"This is the way" from The Mandalorian in Latin

Question

The phrase "this is the way" is used multiple times in the Disney+ series, The Mandalorian. The phrase is used to affirm that taking an action is done because this is the way that the Mandalorians as an order/group do things. To me, there's a reverence to the phrase that says doing something this way upholds the ideals and creed that they live by.

How would this best be expressed in Latin? My first thought was something like this:

Hic Modus Est

Are there better word choices for this? If this happens to be the best choice of words, what is the best word order to capture the feeling of the original?

Answer 1

Vocabulary

There are a couple of options for "way" (translation suggestions from the linked L&S):

• Via: way, method, manner (II.A); the right way, the true method (II.B)
• Ratio: conduct, procedure, mode, manner, method, way (II.B.1.c.α–β)
• Ordo: a regular military formation (II.B.1)
• Modus: way, manner, mode, method (II.B)
• Mos: manner, custom, way, practice

Depending on what aspect you want to emphasize, any of these will do. To me modus or ratio feels too clinical and cold. Perhaps ordo is more about staying in line than following the correct customs, but it makes sense in both more and less literal meanings. My preference is mos or via, with a slight preference for via if it is not just a way to be but also a way to go forward.

Structure

When translating the whole catchphrase to Latin, it is good to make note of the English definite article "the". It is not emphasized in the delivery in the series, but replace with "a" and the meaning is changed. Latin does not make the distinction, so it might be best to add something to replace the article, like hic est mos noster or haec est via vera.

Given the way the phrase is used, I think it need not be a full sentence. In English "the way" would probably be too short, having only two syllables, but I think a plain mos noster or via vera work well.

A different echo?

In The Mandalorian the catchphrase "this is the way" is often often used so that one says it first and then others reply with the same. It might work well to modify the response, e.g. via nostra — via vera.

Goal and context

The question is, as usual, what it is that you want to achieve. If you want to reach the same dramatic effect when retelling the story in Latin, then I would probably go with my last suggestion. If you want a faithful translation so that people who know the series and Latin will recognize it, then I would pick something else.

I don't think there's a good translation that is simultaneous faithful in literal content, nuance, and dramatic effect.

Answer 2

Although I am no scholar, I humbly offer that the simplest answer may be best: Haec est via.

An edition of the Latin Vulgate renders Isaiah 30:21 thus:

Et aures tuae audient verbum post tergum monentis: Haec est via; ambulate in ea, et non declinetis neque ad dexteram, neque ad sinistram.

Answer 3

In this context, we can use the Latin word "via" for way. Here are some reasons for doing so:

1. The word "via" has a similar usage in the Bible.

Dicit ei Jesus: Ego sum via, et veritas, et vita. Nemo venit ad Patrem, nisi per me.

Jesus said to Thomas: I am the way, and the truth, and the life.

(John 14:6)

2. The phrase "viam sapientiae" (way of wisdom) also gets used in the Bible.

Viam sapientiæ monstrabo tibi; ducam te per semitas æquitatis.

I will show you the way of wisdom; I will lead you across the narrow footpaths of justice.

(Proverbs 4:11)

3. The phrase "via media" is often used to translate Aristotle's concept of a "middle way" (μεσότης = mean or μέση οδός = middle way).

Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἐστὶν ἡ ἀρετὴ ἡ ἠθικὴ μεσότης

Now that moral virtue is a mean, or middle state, ...

(Nicomachean Ethics Book 2)

So I propose the Latin phrase: "Haec est via."

Haec est via. This is the way.