English to Latin Translation

[Pertinax]

so Flavius could you possibly help me with this distinction-if I wish to say "watch out for the Repositorium (buffet/table of many dishes)" as in the sense -"you will be overawed by the scope and quality of same" ,as opposed to -"do not trip over the table leg/slave reaching for food". What is your learned advice?

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

Sorry Pertinax, I don't understand what you mean by distinction. What kind are you looking for? Are you looking for terms to disctinct these sentences or do you want the sentence structure of a Latin sentence? But I will try my best?

You would always want to say it idiomatically all the time when you translate Latin into english.I must explain that the Romans weren't so good at saying things in the active, they were more passive-oriented. So really, by our standards today, the Roman grammar was utterly horrible. Even the Roman scholars and philosophers thought it was better to write that way. Your three sentences, two are imperatives and one is a declarative. I don't know what you mean by distinction but I'll try my best. Really theres nothing to the sentences. The first and last are just direct commands. The second is just a declarative. I must also explain that the Romans did not try or bother to distinct these sentences. All the terms in latin you learn or see is created by British grammarians who wanted to create a structure for Latin, nothing more.

 

I'm gonna start out the lines as separate sentences first and explain them:

Since its an imperative( imperatives have different Latin endings)

(You)Watch out for the repositorium : Spectato repositorio.

(I used the word specto because it means watch and can also mean consider...get the drift, but the out part is implied. You can use vigilas, it means to stay awake, so it can denote a watch out meaning.In latin, case and tense are very sensitive. If I made repositorio into the accustive(direct object), repositorium, then the sentence would translate into You look at the table( repositorium can also mean tray), and so longer gives a sense of vigilance or observation. Thats why I put it into dative or indirect object to imply the import for) Point being this sentence is in the imperative, nothing more, just a direct command.

 

You will be stunned by the scope and quality of the same: Ab comprensione et adjuncto idei adstupebis.

( There is no latin word for awe, but many words for amazed and stunned. You may notice the verb is passive, but the words definition is already passive, be stunned. So I put it in the active.\

 

Do not trip over the table for food: Super mensam contingens cibo non supplantato.

( this is another imperative, direct command, sentence. But it also has a participle phrase, reaching for food, same structure as sentence one.)

Edited November 15, 2005 by FLavius Valerius Constantinus

[Pertinax]

Well done Flavius -that is what I call an earnest reply.I think Spectato Repoisitorio is very neat and tidy . "consider" is a good enough word and the indrect usage is what I sought.As "awe" has no direct translation "consider" sounds to have a cool and scholarly weight to it . I note your remarks about the interpretation of Latin as a language, mentally I have always tried to see it as I would if attempting to speak an Italian phrase ,I see this is not a strictly proper method -so thank you very much for your exposition .

[Tobias]

Just a quick question; how would one say "For Strength and Security" in latin?

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

Viribusque cautioni

( The word I used for security, means security with the essence of caution. Obviously, the word security comes from securiti, but the problem is that that word can mean freedom from care and carelessness even though it can mean security, its just what it also denotes is the problem. You can also use composito which means law and order along with security.)( The word for strengh is vires, so in latin when you want to say strength, you have to say it in the plural. In the singular, it means violence.)

Edited November 15, 2005 by FLavius Valerius Constantinus

[Scipio Africanus]

Id be glad to see a thread focusing on translation. it can get difficult in school when every year we have switched texts and teachers.

[Guest Dynamit]

Hi guys, could I get some help in translating the very simple phrase "Love Life." Thanks a bunch.

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

Amor vita, unless you want it in the accusative(subject), Amorem vitam.

Not sure if love is an adjective, so I put it in the noun form anyways.

Edited November 16, 2005 by FLavius Valerius Constantinus

[Tiberius Sylvestius]

How come all you guys and gals learn latin at school?

 

Very rare round these parts. So many times i've been stumped by medieval history books just drifting into a few words of latin here and there with no explanation of what it means.

 

I've tried learning latin on my own before (like 4 or 5 times), but even the basic of the basic books manage to lose me sooner or later.

 

Hopefully i'll finally be enrolling for a course that has a latin class in it!

 

Unfortunately they say languages are harder to learn when you are an adult, but even as a child i was useless at German, French i handled a little better.

 

I'm sure i can rustle up a few paragraphs of Latin that i really would like translating.

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

Well, I'm able to learn latin because I go to a Jesuit school, so we're Catholic and our ancestral linguistic root is latin. But I'm not so sure how many public schools teach latin or for what reason, maybe they just want their students to learn latin so it can help them in other subjects or in the future, being a lawyer or docter...

 

Don't worry Tiberius, learning latin may be hard because you have to memorize so much stuff, the word order is complex, and recogizing the types of structure of sentences such as double datives, indirect commonads, and hundreds of uses of he ablatives may be hard. BUT, IF YOUR DEDICATED, LATIN WILL COME BY EASY.

[Pertinax]

Flavius with you in mind I have posted a photograph of Stonyhurst School in England-the leading Jesuit school here, it has many famous ex pupils but the best known is probably Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The school is not far from Ribchester .Montgomery of Alemain is the best known soldier educated there.

 

And as you will see I now have a new motto kindly provided by you. Salve.

Edited November 18, 2005 by Pertinax

[Tobias]

Hmm. I went to a Catholic School for my Primary and Tertiary Education, and there was never any option to learn Latin. I guess it's felt that we don't need it in the outback

[Cyrus]

I learned Latin at a public school, and I

[Tiberius Sylvestius]

I got the supreme choice of French and German... i took both out of choice, but languages really aren't my forte. History, Drama and Chemistry were the subjects i found i could just do without having to even think about it.

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

Chemistry, egahhhhhhh, now I hate that subject, which I'm currently taking. But history, now I reign supreme( well not really, but I'm really good at it).

 

By the way, if anyone needs help translating, I'll be around.