141
votes
Accepted
What is Google Translate good for?
A classmate of mine who got his Ph.D. in natural-language processing and now works at Google told me the following. It might be out of date and I might be remembering it wrong. But I just did a little,...
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25
votes
What is Google Translate good for?
To answer the question ("What is Latin Google Translate good for?") as stated:
Absolutely nothing.
At least reliably.
- 38.5k
23
votes
Has anybody encountered this abbreviation/spelling before?
It should say Inas or Ina. Ina, whose name is referred to as Ine on Wikipedia (unclear if this is because of a modernisation of his weakly declined Old English name or because ancient sources are also ...
- 446
18
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of "Ex Lux", the name of Lucifer Morningstar's new bar?
Lux can mean "light", and ex can mean "out (of)"; but that sign is wrong. The grammar is impossible; you can't just combine words like that in Latin.
To give you a feel of the type of wrongness, ...
- 19.8k
17
votes
Translation needed for 130 years old church document
This looks like a standard baptism record.
In the Year of Our Lord 1887, on the 17th day of the month of April, in this church of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Machang-Bubok, I, Sorin, M. Ap., ...
- 64.7k
17
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What is the best "worst" translation of Latin from Google Translate?
This one was mentioned in the linked question and appears to be still valid:
dolor sit amet > "carrots"
This translation is marked as verified by community and no other options are ...
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
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of "e pluribus smart assimus"?
This is dog Latin for "out of many come smartasses" (or "a smartass"). It's modelled off the phrase ē pluribus unum, "out of many [comes] one", which is printed on American currency, plus the fake ...
- 64.7k
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
votes
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Why was ante tribus translated as "fifteen years ago"?
Lustrum has several meanings, but that which applies here is the period of five years which elapsed from census to census. The phrase is actually lustris ante tribus, or 'three lustra ago'.
A good ...
- 18k
15
votes
Accepted
Translation needed for 130 years old church document
It's a record of a baptism, stating:
the date of the event (17 of April of 1887), which was four days after the baby was born
the minister officiating the ceremony (Father F.P. Sorin, a French ...
- 12.3k
15
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15
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Accepted
"Puella per portās urbis ducta est." Why is est added to the end of this sentence?
Just to put succinctly what the other answers have explained in more detail:
"The girl was led through the gates of the city."
Puella per portās urbis ducta est.
In both languages the verb ...
- 110k
15
votes
The Meaning of Scelerisque?
Nothing to do with chocolate (of which the Romans were of course sadly ignorant).
Sceleris is the genitive singular form of the noun scelus "evil deed, crime". It means "of an/the evil ...
- 30.6k
15
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Does the abbreviation “ſ.” in this 1755 work mean “sine”?
If you look closely, you will note that the 's' is in blackletter script. According to long-standing German printing tradition, German words are in blackletter, Latin words in Antiqua.
The German word ...
- 31.8k
15
votes
Is there a word for ephemeral but meaning lasting one night?
While Greek ἐφήμερος (ephēmeros) literally means "for one day", it was often used metaphorically to refer to anything that lasts a short time. For example, mortals were ephēmeroi in the eyes ...
- 64.7k
14
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of this quote by Marcus Tullius Cicero?
The first part of your quotation is not from Cicero, but from the Apologeticus Adversos Gentes pro Christianis (3,2) by Tertullian (c. 155 – c. 240 AD):
Laudant quae sciunt, vituperant quae ...
- 2,886
14
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What is the meaning of "REM ORUINE PANDO"
That "U" is probably a "D": rem ordine pando. This is a quote from Vergil's Aeneid 3.179 and means "I explained the whole thing [i.e. the whole story] in order."
cmw♦
- 50.8k
14
votes
Accepted
How to translate "Ceteris Paribus"?
ceterus, -a, -um is an adjective meaning "other." In this case, it is used substantively and means "other things" or "all else."
par, -is is an adjective meaning "equal."
Both words are in the ...
- 38.5k
14
votes
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Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum – Lucretius
It is great that you looked up so many proposed translations!
The many routes taken reflect the difficulty of translating well and the necessity to choose goals for the translation.
Google Translate ...
- 110k
14
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Does Paribus Ceteris mean anything in Latin? If so, what?
It's valid Latin, and means the same thing as ceteris paribus.
Latin word order is quite flexible, and constructions like this (ablative absolute with a substantive and a predicate) work just fine in ...
- 64.7k
14
votes
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Help translating phrase from William Lilly's Christian Astrology
I only can make sense of it under the assumption that retributarum is a misprint for retributuram.
Then it means:
Look (I pray) kindly upon the beginnings of a growing talent, which, if it grows up ...
- 31.8k
14
votes
Why is it "id est" instead of "illud est" if it often means "that is"?
Translation between two languages is rarely as easy as swapping each word for its equivalent in the other language. Function words in particular, for example demonstratives like id and illud (and hoc, ...
- 211
13
votes
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Proper parsing of "Ite, missa est"
The phrase is confusing if one assumes that missa is a perfect passive participle, since it has no obvious antecedent. The ending dialogue of the (Pauline/Novus Ordo) mass goes,
V: Benedicat vos ...
- 411
13
votes
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What's the best way to translate "de Hercule famam acceperat"?
First I must object to this horrible story. My abduction to your overworld by Hercules was illegal, and I am still angry at Pluto for it!
That said, I think your translation "heard stories about" is ...
- 19.8k
13
votes
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Translation of a passage related to the crusades
This quote is from the Historia Ierusalem Baldrici Dolensis Archiepiscopi, Book 2 (pg. 1092 of Migne, Patrologia Latina, CLXVI).
Your quote is only a fragment of the relevant sentence, which is ...
- 38.5k
13
votes
The Meaning of Scelerisque?
Those websites are not real sources of information. They're likely just compilations made from code for the purpose of quick content generation (often for advertising revenue). That "book" ...
cmw♦
- 50.8k
13
votes
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What does the word "habe" (habere) mean?
Bonum animum habere means "to have good courage, to be confident." This expression is used, for example, in the plays of Plautus.
I think you are somewhat mistaken when you characterize (in ...
- 31.8k
13
votes
Accepted
What does this Latin phrase, from an ancient astrology wheel say?
Hemphta is the name of the deity.
The Latin Numen triforme means “threefold deity,” or “god having three forms.”
The Greek actually appears to say παντόμορφον (pantómorphon), which I take to mean “all-...
- 31.8k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible