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I am translating the phrase "In my hands, creation" to Latin and came up with this: in manus meas creatio.

Google translate changes translates it so the possessor is "creation", rather than myself (in the hands of my creation) if I include a comma after meas, and if I remove it then it translate it as the creation of my hands!

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  • Welcome to the site! By the comma you implicitly mean that creation is in your hands? The whole of creation (the Universe) or the capacity to craft/create new staff, or something else? – Rafael Sep 4 '19 at 17:54
  • Thanks! I mean the latter (capacity to create), although I'd be curious to know the former as well. The comma does mean that it is implicitly is in my hands. – Adam Sep 4 '19 at 19:39
  • Beware of Google translate. Check this post. – luchonacho Sep 5 '19 at 9:49
  • I rely on Google Translate for work on a regular basis, and found it it takes a fair amount of back and forth to feel comfortable with the final translation. Using proper grammar and avoiding colloquialisms can help with modern languages. With Latin, I mostly use it for individual words and assemble sentences myself. That post and its comments were so interesting I had to share it with my wife. :) – Adam Sep 6 '19 at 14:52
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The proposed translation is almost right. The main issue is that you should use the plural ablative—manibus meis—instead of manus meas for my hands (when following the preposition in implying a motionless location.) Hence:

In manibus meis[,] creatio

Is a right, word-by-word, translation. You can also play with word order and the elision of the verb without loss of meaning: creatio in manibus meis, in manibus meis creatio est, etc.

Update: As underscored by Joonas and Adam, the comma is not needed and might, in fact, make it sound less classical. Thinking it twice, I'd actually prefer the version without the comma, but I don't directly advise against it, since I think it adds a bit of readability for a less experienced, present-day eye, and you didn't specify that you wanted the translation to be classical.

Creatio works for both the Universe and a piece of art, but if you want to be more specific you may want to use other words: For example, mundum or mundum universum for the former, ars fabricandi for the latter (though I'm not sure how clumsy this sounds.)

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    Thank you! I actually like the poetic duality of creatio in this case as it ties into the context and art it will be used with. Thank you as well for the examples of word order as well; that will give me more options depending on the amount of room available. – Adam Sep 4 '19 at 21:57
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    I would leave the comma out. It is not necessary and it looks cleaner to me without punctuation. – Joonas Ilmavirta♦ Sep 5 '19 at 14:05
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    I also prefer it without the comma, which seems like a more classical approach to punctuation. – Adam Sep 6 '19 at 15:03

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