural	miri	mirae	mira

Proximus -a -um (nearest, next).

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	proximus	proxima	proximum
Plural	proximi	proximae	proxima

Many -mus words like maximus (greatest), supremus (super, highest), minimus (smallest), etc., belong to the family of -us/-a/-um endings – maximus may mean the greatest man, maxima may mean the greatest woman, and maximum the greatest thing.  Try translating supremus and minimus.

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	maximus	maxima	maximum
Plural	maximi	maximae	maxima

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	supremus	suprema	supremum
Plural	supremi	supremae	suprema

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	minimus	minima	minimum
Plural	minimi	minimae	minima

Bonus -a -um (good).

It is always good to get a bonus, isn’t it?

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	bonus	bona	bonum
Plural	boni	bonae	bona

Albus -a -um (white).

Do you know or remember Albus Dumbledore, a character in the Harry Potter book and film series?

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	albus	alba	album
Plural	albi	albae	alba

Candidus -a -um (bright).

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	candidus	candida	candidum
Plural	candidi	candidae	candida

Pius -a -um (pious, dutiful).

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	pius	pia	pium
Plural	pii	piae	pia

Rectus -a -um (right, correct).

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	rectus	recta	rectum
Plural	recti	rectae	recta

So, when someone says “Do the rectum!” he or she may mean “Do the right thing!” and may not exactly mean the sticky stuff.

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Some parts of this had been sent to friends as text messages years ago.