Expert: Maria - 3/18/2009

Question
I am reading "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry.  He has what one of his characters says is a Latin proverb on a sign for his livery stable.  It reads, "uva uvam vivendo varia fit."  Could you translate?  Thank you very much.

Answer
Hello,

Thanks for sending me your question in the category ‘Latin’, after sending it in the category “Greek”.

So, the Latin phrase “Uva uvam vivendo varia fit”  contains a spelling error, i.e. “vivendo” instead of “videndo” and then the correct sentence sounds  “Uva uvam videndo varia fit”  whose literal meaning is  “A bunch of grapes becomes varied in color by seeing another  grape ”.

The sense of this phrase which derives from Juvenal, Satires, 2.81,  is that a grape next to another grape darkens / goes bad  to the point of spoilage,  and then this sentence used in the Lonesome Dove is more or less equivalent to the saying "One bad apple spoils the bunch".

Hope all is clear enough.
Best regards,
Maria
__________________________________________
Note that:

-UVA (nominative case, 1st.declension) = a grape/ a bunch of grapes

-UVAM ( direct object, accusative case, of UVA) = [another] grape

-VIDENDO (ablative gerund of the verb VIDEO, I seen) = by seeing

-VARIA ( nominative feminine of the adjective VARIUS agreed with UVA) = varied

-FIT (present indicative of FIO, I become) = becomes
_____________________________________________________________________
-Juvenal's second satire, line 81 is  “Uvaque conspecta livorem ducit ab uva” just meaning “A  bunch of grapes [uva] assumes [ducit]a blueish hue [livorem]from the nearby grape [ab uva]”, i.e. “A bunch of grapes darkens/goes bad  by seeing another  grape”.

-Juvenal was a Roman satirical poet, flourished 1st to 2d century AD.