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I am currently studying Latin in high school (third year), so I do have a mild understanding of how the language works. But I would like to know whether this translation is correct. For various reasons, I can't ask my Latin teacher.

Hic fortissimus, primus inter pares.

hoping to mean:

This most powerful (individual), the first amongst equals.

Also, I am looking for an adjective to mean "powerful" as in "with great authority/influential". Would you recommend any other word besides "fortes"?

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For the first part of the sentence, it would be more correct to specify “this most powerful (man)” because “hic” and “fortissimus” are masculine. I have some doubts about the second part of the sentence because “pares” is an adjective and not a noun, but the author could have just left out a word (ellipsis) and implied “equal men” or something, which is pretty close to “equals”. Other than that, it looks good to me!

As for your second question, “potens, potentis” is a third declension adjective that is commonly used in a similar sense as what you described. I find the website Whitaker’s Words extremely helpful for finding both the Latin for English words and vice versa.

Good luck with the rest of your translation!

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    primus inter pares is actually an established idiom with its own Wiki page! As for hic fortissimus, it seems more like "this [man is the] strongest" to me. +1 for potens
    – brianpck
    Commented Nov 16, 2016 at 22:10
  • Thank you both very much. But, @brianpck , could "Hic potentissimus" be understood as "This [men who is the] most powerful"? I don't know whether this was apparent or not, but I am trying to translate an English text to Latin, in a more poetical manner ‒ some sort of motto, if you wish.
    – SuperSoldier
    Commented Nov 18, 2016 at 2:26
  • @SuperSoldier It certainly could mean that, in a certain context. As a standalone sentence, without further context, I think my interpretation would definitely be more natural.
    – brianpck
    Commented Nov 18, 2016 at 3:31
  • @brianpck Could you avoid the ambiguity by writing Hic fortissimus (vir) est primus inter pares? Would that be a more natural way of communicating the OP's intention? Or would et be a better choice than est?
    – ktm5124
    Commented Nov 29, 2017 at 8:46
  • I guess the question, more generally, is whether Latin has an analog to the English appositive construction that the OP would like to translate.
    – ktm5124
    Commented Nov 29, 2017 at 8:52

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