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What is the best translation of the following English sentence into Latin?

I see a great city whose glory will touch the stars.

It was said by a legendary mythological figure called Libuše [Libushe] while having a vision about the future of the city Prague. My attempt:

Ego urbem maximam momentam video ille gloria stellas tanget.

EDIT 1.0: Here is my way of doing the translation:

Ego=I

urbem=accusative of urbs

maximam momentam = feminine accusative of "of great importance"

video=I see

(word order=SOV)

ille=which, that

gloria=glory

stellas=accusative plural of stella, a star

tanget=3rd person singular future of tangere, to touch

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2 Answers 2

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It is perhaps not necessary for us to translate the English to Latin, because the 12th century Chronica Boemorum, which recounts the story of this prophecy, was written in Latin. The sentence (Book 1, Chapter IX) is:

Urbem conspicio, fama quae sidera tanget

Your translation is rather more literal and generally correct as well, though a relative pronoun (e.g. cuius, meaning "whose") would required instead of a demonstrative (ille).

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Faustus has the actual Latin phrase, but I do want to make just two small comments about your translation:

You don't actually need to say ego, as it is implied in video. Adding it typically emphasizes the subject, so that it sounds more like "It is I who see..."

For "great city," you can simply do urbem magnam, but if you want to say "of great importance," that phrase would go into the genitive or ablative, not the accusative.

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