I always enjoy the
Latin Proverb of the Day feature at
rogueclassicism. But
one of the recent proverbs struck me as odd --
Tot capita, tot sententia [sic], translated as "There are as many opinion [sic] as there are heads!" The pronunciation guide (kwoht KAH-pih-tah, toht sehn-TEN-tee-ah) makes it clear that
sententia is not a typo, but intentional. It is ungrammatical, however, even if you can find over a hundred hits on Google for
Tot capita, tot sententia and
Quot capita, tot sententia.
Henerik Kocher in his
dictionary of Latin proverbs gives the following variants of this proverb:
- Quot homines, tot sententiae. (Terence, Phormio 454)
- Quot capita, tot sententiae.
- Tot capita, tot sententiae.
In all of these, we have the plural
sententiae (opinions).
Tot capita, tot sententia makes no sense, and is a mistake for
Tot capita, tot sententiae.
Everyone has heard of the vulgar modern equivalent of this proverb: "Opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one." Or in Latin,
Quot culi, tot sententiae ("There are as many opinions as there are assholes").