Questions tagged [translation-check]
For getting community feedback on an attempted translation.
390
questions
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What does "Vivamus vel libero perit Americae" on Hannity's new book mean?
Sean Hannity is coming out with a new book called Live Free or Die: America (and the World) on the Brink. At the bottom is a perplexing subtitle in Latin:
VIVAMUS VEL LIBERO PERIT AMERICAE
Here's ...
18
votes
3
answers
15k
views
How does "It's totally fucked" translate to Latin?
The closest I can manage (uneducated) is "Prorsus Futui Est," but I suspect that's somewhat (if not completely) wrong.
17
votes
7
answers
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What is the best "worst" translation of Latin from Google Translate?
It's well-known on this community that you can't trust any Latin translation from Google Translate. A comment about translating goatherd with Google Translate got me thinking, though. What is the most ...
15
votes
4
answers
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Is the Phrase "Sola Dea Fatum Novit" Proper Latin?
I have seen this sentence translated as both "Only the Goddess knows fate" and "Only the Goddess knows their fate". That aside, I remember someone telling me that this was not correct Latin, and it ...
15
votes
1
answer
1k
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Translating "I too can write in Latin"
I want to translate this short sentence to Latin:
I too can write in Latin.
I mean that there are also others who know Latin, not that I can write in other languages or that I can speak Latin.
...
14
votes
1
answer
380
views
Translating "Nocte volat caelī mediō"
Line 184 of Vergil's Aeneid, Book IV, begins as follows:
Nocte volat caelī mediō
Would this be translated as "She of the sky flies in the middle of the night", or "At night she flies in the middle ...
13
votes
6
answers
691
views
"Mind the gap!"
I am currently in London, and the Underground has been kind enough to repeat this warning numerous times:
Please mind the gap between the train and the platform!
Having heard the same phrase over ...
12
votes
3
answers
10k
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How do you translate "Don't Fear the Reaper" into Latin?
In T. Pratchett's Discworld series, Death's motto is "Non Timetis Messor", meant to be a translation of "Don't Fear the Reaper". But in other books he uses "Timetere", and I am unsure of which would ...
12
votes
4
answers
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Request for a Latin phrase as motto "God is highest/supreme"
I'm looking for someone that can help me produce a correct, coherent Latin phrase for a school project to be used as a motto, similar to the Marine Corps motto Semper Fidelis, etc. I would like the ...
12
votes
3
answers
400
views
Help with Latin translation from a 17th century ecclesiastical Latin book
The book is Panoplia Clericalis, and the passage I'm having difficulty with (which I suspect is much easier than I think) is, from page 602:
De colorum mixtione, qui differunt, ex varia eorum ...
12
votes
1
answer
370
views
Understanding the grammar: «illis Evangelii nuntiandi praebens mandatum»
The following is the Latin text from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), Prologue, Chapter 1, Section 2:
2 Ut haec vocatio in toto resonaret orbe, Christus Apostolos misit, quos elegerat, ...
11
votes
1
answer
538
views
Help translating an Estee Lauder quotation to Latin
I am trying to translate one quote from Estee Lauder, that goes as following:
I have never dreamed about success. I worked for it.
Google translator returned this result:
Numquam viderat elit. ...
10
votes
3
answers
1k
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Is "mens semita tua" the correct translation for "mind your path"?
I love the phrase mind your path and thought it’d be even cooler in Latin. The translation I have is:
Mens Semita Tua
Is this correct; like, good enough to tattoo?
To add context, I feel that a lot ...
10
votes
2
answers
2k
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Joke variant of US motto
As a joke, I'm imagining someone being confused about the US motto, and thinking it was "e unum pluribus", which hypothetically might mean "out of the one, many" or similar. But I bet that isn't ...
10
votes
1
answer
451
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Is my translation correct (Koine Greek silly sentence)
(I understand that questions about Greek are on topic here, apologies if this doesn't cover Koine Greek.)
I'm wondering how to translate the following:
Ό του Χριστου σταυρος φιλος ανθρωποις
My ...
10
votes
1
answer
3k
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Translate "Everything burns" into classical Latin
In a project of mine I have an event which was named "everything burns", or potentially "Everything burned" (I am open to both tenses). What would this be in classical Latin? I tentatively have this ...
10
votes
3
answers
973
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Translate "I listened to... and all I got was this t-shirt" into Latin
I have a musical project I've been working on called Instruments of Ruin (it's instrumental, so the name is a play on that). I want to make shirts for it that have the phrase, "I listened to ...
10
votes
2
answers
2k
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Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum – Lucretius
I saw this quote in someone's forum sig file (signature): "Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum." - Lucretius
Curious, I consulted Google Translate, which my professional translator brother cautions ...
10
votes
1
answer
124
views
Rupes Recta, The Straight Wall, Correct Translation
Rupes recta is the name given to a feature on the Moon. This feature is also known as the straight wall or straight cliff.
Is rupes recta the correct Latin phrase for straight wall or straight cliff?
...
10
votes
1
answer
530
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Translation of building inscription regarding architect of Alcantara Bridge
The Alcantara Bridge in the Extremadura region of Spain is one of the oldest structures extant whose architect is known by name. It spans the Tagus River near the modern-day border of Spain and ...
10
votes
1
answer
600
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Translation of phrase from "Le Petit Prince"
There is an awesome quote in the brilliant book "Le Petit Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry that is commonly translated to English as "what is essential is invisible to the eye" or simple "the ...
10
votes
1
answer
2k
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Translation of "since 1950" (for example)
I'm in the midst of designing a graphic for my parents' 50th anniversary celebration, and for obscure reasons I want to include the proper Latin equivalent of "since 1967", in the same way that a ...
9
votes
3
answers
3k
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How do you say "When a hen begs you to pick her up, you pick her up"?
I would like to translate the following into Latin:
When a hen begs you to pick her up, you pick her up.
Here's my attempt:
Gallina tollenda, quae tolli rogat.
Is there a better way to express ...
9
votes
3
answers
3k
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What is a War Like?
In the film, "Go Tell the Spartans" (1978), U.S. Major Asa Barker asks young Corporal Courcey why he has volunteered to spend the last six-months of his military service, fighting in Viet ...
9
votes
4
answers
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How do you say " Coup de grâce " in latin?
After searching for vocabs and etymologies in wiktionary I translated it only myself and I've got " gratiae colaphus "
Is it correct? Or should I use "misericordiae" for "...
9
votes
2
answers
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How do you say "under an angel's wing" in Latin?
How do you say "under an angel's wing" in Latin? Should it be sub ala angelus or sub ala angeli? A friend of mine has a tattoo (using the 1st option), and she's afraid it's not correct.
9
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3
answers
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Out of nothing comes something (Ex quidem nihil fit?)
If "ex nihilo nihil fit" means "out of nothing comes nothing" then how would one say "out of nothing comes something"? The best I can come up with is "ex quidem nihil fit." Is that translation correct?...
9
votes
2
answers
1k
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Is it acceptable/regular to use diacritics (macron) in written texts?
I'm building the brand for a web development company, and I'm using Latin for the name and slogan. However, as I am not familiar with the language, I would like some help clarifying meanings to avoid ...
9
votes
2
answers
577
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Latin phrase, modelled on "horror vacui", for the fear of "equality"?
A usual latin phrase is horror vacui, which in English can be rendered as fear of emptiness.
Question: what do you consider a correct Latin translation of the English fear of equality?
The question ...
9
votes
2
answers
465
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Is "ergo" an appropriate word for this context?
I'm translating this sentence into Latin:
You said that I could do anything, so I went to the strip club.
(It's for a late Valentine's card for my girlfriend.)
So far, I have the first and second ...
9
votes
1
answer
836
views
What is the meaning of _voci populi_ in this quote?
There is one quote by Victor Klemperer that reads:
But there is no vox populi, only voci populi.
which seems to be a bit puzzling.
On a wiki-talk page the translation speculation runs with the ...
9
votes
2
answers
484
views
Translating "destroy the bad" for a tattoo
I am considering a tattoo in Latin, and I want it to say "destroy the bad", or perhaps "get rid of the evil".
I want the translation to be short due to space constraints.
I looked online and I found ...
9
votes
2
answers
401
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Does this say what I think it does? Correctly? President Kennedy Quote
Simple question really: Noli quaerere quid vobis tua patria facere potest, sed quid facere tuae patriae potes.
Does this say "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your ...
9
votes
2
answers
2k
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How do you say "in the year of the plague" in Latin?
We're putting up a large sundial, which already has a suitable latin motto, but given COVID, under the date would like to add a small submotto with the phase "in the year of the plague".
...
9
votes
1
answer
252
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What's the best way to translate "de Hercule famam acceperat"?
I'm translating the text:
Pluto, qui de Hercule famam acceperat, eum benigne excepit
(Fabulae Faciles, 53)
I chose to translate it as "Pluto, who had heard stories about Hercules, received ...
9
votes
1
answer
343
views
What does "Non procul abest" mean?
In chapter 8 of Lingua Latina per se illustrata we have:
Non procul abest.
What does this mean?
I understand every word but not really the sentence.
If it was "non procul est" I would ...
9
votes
1
answer
173
views
Genitive Adjective with no Noun Referent
Praejudicium autem cum dico, non volo intelligi qualecunque praegressum judicium in animo; quasi animus ab omni omnino judicio liber esse debeat: sed judicium quod semel formatum tanti fit, ut eo quis ...
9
votes
1
answer
412
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Translation of a Line from Caesar's De Bello Gallico
I'm struggling with translating a line from Book 4, Chapter 35 from Caesar's De Bello Gallico. Here is the Latin portion (bolded) with context.
Caesar, etsi idem quod superioribus diebus acciderat ...
9
votes
1
answer
4k
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Semper Veritas, Semper Veritatem, or something else?
I'm considering getting a tattoo with the phrase "Always Truth" or "Always the Truth" in Latin, but I'm not 100% how to translate it, because I don't really understand Latin noun declension. My first ...
9
votes
1
answer
391
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Translation of de Natura Deorum, 53
“Infima est quinque errantium terraeque proxuma stella Veneris, quae Φωσφόρος Graece, Latine dicitur Lucifer, cum antegreditur solem, cum subsequitur autem Hesperos,"
Source: M. Tullius Cicero, de ...
9
votes
1
answer
357
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Use of the gerund in the Vulgate bible
I was reading Luke 10:25 in the Vulgate bible, trying my best to translate as literally as possible. But I found it hard to translate the question that the expert of law (legisperitus) poses.
(...
9
votes
1
answer
233
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Sherlockian Logic
In the crime novels by Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, central character, detective, Sherlock Holmes described his approach to evidence-analysis as the discarding of the impossible; then, whatever remains, ...
9
votes
1
answer
101
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Natural translation of "... Herculaneum, a town near the mountain"
I have been given as an exercise this sentence to translate into Latin:
"The soldier arrived in Herculaneum, a town near the mountain".
I offered the translation of "Miles in Herculaneum pervenit, ...
8
votes
1
answer
3k
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Help translating "It's not a bug, it's a feature!"?
I know no Latin, but playing around with Google Translate I came up with "Non insectum opus est". Insectum seems like a good stand in for a generic bug, but maybe blatta is better (see http:/...
8
votes
2
answers
1k
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Translate "iconoclast" to classical Latin
I am translating "iconoclast" into classical Latin. It was translated into Ecclesiastical Latin as Iconoclasta, but I would rather translate it from the original Byzantine Greek meaning of image-...
8
votes
2
answers
3k
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How good is the new version of Google Translate?
Google Translate recently (a few days ago I believe) updated its translation model for Latin and the results seem quite impressive to me.
However, I am by no mean fluent in Latin and I would like to ...
8
votes
1
answer
553
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When do we add NE when asking a question?
There are some times that you use
QUID EST
or
UBI EST
Which I assume are known as a question starting point.
But then there are verbs that you add a NE at the end to make the other person know you ...
8
votes
2
answers
957
views
What is the meaning of "the new darkness" in Latin?
I am looking for a Latin phrase for
The new darkness
as in the arising of a negative political movement, a "new" darkness.
The best I can find is
tenebrae ex hodiernae
as if "born ...
8
votes
2
answers
5k
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Is "Deo donante" a good translation of "God's blessing"?
I want to write the words "God's blessing" in Latin. I came up with the translation Deo donante after a Google search. I want to double check if Deo donante means "God's blessing" and to understand ...
8
votes
2
answers
1k
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cum/tum and the Latin version of Herodotus
I've started reading Johann Schweighäuser's 1822 translation into Latin of Herodotus' Histories, and already the first sentence is giving me some trouble.
The Greek, which I can puzzle my way through ...