Verbum Hodiernum: COMEDO

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COMEDO Dictionary Entry

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Today's word is the verb COMEDO (comedere), meaning "eat." This is actually a compound from of the verbo edo (esse). Unlike the simple form of the verb, however, which is irregular and has some confusing forms (est, "she is," ēst, "she eats"), the verb comedo is a regular third-declension verb: comedit, "she eats." You can see the Latin root reflected in the English derivative "comestible."

As a result of being less ambiguous, the verb comedere came to supplant the verb ēsse over time in later Latin, and it eventually led to the Spanish verb for eating, comer. Another verb that substituted for ēsse, the first-conjugation verb manducare ("to chew"), is what gave rise to French manger and Italian mangiare. The irregular Latin verb ēsse, meanwhile, has no offspring in the modern Romance languages.

Here are some Latin sayings and proverbs that illustrate today's word:

Ni molas, non comedes.

Ni purges et molas, non comedes.

Bona terrae comedetis.

Comede in laetitia panem tuum.

Requiesce, comede, bibe, epulare.

Comedamus et bibamus, cras enim moriemur.

Comedite, amici, et bibite; et inebriamini, carissimi.

Nonne melius est comedere et bibere?

Fici cadunt in os comedentis.

Ego seram, et alius comedat.

Ubi multae sunt opes, multi et qui comedunt eas.

Cuius panem comedo, eius cantilenam cano.

Plantate vineas, et comedite fructus earum.

Qui servat ficum, comedet fructus eius.

Eius dentes vel silicem comedere possunt.

Milvum comedens, et ipse milvus fies.

Linguam caninam comedi.

Pisces magni parvulos comedunt.

Ranarum more bibunt, nihil comedentes.

Bos hic non comedat, qui iam iuga ferre recusat.

Serpens nisi serpentem comederit non fit draco.

Conditus in palea a stupido comedetur asello.

Tarde venientes, male sedentes et nihil comedentes.

Patres comederunt uvam acerbam, et dentes filiorum obstupescunt.

Non esse homini bonum sub sole nisi quod comederet, et biberet, atque gauderet.