I'm translating a song and there's a line "I've been wishing my day away."
English isn't my first language, and I cannot think of an equivalent in Latin. I know what this means, but I can't imagine a verb for that.
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2Can you explain what you think the line means, and can you link to the song as well? I don't think you have the right construction here, but I would need to see the song to verify that.– cmw ♦Jan 1 at 15:08
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I think the person wants his/her day to end up because he/she is wasting it. youtu.be/H79HSI_yVKo– user11898Jan 1 at 21:14
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1 Answer
I'm fairly certain this does not mean "to wish my day goes away", but rather "to waste away the day in wishing (dreaming, etc)".
The chorus, for example, talks about getting stuck in the same place:
Dream on
Yesterday is gone
And it's clear
I'll never get out of here
One possible way to translate this is found in Cicero's second speech against Catiline (2.4.6):
ne patiantur desiderio sui Catilinam miserum tabescere.
Let them not suffer the unhappy Catiline to pine away for want of them.
With just a slight change in person and mood, you get:
- somnians patior diem tabescere, ("I, dreaming, have been allowing my day to waste away")
I chose somnians in particular since it can often mean in English:
l. to dream, i. e. to think idly or vainly, to talk foolishly
The downside of somnians, though, is that it doesn't quite mean "to desire something else"; however, it would make for a nice allusion to the Everly Brothers' classic "All I Have to do Is Dream", this line in particular:
"Only trouble is, gee whiz, I'm dreaming my life away"
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Thank you. Now I can do it.😀– user11898Jan 11 at 0:05