54
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Feminine case 3rd-person version of “Veni, vidi, vici”
"Veni vidi vici" means "I came, I saw, I conquered."
"Venit vidit vicit" means "He/she/it came, he/she/it saw, he/she/it conquered." It doesn't make any ...
- 2,943
36
votes
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"Oh no!" in Latin
I think the word you want is ēheu, which L&S define as "an interjection of pain or grief".
It's often translated as "alas", mostly because it appears in epic poetry where a grandiose and formal ...
- 64.6k
28
votes
"Oh no!" in Latin
Seneca the Younger gave the following irreverent account of Claudius' last words:
Ultima vox eius haec inter homines audita est, cum maiorem sonitum emisisset illa parte qua facilius loquebatur: &...
- 4,438
28
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Are there native tongue-twisters in Latin?
Quintus Ennius loved alliteration and produced a few verses, which he probably did not intend as tongue-twisters, but which might be called that:
O Tite tute Tati, tibi tanta, tyranne, tulisti.
Mater ...
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27
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Help translating "It's not a bug, it's a feature!"?
Google Translate is unreliable with Latin and you should not take anything it gives seriously.
The suggestion non insectum opus est sounds like "an insect is not work".
I am not aware of ...
- 110k
25
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What is a Latin version of Inshallah?
Si Deus velit would be quite satisfactory, 'if God should wish [it]', but is, I think, neither as usual or as forceful as the more familiar ablative absolute form Deo volente, 'with God willing', ...
- 18k
25
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What is bullshit in Latin?
Nugae! Ineptiae sunt aniles! Fabulae, logi, somnia! Gerras loqueris; hariolaris, vaticinaris!
Nugae, ineptiae, gerrae are dedicated terms for nonsense, balderdash, trifles, idle speech, silliness, ...
- 31.7k
22
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Translation of a phrase "Catch the moment, ..." to Latin
There is a well-known Latin equivalent in fairly common use : carpe diem (literally, 'seize the day), taken from Horace, Odes 1.11. The full phrase is carpe diem quam minimum credula postero, implying ...
- 18k
21
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How do you say "please" in Classical Latin?
In Latin you need a verb to say "please".
The verb quaesere mentioned by ktm5124 is a good one, but not the only one.
That verb is used typically only in first person singular or plural present ...
- 110k
21
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What would be a "night owl" in Latin?
The verb lucubrare means (OLD definition 1) 'To work by lamplight (i.e. late at night), "burn the midnight oil."' For example, Pliny uses this verb in letter 3.5 to talk about his uncle's work/study ...
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21
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Feminine case 3rd-person version of “Veni, vidi, vici”
It's:
Vēnit, vīdit, vīcit.
whether the subject is masculine, feminine, or neuter. Latin only has grammatical gender agreement between nouns and the adjectives that modify them. Subject-verb ...
- 15.8k
20
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What did the Romans use to close their letters?
If you have a look at Cicero's letters, many of them do not have any valediction at all. In a pair of letters exchanged between Q. Metellus and Cicero (Cic. Fam. 5.1-5.2), the two men simply stop and ...
cmw♦
- 50.7k
20
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What is a Latin version of Inshallah?
From Bibliander's translation of the Qur'an, surah 18, ayah 69,
Dixit Moyses, Deo uolente, me quilibet sustinentem, nec te in quoquam offendentem semper inuenies.
This is not a literal translation....
20
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What is a Latin version of Inshallah?
For a monotheist, Tom Cotton's answer is best; for a polytheist (like the ancient Romans), it would be in the plural, so something like dis volentibus ("with the gods willing").
Another way ...
cmw♦
- 50.7k
18
votes
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What do animals say in classical Latin?
Unfortunately, the verbs have survived much better in writing than the actual onomatopoeia. A few of these are fairly clearly based on the sound: baubor "bark", hinnio "whinny", ululo "howl" (and ...
- 64.6k
18
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Latinism to say "everyone knows"
There are many constructions that might be appropriate.
Basic structures:
certum est (with accusative and infinitive) -- it is certain
constat inter omnes (with accusative and infinitive) -- it is ...
- 6,219
17
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How did the Romans say "good night"?
For all things English to Latin, the best place to go is Smith's Copious and Critical English - Latin Dictionary. To get the phrase, you'd have to look under night:
to have a good night, bene ...
cmw♦
- 50.7k
17
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How do you say "please" in Classical Latin?
To add to the other excellent answers, I would like to add a colloquial way of saying "please" that is very common in Plautus: sis (= si vis), which means "if you want" or "if ...
- 38.5k
17
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How do I express total surprise or perplexity when asking a question?
One way of expressing surprise is to add the word nam to a question, which seems to add a sense of "... and I really have no idea what the answer is". Lewis and Short (section III of the entry) ...
- 30.6k
17
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How does one say "the will to live" in Latin?
Schopenhauer himself rendered his concept "Wille zum Leben" as "voluntas vivendi" in a marginal note to Augustine's Civitas dei.
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17
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What would be a "night owl" in Latin?
Seneca is your man. In Ep 122 he uses the word lychnobius: one who lives by lamplight.
I'll quote the passage in full, because it's so great.
Pedonem Albinovanum narrantem audieramus (erat
autem ...
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17
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Could one consider using Latin as a daily casual language these days?
You seem to be addressing several issues in this question.
To start from the bottom line: Latin is already being used right now as a daily casual language. Not even a small reserve about this ...
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17
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What does „fecerunt pedes“ mean in Latin inscriptions?
In afraid you shouldn't have glossed over the numerals so easily. The first inscription does not, in fact, say
M. and S. made the/these feet
but in fact:
M. and S. made 100 feet
The foot was used ...
- 31.7k
16
votes
"Et tu, Brute?"
Well, without too much knowledge of any deeper, ulterior meanings to the phrase, I can certainly provide and analyze the literal translation for you:
And you, Brutus?
et → a simple conjunction
tu →...
- 640
16
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Latin for "In war and in peace"
You're probably thinking of domi militiaeque / domi bellique (but also militiae et domi etc. and the archaic domi duellique), literally "at home and on military service" / "at home and in war", as ...
- 4,438
15
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Quem describit Petrarca?
After reading the quoted passage in context (no, I did not read the whole letter), I think you are missing a key sentence that introduces this whole "videbis" trope: It occurs towards the ...
- 38.5k
15
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"Et tu, Brute?"
Suetonius, in his work Vita Divi Iuli, reports the last words of Caesar being Greek καὶ σὺ τέκνον; which is the original source of Shakespeare's line, translated into Latin fairly literally:
the ...
- 1,206
15
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How to say "everything will be good" in Latin?
The verb cadere ('to fall'), when paired with an adverb (or when its subject is paired with an adjective), can mean 'to turn out (in the manner denoted by the adverb/adjective)' – for example:
quis ...
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15
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What is bullshit in Latin?
I would suggest nugae, -arum as a good equivalent of English "bullshit."
The English term has a fairly tame sense. By my lights, it's a term of abuse for something that seems empty, nonsensical, or ...
- 38.5k
15
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How to say "To serve, not to be served" in Latin?
Welcome to the site!
Non ministrari, sed ministrare (VG Mt 20,28)
Is a well-attested phrase with that exact meaning. It literally means not to be served but to serve. The context is Jesus in the ...
- 10.8k
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