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Latin Grammar
By Fr. Dennis | June 26, 2003
So I just changed the name of this blog from “vita mei” to “vita mea.” It’s supposed to mean “my life,” but I wasn’t sure if I had the grammar correct. I’ve never actually studied Latin, so my guesses at the grammar of that language are based on my study of Spanish and French.
I know for a fact that “mei” is a possessive pronoun, corresonding to the English word “my.” I also know that “vita” means “life.” The question is whether I’ve selected the correct form of each word.
Singing various Latin texts over the years, I’ve noticed that every word has numerous forms. For instance, I’ve seen “Dominus,” “Dominum,” “Domini,” and “Domino” all used to mean the word “Lord.”
I’m familiar with phrases lilke
“pax Christi,” meaning “peace of Christ” or “Christ’s peace,”
“verbum Domini,” meaning “word of the Lord” or “the Lord’s word,”
“nomine Domini,” meaning “name of the Lord” or “the Lord’s name”
“opus Dei,” meaning “work of God” or “God’s work.”
So that told me that a noun used as a possessive will always end in “-i.” That’s why I chose the form “mei.” And I was guessing that the form “vita” was the most basic nominative noun form of the word. But then I was praying the Magnificat, and remembering how it begins in Latin.
“Magnificat anima mea Dominum.”
“My soul magnifies (proclaims the greatness of) the Lord.”
In that construction, the feminine form of “anima” is followed by “mea.” So now I know that a noun that ends in “-a” requires possessive pronouns that end in “-a.” I still wonder, though, if “anima” is made feminine because Our Lady is feminine. Maybe if a man had proclaimed it, it might have been “animus meo” or something.
My friend Janet Cupo, who is, by the way, a great model of Christian virtue, replied to an email I sent her about this, and she said “vita mea” is correct. As a result, I’ve made the decision to rename this blog to “vita mea.”
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August 22nd, 2003 at 3:38 pm
Your comments reminded me of something I saw years ago, and have just revisited. Like you I have heard Latin words and phrases all my life, but never studied the grammer. I just saw Life of Brian on DVD with my 9 year old nephew. If you remember there is a very funny discussion of Latin grammer there pointing out why “Romanus eunt domus” is wrong and “Romani ite domum” is so much better.
This time it reminded me that I already knew that the imperitive “go” when addressed to more than one is “ite” from the phrase “Ite Missa est”
September 3rd, 2003 at 8:57 pm
This is perfectly random and you don’t know me, but I believe the phrase you’re looking for should be “vitae mea” or “mea vitae” seeing as word order is inconsequential in Latin. I say “vitae” because it’s the genitive case of the noun, which is used for possessive. I only took Latin for two years though, so i could be wrong, but that’s just my first thought.
-Michelle-
September 3rd, 2003 at 10:35 pm
My ecclesiastical Latin class meets for the first time tomorrow, so I’ll check it out with my professor to be sure.
I was looking in the textbook I just purchased at the section on noun declensions, and it just so happens that the book uses the word “vita” for the example. The singular nominative form is vita. The singular genitive form is “vitae.” I think, however, that genitive is used when a noun is used to limit or qualify the meaning of another noun.
In this phrase, “mea” does the limiting or qualifying. What we need for “vita,” I think, in this context, is the nominitive singular.
At any rate, I’ll check it in class. I’m very excited to be studying a language again. Haven’t had a language class since college in the 80’s.
October 10th, 2003 at 4:32 am
I left the catholic church because they never said lord, and that word had a profound effect on me… I always wondered what the word domino ment as they started communion with it at mass …so surfing the web I found what it meant through your site “lord” thank you.
January 26th, 2004 at 11:31 am
If you’re at all interested in learning Latin (which is lamentably neglected these days), the best self-teacher I’ve found is Wheelock’s Latin. You should be able to get it in any bookstore or on Amazon.com. 60% of English words come from Latin and a good understanding of Latin leads to much better English.
BASIC: Every noun has six forms: nominative (subject), vocative (form of addressing), accusative (direct object), genitive (possessive), dative (indirect object) and ablative (adverbial case). There are no articles in Latin, so you identify most things through the word endings.
The canonical one being mensa, table:
SINGULAR
Nominative: mensa (a table)
Vocative: mensa (O Table)
Accusative: mensam (a table)
Genitive: mensae (of a table)
Dative: mensae (to, for a table)
Ablative: mensa (by, with, from a table)
PLURAL
Nom: mensae (tables)
Voc: mensae (O Tables)
Acc: mensas (tables)
Gen: mensarum (of tables)
Dat: mensis (to, for tables)
Abl: mensis (by, with, from tables)
Vita is a first declension noun, declined exactly as mensa. I would write ‘My Life’ as ‘Vitae Mea,’ because it’s YOUR life, possessive (genitive) and the genitive form is vitae. But it’s also the subject of the phrase, so you could use the nominative, vita. That may be just a matter of taste, or I could be wrong. I’m certainly no expert, just a product (victim?) of the English boarding school system.
Hope that helps!
Best,
Ethan
June 27th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
Obviously this is a very old post but I wanted to reassure you that your website is right. The “My” in “My Life” is a possessive pronoun, not a possessive adjective. Like in the common Latin phrase “Mea Culpa” or ‘My Fault”. Possessive pronouns do have a different ending in Latin, so I can understand the confusion. Stick with Vita Mea. Hope that helps.
Thanks,
Mike