Hi Martha, this one's for you. I've been intrigued lately by the phrase:
"quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus" meaning sometimes even good Homer nods. I think this is meant to mean that even the experts make mistakes. My question has to do with how this phrase came to mean this. Thanks and love the show.
kulturvultur
Ah, great phrase, kulturvultur. You have the meaning right -- the idea that even a great artist or expert can occasionally slip up. The Latin phrase is from the Roman poet Horace, who lived hundreds of years after Homer, and wrote a treatise on the art of poetry, from which this phrase is taken.
I have to wonder if Roger Federer has been intrigued lately by the phrase as well! 🙂
Martha, my Latin is mostly nonexistent, but that's "nods" (dormitat?) as in "falls asleep"?
Yes, it's from “dormito,” which, according to my Lewis & Short Latin Dictionary, means “to be sleepy, drowsy, to begin to sleep, to fall asleep,” but can be used poetically to mean “to be dreaming, sluggish, stupid, slow, to linger.” Wonder which translator came up with “nods”? Do you like that word choice here?
dormant as in a currently inactive volcano