How to properly translate "Great Evil" into medieval Latin?

Question

I've recently started on developing my own gaming project. Some of the words, proper nouns in particular, are planned to get translated into medieval Latin. The problem is that I'm not native speaker of the language, and Google Translator or any other kinds of translators can't be really trusted. I've even tried to understand the way "Lewis and Short" dictionary works, but sadly there is no way to translate phrases, only words separately, without case endings or consideration of gender.

I had few attempts on translating the sentence using different translators. The result I got was "Malum Grandis". But I'm pretty sure that it was translated wrongly. So that is why I'm here, to ask for a professional help.

Answer 1

It's great that you were keyed in to gender and endings, as so many who aren't sensitive to them from their own language miss that. And sure enough, for grandis, you would need to make it neuter: grande malum, a perfectly fine phrase that is attested in Classical Latin.

Another way would be to use magnum (think "Pompey the Great" = Pompeius Magnus), and sure enough magnum malum is really common as well.

You should be aware though that malum can also be "a bad thing," and that "evil" in English used to be synonymous with "bad", but has a more sinister tone to it. While I think a Roman writer wouldn't have batted an eye at magnum malum, for your game, you may want to consider something else.

One way to do that is to turning magnum or grande into a superlative: maximum malum (or grandissimum malum, but with a heavy preference on the former for all sorts of reasons).

You could also choose a different word for evil. In particular, you have scelus (wickedness, crime, evil deed), which could work, or nefas, which is more classical than Medieval, I believe.

Both are nouns properly and are neuter, so you wouldn't need to change the accompanying adjectives.

However, if this "great evil" is a person, you might have to opt for Malus (masc.) or Mala (fem.), and the endings for the adjectives would be changed to -us and -a for magn-, maxim- or -is for grand-, respectively.

Answer 2

The Vulgata at Ieremias 32:42-44 has grande malum (in accusative, but for the neuter the nominative is the same). Many English translations translate that in great evil (e.g., King James).

The whole sentence is:

> Quia haec dicit Dominus: 
Sicut adduxi super populum istum omne malum hoc grande, 
sic adducam super eos omne bonum quod ego loquor ad eos.

The nominative neuter is either grande malum or malum grande, the former feels more medieval.

The malum grandis you found feels incorrect.

This is a full table of declensions:

Number	Singular	Singular	Singular	Plural	Plural	Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	Grandis Malus	Grandis Mala	Grande Malum	Grandes Mali	Grandes Malae	Grandia Mala
Genitive	Grandis Mali	Grandis Malae	Grandis Mali	Grandium Malorum	Grandium Malarum	Grandium Malorum
Dative	Grandi Malo	Grandi Malae	Grandi Malo	Grandibus Malis	Grandibus Malis	Grandibus Malis
Accusative	Grandem Malum	Grandem Malam	Grande Malum	Grandes Malos Grandis Malos	Grandes Malas Grandis Malas	Grandia Mala
Ablative	Grandi Malo	Grandi Mala	Grandi Malo	Grandibus Malis	Grandibus Malis	Grandibus Malis
Vocative	Grandis Male	Grandis Mala	Grande Malum	Grandes Mali	Grandes Malae	Grandia Mala
Locative	Grandi Malo	Grandi Mala	Grandi Malo	Grandibus Malis	Grandibus Malis	Grandibus Malis