Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Verbum Hodiernum: PUTO

Today's word, the verb puto (putare), is one of those words that might surprise you when you look it up in the dictionary - the most common meaning is "think" (hence our word "computer"), but the basic meaning of the word is agricultural, meaning to "prune" trees and vines. So, based on this agriculatural meaning of setting things in order around the farm, the Romans then extended the use of the word putare metaphorically to mean setting all kinds of things in order, settling accounts - and thus "reckoning" in more general terms.

Most of the English words from this Latin word have to do with this abstract sense of thinking and reasoning, such as "reputation," "putative, "impute," etc. but in the word "amputate" you can see the root sense of pruning trees, cutting off branches, etc.

The word is highly productive in Latin compounds, such as amputo, computo, disputo, imputo, reputo, etc.

Here are some Latin proverbs and sayings with puto and its compounds:

Luxuriat vitis, nisi falce putare velitis.

Si pes tuus te scandalizat, amputa illum.

Vae, puto, deus fio!

Diversi diversa putant.

Qui diligit ranam, ranam putat esse Dianam.

Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.

Plebs bene vestitum stultum putat esse peritum.

Stultus quoque, si tacuerit, sapiens reputabitur.

Male vivunt, qui se semper victuros putant.

Propera vivere et singulos dies singulas vitas puta.

Nemo est tam senex qui se annum non putet posse vivere.

Mala mors putanda non est, quam bona vita praecessit.

Sapit qui reputat.

Plenus venter facile de ieiuniis disputat.

Arguendo et disputando veritas invenitur.

De asini umbra disputant.

De gustibus non est disputandum.

Fatis imputandum.

Nuntio nihil imputandum.

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