homo homini lupus

Latin

Etymology

From homō (“a human being, man”) + hominī (“to man”, dative singular of the same) + lupus (“a wolf”). As is typical of Latin proverbs, the sentence is nominal (lacks the copular est).

First attested in Erasmus' Adagia,^[1] a variation on the proverb alluded to by Plautus in Lupus est homō hominī, nōn homō, quom quālis sit nōn nōvit ("To a human, a human is not a human but a wolf when he doesn't know what the other one is like").^[2] Compare Erasmus' Hominī nūlla fera perniciōsior quam homō ("No beast is more dangerous to a human than another human").

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈho.moː ˈho.mi.niː ˈlu.pus/, [ˈhɔmoː ˈhɔmɪniː ˈɫ̪ʊpʊs̠]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈo.mo ˈo.mi.ni ˈlu.pus/, [ˈɔːmo ˈɔːmini ˈluːpus]

Phrase

homō hominī lupus

man is a wolf to man (what wolf is to other animals, man is to another man)

Descendants

→ English: man is a wolf to man (calque)
→ Finnish: ihminen on ihmiselle susi (calque)
→ French: l’homme est un loup pour l’homme (calque)
→ Hungarian: ember embernek farkasa (calque)
⇒ Icelandic: maður er manns gaman (“man is the enjoyment of man”) (antonymic calque)
→ Polish: człowiek człowiekowi wilkiem (calque)
→ Portuguese: o homem é o lobo do homem (calque)
→ Russian: челове́к челове́ку волк (čelovék čelovéku volk) (calque)

References

^ “Homo homini lupus”, in ihrim.huma-num.fr‎^[1], 2021 May 13 (last accessed)
^ “Titus Maccius Plautus, Asinaria 495”, in latin.packhum.org‎^[2], 2021 May 13 (last accessed)