Carpe diem is often translated “seize the day,” but the carpe in that Latin saying can also mean “pluck” or “harvest.” The saying comes from a brief poem by the ancient Roman writer Horace. Addressing a woman desperate to know her fate, Horace uses an agricultural metaphor to urge her to leave off trying to predict the future. The poem ends with the advice Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero, or “Harvest the day, and leave as little as possible for tomorrow.” In Phrased and Confused: The Curious Meanings of Timeless Quotations (Bookshop|Amazon), writer Eli Burnstein contrasts the truncated modern quotation with the more relaxed, sedate imagery of wandering a vineyard, plucking grapes—in other words, taking life as it comes, enjoying the day’s pleasures without so much concern for the future. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “The Latin Verb “Carpe” in “Carpe Diem” Can Mean “Pluck” or “Harvest,” Not Just “Seize the Day””
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.
I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
The Latin expression carpe diem is often translated as seize the day, and you see this on t-shirts and mugs and tea towels, and it’s this advice to go out there and seize the day, you know, grab every opportunity.
Yeah.
Take what the day has to offer and don’t pass it by.
Right.
But what’s really interesting about the carpe in carpe diem is that it can also mean to pluck or harvest.
And actually, the roots of this Latin saying lie in an agricultural metaphor that’s actually quite lovely and very calming.
It it appears in a brief Latin poem by the ancient poet Horus, and the poem addresses this woman who’s trying to find out what fate has in store for her.
And the poet basically says, Yeah, don’t try to figure it out.
Forget the fortune tellers.
The gods don’t want us to know.
Don’t worry, be happy, basically.
Or, you know, as the poet puts it, Don’t worry about whether Jupiter gives us other winters or whether this is our last.
And then he goes on to reassure her with the imagery of a vineyard.
He says, Be wise, strain the wine, and cut back hope into a small space.
In other words, prune your hopes the way you would prune a growing vine.
And then the last line is where the carpe diem comes in.
Carpe diem qua minimum credula postero.
Harvest the day or pluck the day, and leave as little as possible for tomorrow.
I just think that’s so lovely.
And there’s more about this in a new book called Phrased and The Curious Meaning of Timeless Quotations by Elie Bernstein.
And it’s it’s a light, fun book about, the literary context and cultural histories behind familiar sayings like that, and I really like what Bernstein has to say about those two different senses of carpe diem.
He writes, In the popular version, we’re encouraged to max out every pleasure and shake down every opportunity.
In The Lesser Known One, we’re invited to sit back, relax, and enjoy the moment.
It’s a matter, he says, not so much the grabbing of bulls by their horns as the teasing of grapes off their stems.
And you can see this if you compare across a number of English dictionaries, you can see that only a few of them include that important follow-up, which is, yes, take the pleasures that the day offers, but without concern for the future.
That’s kind of the key part that is often lost in people using Carpe Diemonty towels, which I’ve never seen, by the way.
Oh, I have?
You haven’t been in the same shop prior.
I was decorating my kitchen wrong, I guess.
I don’t have Latin phrases all over Martha.
That must be a you thing.
We will link to Ellie Bernstein’s book Phrased and Confused on our website at waywordradio.org, where you can also find all of our past episodes and a dozen ways to reach us.
