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What would be the correct translation, to the Latin, for this phrase: "The blood of the One who is the Rock of our salvation". This is a Christian phrase that will be put on a seal. I have received a couple of translations (google,etc) but I'm not sure if they are correct. Here is what has been given to me so far:

  1. "sanguine qui est petra salutis nostra"
  2. "Et de sanguine qui est petrae Iesu nostro"

Are any of these options above correct or is there another/better way of translating the given phrase?

Thank you for your time!

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  • "sanguis Iesu Christi, qui est saxum, quo salus" = "The blood of Jesus Christ, who is the rock, from whom there is salvation".
    – tony
    Sep 22, 2020 at 16:51

3 Answers 3

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Salve and welcome to Latin.SE!

I'd go for something like:

Sanguis Illius qui petra est salutis nostrae

Unless you want to use it as part of a longer sentence. In that case, you might want to change sanguis for some of its inflected forms, depending on grammatical function.

  • Sanguis, blood is in the nominative case (i.e., intended to be used as the subject of a sentence or as a complement to the verb to be).
  • Illius, of Him is just a personal choice (matter of taste) to translate of the One, it just sounds more liturgical to me.
  • Salutis and nostrae (of our salvation) are both in the genitive case (~ of something), since Latin grammar dictates that both the adjective and the noun being modified by the latter must agree in case.
  • I, like you, chose petra instead of saxum, though both are valid translations for rock, following the choice of words in the Vulgate, e.g. in Mt 7:24-25 (the house built on rock) or Mt 16:18-20 (upon this Rock I will build My Church.)
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    Exodus 17 (the water from the rock in Horeb) also uses petra, so I think that's definitely the right choice
    – brianpck
    Sep 23, 2020 at 15:52
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    Why "illius" rather than "eius"?
    – gmvh
    Oct 9, 2020 at 21:18
  • @gmvh as I tried to say, it is more of a matter of taste. I'm not comfortable with Unius because it sounds to me more as "of one" than "of the One". Eius would act as a definite personal pronoun (of Him), which doesn't quite match the original meaning either. Illius (of that [who is...]), in turn, has a singularizing meaning without proximity, more or less as the originally intended meaning. Another alternative, perhaps too emphatic, would be Ipsius
    – Rafael
    Oct 10, 2020 at 17:19
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I agree with Rafael's answer but with a minor adjustment, as Latin usually prefers to put the verb at the end. And I've used eius rather than illius as is qui is most commonly used for he who. I thought ille and iste were sometimes used to mean 'the former' and 'the latter.' So - Sanguis eius qui petra salutis nostrae est.

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    This is very similar to another proposal. Can you expand your answer to describe what the difference is and why you prefer this wording? I actually like your suggestion better (+1!), but answers are more helpful (especially to a broad readership) if they elaborate on the choices made.
    – Joonas Ilmavirta
    Jan 4, 2021 at 19:49
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"Sanguis unī qui saxum salvationis nostrae" or "sanguis unī qui saxum de salvatione nostra" This is my translation as a beginner base on declinations and translations i learned.

Google translate is unreliable in latin translations.

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    Shame on the unexplained downvote. The genetive of ūnus is ūnīus. To be honest, I'd just say ēius - I don't quite know what to make of the capitalized "One" (Neo?) in the question, but generally "the one who" is "is qui". Sep 22, 2020 at 21:54
  • @Sebastian Koppehel: If you object to the downvote why haven't you put it back to zero? I've complained to the Mods, in the past, about unexplained downvotes but there is nothing to be done about it. If the OP improves his answer "(uni" to "unius"), I'll vote it up, how about you?
    – tony
    Sep 23, 2020 at 8:50
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    @SebastianKoppehel I don't see why my downvote is shameful. I was planning on commenting on a few of the issues when I had time, but (with no offense to Vince) this translation isn't correct and should not be put on the OP's seal.
    – brianpck
    Sep 23, 2020 at 15:39
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    @Vince Here are some things I would correct, besides what Sebastian already mentioned: (1) "Rock" in a Biblical context is usually petra, (2) You should include "est" in the relative clause, (3) salus is the usual Christian word for "salvation," and (4) the second option with de isn't actually allowable in this case.
    – brianpck
    Sep 23, 2020 at 15:42
  • @brianpck I think even to the asker an explanation what the problem is should be more helpful than a simple downvote. Sep 23, 2020 at 17:28

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