Editor's Blog0 min ago
Need an accurate Latin translation
9 Answers
I'm very seriously thinking getting a new tattoo (another of many, btw) with the Latin for "True love never dies." I've seen this rendered as "Verum amori nunquam mori" but having little Latin and less Greek I can't be sure that this is accurate. can any expert Latinists help?
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"Amor verus nunquam cadit" is literally, word for word "Love true never fades." Remember that Latin grammar and word order are not the same as English. I used the word for 'fade' rather than 'die', as the Latin word for 'die' means just that...ie stop breathing, as it were.
However, my advice to you - based on past experience of questions involving Latin on AnswerBank - is to check with an 'expert' WHATEVER answer(s) you get here...including mine! For example, if your local secondary school has a Classics Department or even just a solitary Latin teacher, try to get a response from him/her. An alternative is to approach a local Catholic priest. (Yes, I know, I know!)
If someone suggests an online translation site, I'd treat that with even more care than answers here. They are generally much too vague or even ridiculous, unless you are quite knowledgeable about the language in any case.
However, my advice to you - based on past experience of questions involving Latin on AnswerBank - is to check with an 'expert' WHATEVER answer(s) you get here...including mine! For example, if your local secondary school has a Classics Department or even just a solitary Latin teacher, try to get a response from him/her. An alternative is to approach a local Catholic priest. (Yes, I know, I know!)
If someone suggests an online translation site, I'd treat that with even more care than answers here. They are generally much too vague or even ridiculous, unless you are quite knowledgeable about the language in any case.
Quizmonster, many thanks for your advice. In actual fact - contrary to what some people here may think - answerbank isn't the be-all and end-all of my researches: it's *a* source of information, not *the* source of information - one of many. I've always fully intended to scour absolutely any and every source possible before committing myself to anything as permanent and irrevocable as a tattoo, so your warning is timely and well taken. Many thanks again.
The rendition you give in your post is pure gibberish and means nothing in Latin. I agree with quizmonster, both in his advice to seek a classicist for explanation, also his translation, although I would have no compuction in replacing 'cadit' with 'moritur'. Also, do not rely on website translation programs - they don't work and can make you look foolish if you try to repeat what they come up with.
Scotman, as I said in my earlier answer and as Mike reiterated, translation websites are virtually useless. For example, the normal translation of ‘from the beginning' into Latin is ‘ab initio'. However, putting that English phrase into one translation site got the answer ‘ex exordium'. Now, that DOES mean ‘from the beginning' but only in very specific circumstances. ‘Exordium' means ‘beginning' but only in the sense of ‘introduction', as in the first part of an essay or discussion. So, ‘ex exordium' means ‘from the opening section', in effect. That is very, very rarely what we mean when we say ‘from the beginning'.
Believe me...they're a waste of time, especially in relation to a tattoo, which ain't gonna go away if you get it wrong!.
Believe me...they're a waste of time, especially in relation to a tattoo, which ain't gonna go away if you get it wrong!.
The point about finding an expert is well-made, as is the distrust of on-line translation sites.
As has been mentioned, although Latin is a stratum of modern English, the two languages are *TOTALLY* different. You can go for a literal translation, or even a word-for-word transliteration - in which case, 'amor verus nunquam moritur' fits the bill. But, that sounds incredibly clumsy and, although the words are Latin and the phrase would be understood, it does not look like a Latin expression.
As an alternative, I would suggest that Latins would be much more likely to have said 'amor verus aeternum est' i.e. "true love is eternal".
As has been mentioned, although Latin is a stratum of modern English, the two languages are *TOTALLY* different. You can go for a literal translation, or even a word-for-word transliteration - in which case, 'amor verus nunquam moritur' fits the bill. But, that sounds incredibly clumsy and, although the words are Latin and the phrase would be understood, it does not look like a Latin expression.
As an alternative, I would suggest that Latins would be much more likely to have said 'amor verus aeternum est' i.e. "true love is eternal".
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