UNUS

The notes here are taken from the actual Scala, so be warned that references to the "previous" proverb refer to its order in the Scala, not its order here. You can read more about the word at the Verbosum blog: UNUS.

Ex uno multa. ~ Note: This is one of the sayings Erasmus included in his Adagia, 2.1.49. The idea refers to any circumstance in which someone is able to take one thing and turn it into many things, to such a degree that the result may seem paradoxical.

Unius dictum, dictum nullius. ~ Note: This Latin legal maxim expresses the principle that one witness is not enough; you need corroborating evidence. As a result, the word of just one person is no better than no word at all. This saying is also a great way to remember the genitive singular endings of unus and nullus; they both take that -ius ending.

Unus vir non omnia videt. ~ Note: Notice the nice alliteration between vir and videt in the Latin; vir is preferred to homo here not for semantic reasons, but for the stylistic appeal of the alliteration.

Vir quidem unus, nullus est. ~ Note: Compare the proverb cited earlier: Unus vir non omnia videt. Compare also the saying in the Adagia of Erasmus, 1.5.40: Unus vir, nullus vir.

Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno. ~ Note: This is the motto of Alexandre Dumas' Three Musketeers. You can read more about the history of this saying at Wikipedia.

E pluribus unum. ~ Note: This Latin motto appears on the seal of the United States of America, as you can see here: image.

Hoc unum scio: me nihil scire. ~ Note: Note that "me nihil scire" is an accusative+infinitive construction in indirect statement: (that) I know nothing.

Unus amicorum animus. ~ Note: The genitive expresses the idea of possession: There is one mind of friends = Friends have one mind.

Vox unius, vox nullius. ~ Note: The Latin word "vox" expresses a whole range of meaning, including what we call "sound" in English, as well as "voice" and also the idea of "word" (hence "vocabulary," referring to a collection of words).

Hoc unum certum est: nihil esse certi. ~ Note: The word "certi" here is in the genitive singular, an example of the so-called partitive genitive which you can find used with the word "nihil" - in English we say "nothing certain" but in Latin you say "nihil certi," "nothing (of) certain." (Compare the English "I'll have none of that!")

Cuncti gens una sumus. ~ Note: Notice that the masculine plural cuncti agrees with the subject of the verb sumus: Cuncti (nos) gens una sumus.

Anima in amicis una. ~ Note: This is a motto of the Powell family.

Unus Deus, sed plures amici parandi. ~ Note: This proverb is easier to grasp if you imagine the verbs that Latin has omitted: Unus (est) Deus, sed plures amici parandi (sunt). The gerundive parandi, expressing necessity ("should be obtained") agrees in gender, number and case with the subject: amici.

Ex uno disce omnes. ~ Note: Compare the saying included by Erasmus in his Adagia, 1.2.78: Ex uno omnia specta. The masculine plural omnes means "all (people)" while the neuter plural omnia means "all (things)."

Una arbor non facit silvam. ~ Note: This saying is a good way to remember the gender of the third-declension noun, arbor, feminine: una.

Unus nihil, duo plurimum possunt. ~ Note: Note the parallel structure: unus/duo and nihil/plurimum, with the verb serving for both.

Roma non fuit una die condita. ~ Note: This is a variation on the preceding saying, now with "fuit condita" instead of "condebatur." Compare yet another version: Roma sola die non fuerat aedificata.

Roma non uno condebatur die. ~ Note: Compare the famous English saying, "Rome was not built in a day." Here the phrase one day, uno die, wraps elegantly around the verb: uno condebatur die.

Natura uno ad plura utitur. ~ Note: Note the ablative complement, uno, with the verb utitur: Nature makes use of one thing (uno) for many purposes (ad plura).

Omnes una manet nox. ~ Note: Again, the verb "manere" can take a direct object, omnes: A single night awaits all (of us). Notice also how the phrase una nox wraps elegantly around the verb.

O bona fortuna, cur non es omnibus una? ~ Note: This is one of the sayings collected by Wegeler, 789.

Facies non omnibus una. ~ Note: Here you have a dative being used for something we would consider possession in English: For all of them (omnibus), the face is not one = They do not all have the same face. The words are from Ovid in his Metamorphoses, 2. Cicero puts it this way: Non est una omnium facies.

Vir unus haud videt omnia. ~ Note: Compare the saying you saw earlier: Unus vir non omnia videt.

Uni cum duobus non est pugnandum. ~ Note: Here you have the same idea expressed impersonally, with the gerundive in the neuter singular: pugnandum. Now the dative expresses agency with the gerundive: uni non est pugnandum, one person should not fight. This is one of the sayings Erasmus included in his Adagia, 5.2.30.

Nemo sibi nascitur uni. ~ Note: This proverb is a good way to remember that unus is one of those sneaky words which has irregular forms in the genitive, unius, and in the dative, uni, as you can see here. The unambiguous sibi gives you a nice clue that uni here is in the dative.

Unus flos non facit ver. ~ Note: This saying is a good way to remember the gender of the third-declension noun, flos - masculine, unus.

Cedat unus multitudini. ~ Note: Note the subjunctive, cedat: "Let the lone man give way..."

Spem retine; spes una hominem nec morte relinquit. ~ Note: This is one of the sayings included in the distichs attributed to the so-called "Cato." Here is the complete distich: Rebus in adversis animum submittere noli: / spem retine; spes una hominem nec morte relinquit.

Uni navi ne committas omnia. ~ Note: This is a variation on the previous saying, using "ne committas" as a way to express a negative command. Compare the saying in the Adagia of Erasmus, 4.4.6: Ne uni navi facultates.

Noli committere omnia uni navi. ~ Note: This is a good reminder of the unusual declension of unus, with the dative uni for all genders, as here: uni navi.

Unum, sed leonem. ~ Note: This is the famous riposte of the lioness who, when mocked for having only one cub, replied, "One - but he is a lion." The story is found in Aesop's fables. Note the accusative; the idea is that the lioness is talking about having a cub - the Latin statement omits the verb but keeps the accusative case.

Unum quidem, sed leonem. ~ Note: This is a stylistic variation on the preceding proverb which shows very nicely the use of the emphatic particle "quidem," which adds emphasize to the word preceding word.

Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus. ~ Note: This is a Latin legal maxim which also applies to life in general; for an illustration, see the Aesop's fable about the boy who cried wolf.

Cave ab homine unius libri. ~ Note: Here is another example of the verb cavere used with the preposition ab.

Nox est perpetua una dormienda. ~ Note: The words are from Catullus, 5. Note the use of the gerundive, feminine singular, agreeing with nox, night.

Una dies sapientem non perficit. ~ Note: Una dies sapientem non perficit, nec unus infaustus dies eum indoctum facit.

Unam ovem sequuntur aliae. ~ Note: Note that even though the verb sequor takes passive endings, it is still a transitive verb, able to take a direct object as here: unam ovem.

Saepe dat una dies quod non evenit in anno. ~ Note: As often, the antecedent of the relative pronoun is not expressed: Saepe dat una dies (hoc), quod non evenit in anno.

Unus lupus non timet multas oves. ~ Note: This is a saying associated with Alexander the Great, a great wolf who had no fear in the fact of the greater forces of the Persian king Darius.

Una domus non alit duos canes. ~ Note: This is one of the sayings collected by Erasmus in his Adagia, 2.2.24.

Una serena dies multas pellit cito nubes. ~ Note: This is one of the sayings collected by Wegeler, 1396.

Veritatis una vis, una facies est. ~ Note: Here you have the genitive being used in two parallel noun phrases: "veritatis vis" (una est) and "veritatis facies" (una est). The words again are from Seneca in one of his letters, 27.102.

Veritas semper una est. ~ Note: Here is a fuller form of the statement: Veritas semper una est et ipsa sibi consonat, etiamsi myriades opinionum ab ea discendentium discrepent.

Gradu diverso, via una. ~ Note: You can also find the saying in this form, with nominative case nouns: Gradus diversi, via una.

Serius aut citius, sedem properamus ad unam. ~ Note: Note how the nouns wrap around the preposition, sedem...ad unam, while the prepositional phrase itself then wraps around the verb. Very elegant! The words are from Ovid's Metamorphoses, 10.

Testis unus, testis nullus. ~ Note: This reiterates the idea of corroborating testimony, as you have seen in earlier sayings: "Unus vir non omnia videt," "Unius dictum, dictum nullius," etc.

Uni testi, ne Catoni quidem, credendum. ~ Note: This proverb invokes the famous moral integrity of Cato the Younger. Yet even the word of Cato, honest as he was, cannot stand on its own: every piece of evidence must be corroborated; one witness is not enough.

Testis in uno falsus, in nullo fidem meretur. ~ Note: This is another version of the preceding saying. A witness either has "fides" or not - and the witness who lies in one thing "in nullo fidem meretur."

Una hirundo non facit ver. ~ Note: Here the swallow's advent is associated with spring. This is one of the sayings Erasmus included in his Adagia, 1.7.94; it is included by Polydorus in his Adagia, A225.

Una hirundo non facit aestatem. ~ Note: Compare the English saying, "One swallow doesn't make a summer."

Oscitante uno, oscitat et alter. ~ Note: This is one of the sayings Erasmus included in his Adagia, 3.4.95.

Multa novit vulpes, sed erinaceus unum magnum. ~ Note: Compare the saying in the Adagia of Erasmus, 1.5.18: Multa novit vulpes, verum echinus unum magnum.

Omnes currunt, sed unus accipit bravium. ~ Note: This saying is included by Polydorus in his Adagia, B143.

Iota unum, aut unus apex non praeteribit. ~ Note: This saying is included by Polydorus in his Adagia, B96.

Plus Federicus uno oculo vidit quam ceteri principes duobus. ~ Note: This was presumably a saying originally associated with "Frederick the One-Eyed," Duke of Swabia in the 12th century. This saying is included by Polydorus in his Adagia, A152, and he comments: de hominibus prudentissimis dicitur.

Pluris est oculatus testis unus quam auriti decem. ~ Note: This is one of the sayings Erasmus included in his Adagia, 2.6.54.

Omnia sub unam Myconum. ~ Note: This is one of the sayings Erasmus included in his Adagia, 2.4.47; it is included by Polydorus in his Adagia, A184.

Uno in saltu lepide apros capiam duos. ~ Note: Compare the saying in the Adagia of Erasmus, 3.6.63: In saltu uno duos apros capere.

Secretum quodcumque tibi committitur uni, celato semper, licet irascaris in illum. ~ Note: Secretum quodcumque tibi committitur uni, / celato semper, licet irascaris in illum.