Fortune favours the bold

[Colmarr]

Wikipedia suggests that this saying "exists in several forms with slightly different wording but effectively identical meaning, such as:

• audentes Fortuna iuvat
• audentes Fortuna adiuvat
• Fortuna audaces iuvat
• audentis Fortuna iuvat"

I was hoping someone could explain the differences/nuances between each version.

 

[Pacifica]

Wikipedia is right that there isn't really a difference in meaning. But if you want a classical quote, then audentis (or audentes; just a spelling variant) Fortuna iuvat is the way Vergil put it.

 

[Pacifica]

(or audentes; just a spelling variant)

I mean, audentis is probably the way Vergil spelled it, but we can't be entirely sure of that. We don't have any manuscript written by his own hand, only copies made later where scribes may have applied their own standards.

 

[Clemens]

Is there a subtle difference between audēns and audāx?

 

[Pacifica]

Audax can have a negative connotation (but doesn't necessarily; it depends on context).

 

[Clemens]

My old Latin grammar says adjectives in -āx have the same general meaning as a participle, but then says "It often denotes a faulty inclination." Would you agree with that? It seems to be in line with what you say here.

 

[Pacifica]

The -ax adjectives that I can think of off the top of my head either are always negative or can be:

mendax (negative)
contumax (negative)
rapax (negative)
tenax (can be negative, depends on context)
pertinax (can be negative, depends on context)
fallax (negative)
procax (negative)
dicax (often negative, but depends)

Of course, some of those, like mendax and fallax, can only be negative anyway, by virtue of the verb they're derived from, which is itself negative.

 

[Pacifica]

On the other hand, you have sagax, mostly positive, I think... probably an exception.

 

[Pacifica]

And then you have capax, pretty neutral.

 

[Iacobinus]

Aren't there also a syntactical nuance? The two firsts and the last sentences put emphasis on “the bold”.
Audentes Fortuna iuvat; audentes Fortuna adiuvat; audentis Fortuna iuvat, “the bold, fortune favours”, “[It's] the bold [that] fortune favours”, “the bold [are whom] fortune favours”, which suggests that fortune singularly or specifically favours the bold.

Fortuna audaces iuvat, “fortune favours the bold”, while fortune might also, perhaps, or perhaps not, favours other categories of population. The statement is more “neutral”.

 

[Matthaeus]

edax

 

[Clemens]

I've been known to be a bit edāx when I'm around my favorite cuisines.

 

[Matthaeus]

There's a well-known phrase that goes tempus edax rerum.