# Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur



## shiekaye

*what does it means????*


*"Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur"*


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## walkyrie

in French : "c'est dans le besoin qu'on connaît ses amis"
in English : "a friend in need is a friend indeed"  (I think)


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## Agnès E.

Bonjour shiekaye, 
As your question is about a Latin sentence, I am moving your thread to the Other Language forum.


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## judkinsc

The Latin translates as: "A faithful friend in a precarious situation is distinguished."

Slightly more literally: "A certain friend in an incertain affair is distinguished."


The usual aphorism for that in English was given above.


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## jazyk

There's nothing wrong with the Latin sentence, it's just that I've seen it more often in the plural: Amicus certus in rebus incertis cernitur.


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## Sonnia

Is that true that the proverb A friend in need is a friend indeed   
means "friends become friendlier when they want something from you"? Is this the right way to understand the phrase?


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## Cagey

Sonnia said:


> Is that true that the proverb A friend in need is a friend indeed
> means "friends become friendlier when they want something from you"? Is this the right way to understand the phrase?


Post 4 gives you the literal translation of the Latin.  Paraphrased, it means that a true friend is revealed when circumstances are difficult. 

The Latin _cannot_ be read to mean that someone who needs something from you is friendlier.  It is only the English that might be ambiguous in this way.

Note: Thank you, by the way, for taking the time to search for this existing thread.


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## Sonnia

Thank you for your answers, Cagey!))


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## Hamehameha

Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur. ("Un amigo en la necesidad es un amigo de verdad"). (Ennio, citado por Cicerón).


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## XiaoRoel

La traducción exacta de esta cita de Ennio, en Cicerón, _Lælius_, 17, 64, al español es:


> El amigo fiel se prueba en la desgracia.


En gallego:


> Na infortunio próbase o amigo de verdade.


E portugués:


> O amigo fiel na desgraça é que se prova.


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