See gutta cavat lapidem in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"descendants": [
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"lang": "German",
"lang_code": "de",
"tags": [
"calque",
"calque"
],
"word": "steter Tropfen höhlt den Stein"
},
{
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"tags": [
"calque",
"calque"
],
"word": "kropla drąży skałę"
},
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"lang": "Russian",
"lang_code": "ru",
"roman": "káplja kámenʹ tóčit",
"tags": [
"calque",
"calque"
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"word": "ка́пля ка́мень то́чит"
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"1": "the water drop bores through the rock"
},
"expansion": "“the water drop bores through the rock”",
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"args": {
"1": "the water drop bores through the rock"
},
"expansion": "Literally, “the water drop bores through the rock”",
"name": "lit"
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{
"args": {
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"3": "πέτρην κοιλαίνει ῥανὶς ὕδατος ἐνδελεχείῃ",
"nocap": "1"
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"expansion": "calque of Ancient Greek πέτρην κοιλαίνει ῥανὶς ὕδατος ἐνδελεχείῃ (pétrēn koilaínei rhanìs húdatos endelekheíēi)",
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"quote": "nonne vides etiam guttas in saxa cadentis / umoris longo in spatio pertundere saxa?",
"t": "Don't you see, besides, how drops of water falling down against the stones at last bore through the stones?"
},
"expansion": "c. 99 BCE – 55 BCE, Lucretius, De rerum natura 4.1286–1287:\nnonne vides etiam guttas in saxa cadentis / umoris longo in spatio pertundere saxa?\nDon't you see, besides, how drops of water falling down against the stones at last bore through the stones?",
"name": "Q"
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],
"etymology_text": "Literally, “the water drop bores through the rock”. Perhaps a loose calque of Ancient Greek πέτρην κοιλαίνει ῥανὶς ὕδατος ἐνδελεχείῃ (pétrēn koilaínei rhanìs húdatos endelekheíēi), a verse by fifth-century-BCE poet Choerilus of Samos.\nThough the exact quoted words are first found in Ovid, the idea appears twice in Lucretius already:\nc. 99 BCE – 55 BCE, Lucretius, De rerum natura 4.1286–1287:\nnonne vides etiam guttas in saxa cadentis / umoris longo in spatio pertundere saxa?\nDon't you see, besides, how drops of water falling down against the stones at last bore through the stones?",
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"args": {
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"expansion": "gutta cavat lapidem",
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"examples": [
{
"english": "the drop bores the rock, the ring is worn out by use",
"ref": "12 CE – 13 CE, Ovid, Letters from the Black Sea 4.10.5",
"text": "gutta cavat lapidem, consumitur anulus usu",
"translation": "the drop bores the rock, the ring is worn out by use"
}
],
"glosses": [
"little strokes fell great oaks, slow and steady wins the race"
],
"id": "en-gutta_cavat_lapidem-la-proverb-8t-5dELa",
"links": [
[
"little strokes fell great oaks",
"little strokes fell great oaks"
],
[
"slow and steady wins the race",
"slow and steady wins the race"
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],
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"(idiomatic) little strokes fell great oaks, slow and steady wins the race"
],
"tags": [
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"wikipedia": [
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}
],
"word": "gutta cavat lapidem"
}
{
"descendants": [
{
"lang": "German",
"lang_code": "de",
"tags": [
"calque",
"calque"
],
"word": "steter Tropfen höhlt den Stein"
},
{
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"tags": [
"calque",
"calque"
],
"word": "kropla drąży skałę"
},
{
"lang": "Russian",
"lang_code": "ru",
"roman": "káplja kámenʹ tóčit",
"tags": [
"calque",
"calque"
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"word": "ка́пля ка́мень то́чит"
}
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"args": {
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},
"expansion": "Literally, “the water drop bores through the rock”",
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"expansion": "calque of Ancient Greek πέτρην κοιλαίνει ῥανὶς ὕδατος ἐνδελεχείῃ (pétrēn koilaínei rhanìs húdatos endelekheíēi)",
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"quote": "nonne vides etiam guttas in saxa cadentis / umoris longo in spatio pertundere saxa?",
"t": "Don't you see, besides, how drops of water falling down against the stones at last bore through the stones?"
},
"expansion": "c. 99 BCE – 55 BCE, Lucretius, De rerum natura 4.1286–1287:\nnonne vides etiam guttas in saxa cadentis / umoris longo in spatio pertundere saxa?\nDon't you see, besides, how drops of water falling down against the stones at last bore through the stones?",
"name": "Q"
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],
"etymology_text": "Literally, “the water drop bores through the rock”. Perhaps a loose calque of Ancient Greek πέτρην κοιλαίνει ῥανὶς ὕδατος ἐνδελεχείῃ (pétrēn koilaínei rhanìs húdatos endelekheíēi), a verse by fifth-century-BCE poet Choerilus of Samos.\nThough the exact quoted words are first found in Ovid, the idea appears twice in Lucretius already:\nc. 99 BCE – 55 BCE, Lucretius, De rerum natura 4.1286–1287:\nnonne vides etiam guttas in saxa cadentis / umoris longo in spatio pertundere saxa?\nDon't you see, besides, how drops of water falling down against the stones at last bore through the stones?",
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"expansion": "gutta cavat lapidem",
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],
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"lang_code": "la",
"pos": "proverb",
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"Latin idioms",
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"Latin terms derived from Ancient Greek",
"Latin terms with quotations",
"Pages with 1 entry",
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],
"examples": [
{
"english": "the drop bores the rock, the ring is worn out by use",
"ref": "12 CE – 13 CE, Ovid, Letters from the Black Sea 4.10.5",
"text": "gutta cavat lapidem, consumitur anulus usu",
"translation": "the drop bores the rock, the ring is worn out by use"
}
],
"glosses": [
"little strokes fell great oaks, slow and steady wins the race"
],
"links": [
[
"little strokes fell great oaks",
"little strokes fell great oaks"
],
[
"slow and steady wins the race",
"slow and steady wins the race"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) little strokes fell great oaks, slow and steady wins the race"
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"wikipedia": [
"Choerilus of Samos"
]
}
],
"word": "gutta cavat lapidem"
}
Download raw JSONL data for gutta cavat lapidem meaning in Latin (3.5kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable Latin dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-12-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-12-02 using wiktextract (ddb1505 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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