Verbum Hodiernum: MEUS

Today's word is the possessive adjective meus. As you can see, it is related to the root of the first person pronoun, which you can see in the accusative me form of ego. The Indo-European connections are clear here, too, with the English "me."

In addition to the standard first and second declension endings for this adjective, note also the singular vocative form mi, as in: mi pater! You can even find this form used with feminine nouns, for example: mi soror! mi domina!

Remember also that while English uses the possessive adjective to express all forms of possession, Latin also frequently prefers the dative instead, especially for personal names, family members, body parts, things that do not exactly "belong" to you and to nobody else. For example: puero nomen est Marcus.

Here are some examples of today's word in Latin sayings and proverbs; for more information, see the page at the Scala Sapientiae, which contains notes on some of the proverbs cited below, as well as additional proverbs:

Omnia mea mecum sunt.

Faciam meo modo.

Ego meorum solus sum meus.

Quod verum est, meum est.

Mecum mea sunt cuncta.

Quidquid bene dictum est ab ullo, meum est.

Meum mihi placet, illi suum.

Ventus est vita mea.

Spes mea, res mea.

Meum mihi, suum cuique carum.

Quis est meus proximus?

Salus publica, salus mea.

Omnia mea mecum porto.

Divitiae meae sunt, tu autem divitiarum es.

Qui me amat, amet et canem meum.

Tu si me amas, canem meum dilige.

Ego fidem meam malo quam thesauros.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

Cognosco oves meas, et cognoscunt me meae.

Nondum venit hora mea.