Expert: Maria - 9/27/2010

Question
what does this latin phrase say/mean?

uva uvam viendo varia fit

Answer
Hello,

The literal translation of “Uva uvam videndo varia fit” (not ‘viendo’ or 'vivendo') is the following:
”A grape becomes varied [in colour] by seeing [another] grape”.

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

Note that the  Roman poet Juvenal (late 1st - early 2nd century AD ) wanted  to point out that  immoral people  could contaminate traditional Roman values  as well as one bad bunch of grapes spoils another  bunch of grapes.


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

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

-UVAM ( direct object, accusative case, of UVA, 1st.declension) = [another] grape/ bunch of grapes

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

-VARIA ( nominative feminine of the adjective VARIUS agreed with the feminine noun UVA) = varied [in colour]

-FIT (3rd.person singular, present indicative of FIO, I become) = becomes.
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-In Juvenal's second satire, line 81 we read “Uvaque conspecta livorem ducit ab uva” just meaning “And [-QUE] 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”.

- We know little about Juvenal's life. He lived between ca. 35 AD and 135/140 AD.

-Finally note that Larry McMurtry in the ‘Lonesome Dove’ made a mistake when he wrote "Uva uvam vivendo varia fit" where "vivendo" (from the verb VIVO, I live) must be correctly "videndo" (from the verb VIDEO, I see).