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Quod omnia vetera nova sunt.
Aliqui illustres loci communes:
Agnoscite, reddite, addite, gaudete. Lex Calvinballis pertinet. Omnias coniecturas ROT-13ite.
* Serge, hic tuo
** Gratias ago tibi, David
† Gratias ago vobis, Nancy et Chris
Subicit Patricius:
‡ Gratias ago tibi, dido.
Quo modo suspendent?
et Io secundus.
I think this is pretty much all the Latin I know: Tabula materna combusta est ("my motherboard is fried").
Ne obliviscaris: don't be oblivious.
et
En robore, virtu: Robbery is good, trees are swell
1. Qhar
2. Gur Yrsg Unaq bs Qnexarff
3. Fgne Gerx
4.?
5. Fgne Jnef
6. Ybeq bs gur Evatf
7. V qba'g xabj, ohg V yvxr vg!
8. Gur Ynfg Havpbea
9. ?
10. Sversyl?
Those are lovely. I name no names.
Genug Latein, diesen Spiel zu spielen (oder ja verstehen!), habe ich nicht. Schade.
Ich werde mit Ihnen spielen vielleicht in GG* 101 (oder vielleicht CI), und mit Ihnen sprechen wenn GG C dreht sich zum Englisch um. Wenn das geschieht.
*geöffnetes Gewinde
I'm supposed to start babbling from the Latin version of "Green Eggs and Ham", or failing that dump a few lines of lorem ipsum, but I find that I can't remember either. Also, is lorem ipsum a particular work, a bit of literature in a language that happens not to exist, in which case I should call it "Lorem Ipsum?" Or is it more of a substance, one commonly found in desktop-publishing ads and the Sims?
In other news, the work crew has finished taking down the poplars in the back of the parking lot, and is now enjoying a well-earned coffee break fifty feet up on the cherry picker.
And of course, right after posting that I got #3, then #1 and #2. And I'm pretty sure I know what the last two sentences at the bottom mean.
I will come back here and try to decipher them later, since right now I do not have the time, but I will have to pause and remark on how much I appreciated the laugh from realizing you conjugated "ROT-13".
Crescit sub pondere virtus.
(Actually, it doesn't really. If that's what I think it is, I memorised it because it was the putative family motto of T.E. Lawrence's family.)
I know almost no Latin, sadly.
mjfgates, Lorem Ipsum is the much-mutated descendant of a passage from a work by Cicero, which by longstanding tradition is used by designers as placeholder text.
#2
vel
Dominos
Oreos
Nabiscos
Fig Newtons.
---
I recognize seven of the ten. Without help.
Much like xkcd, Making Light can be significantly smarter than I am. I had no idea what was going on for quite some time, and still can't do more than look at the words 'Calvinballis' and 'ROT-13ite' and grin.
To Lila's selection I add: #9 Raqre'f Tnzr. And also, regarding the same one (let the reader understand!) the number 241.
TNH @15:
I didn't realize it came from Cicero. Any idea what text?
Is it a bad sign that I was wondering why we'd be discussing something quite as specific as a new threads library for C ?
Props for some skilled blog-moderation:
Over on John Shirley's blog, Shirley is dealing with a mentally ill visitor in a most helpful, straight-forward, reasonable way.
My former boss posted the Latin motto "Carpe diem, quam minimum credulo postero" and gave its meaning as "Sieze the day and trust as little as possible to the future."
I said that it would be more in character for him if it meant, "It's a crappy day, and I believe that I have a small posterior."
Zeynep: Properly, she declined it. Verbs conjugate, nouns decline. I sent a note to S. King once, because he said his grandmother could conjugate a Latin noun on her deathbed.
I did, however, once decline BBS into the dativ, in russian. Sasha Volokh liked that a lot.
Lila: those look right to me.
Septem Arvy Tnvzna est. Et novem Befba Fpbgg Pneq.
Or are classicists banned?
I know no Latin but what I can infer from English etymological origins. So instead I shall post a sestina I wrote sometime ago:
Making Mars A Woman
This world – we came here in vitro –
Cold and dry as a coelacanth fossil,
Yet red with blood’s pigment.
In this land of winter we search for ice and snow
To force these deserts to flower
– to make this man our mother.
We search for the fossils
Of those we would supplant; maybe a trace of pigment,
Yeti tracks on Olympus snows –
Something that might be the ancestor of a flower –
Proof that this man was once a mother –
Could life be brought back in vitro ?
We paint this world with other pigments –
Blacken with mine-dust the crystalline snow.
Dig up cliffsides to plant foreign flowers.
Talk on the net to our abandoned mothers.
So many of us could only conceive in vitro,
Others leave behind space-suit fossils.
The heat of our reactors melts the salt-white snow,
Yet not enough heat to open wide these flowers –
So cold my hand, trying to mother
Germ-plasm of fauna and flora in vitro.
Wonder if our grandchildren’s grandchildren will make fossil
Imprints on a landscape where we’ve muddied up the pigments.
Radiation wilted the first surface flowers.
This is not a safe world for children; still mothers
Sing of hope from outposts in vitro.
Hope that finds order in fossils,
A hope of order in mingled and separated pigments,
A hope as bright as the fading snow.
I have looked for a way for this soil to feed mothers,
For our lives to emerge from in vitro.
To shatter without shame the dust of fossils,
Prism rust into a million variable pigments.
To bring out edelweiss from beneath the virgin snow –
Touch carelessly that second flower.
abi@19: It's a very garbled version of a passage from De Finibus - if you google "De Finibus" + "dolorem ipsum" you will find it quickly enough. It's a very nice couple of sentences, actually.
No, Terry, I think she conjugated it. She was using ROT-13 as a verb. I'm not sure of the infinitive (the Latin, friends with me she is not). Something like ROT-13er?
Terry @24:
Actually, I verbed* the noun and conjugated it. That's the plural imperative of *ROT13io, *ROT13ere, a third-conjugation i-stem verb.
----
* because I am evil
Terry, 24: No, Zeynep was correct--ROT-13 began its existence as a noun, but abi verbed it (thereby weirding the language. But in this crowd that's a feature.)
Quinquennialum by itself was enough to give away #3 to me.
Knowing this forum, I'm sure one of these must be by Zvxr Sbeq, but I haven't spotted it yet.
Drat, g got it first: #9, Raqre'f Tnzr.
I will add, mysteriously, that Abi's prediction was fulfilled.
Quinquennialum by itself was enough to give away #3 to me.
Knowing this forum, I'm sure one of these must be by Zvxr Sbeq, but I haven't spotted it yet.
Sajia Kabir @26:
Lovely! I've never dared a sestina.
"Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum sonatur."
Dammit, I knew I was making a mistake by not taking Latin in high school when I had the chance!
All I got on my own were I and III.
That's what I get for taking Attic Greek instead of classical Latin. (Not that it would have helped me, sadly--it's been so long.)
candle @25:
Classicists are welcome, of course. So are further translations of other works, into any and all languages invented and evolved.
There is one passage* that I considered and decided not to. Google "terra Mordoris" and see why.
-----
* two, actually; Patrick suggested the agnostic's prayer from Creatures of Light and Darkness, but it has too many dependent clauses. It ate my brain.
My French, Spanish and Russian (none of them real good anymore anyway) don't help worth a darn.
Will this be the last open thread or do we have a way of exceeding c?
Summer Storms (37): I did take Latin in high school, but not enough stuck to be of any real use here.
Can we get a translation into English at some point? Pretty please? With a cherry on top?
Paul Duncanson @41:
do we have a way of exceeding c?
Wormholes. Warp drives. Teleportation. This is science fiction. We can do anything with a doubletalk generator and a handful of Corbomite.
Thank you, Abi. Your praise means a lot to me, as I am in awe of your ability to spin gold out of straw in mere minutes.
Mary Aileen @42:
The numbered passages are all Latin translations of passages from science fiction or fantasy works. I see that most of the sources have been identified in the ROT-13 entries above, to one extent or another. There is of course room for people to add precisely which bit within the work I used.
(I note that no one has guessed 4 yet.)
Most of the passages have a key word or two that can help you find out what they are. (The first one is particularly good example, and Alan Beatty @33 highlights the key word in 3.)
Feel free to baffle me back. I speak a little Spanish and a smidgen of Dutch, and can competently write simple programs in C#, Cobol and Rexx. Beyond that, though, I am open to bafflement and confusion.
7) Gur Xvaqyl Barf
Gosh. Did "barf" get onto the ROT-13 word pairs thread?
#4 maks me think of Crea, but I don't think that's right.
#1 is a favorite of members of my household, I recognized it immediately. The others took a bit of thinking, but that's what I like about things here. ML keeps my brain from getting too flabby.
abi (46): Thank you. I did figure out that much from the ensuing discussion. But I still want to know what the *words* are.
I suspect I won't be much use at baffling back. I know enough German to figure out what Xopher said in #10, but not enough to compose a coherent sentence. How about some Igpay Atinlay? ;)
Tania (48): I think you're right about Crea. At least, that was my wild guess.
One of the most amusing mis-using of latin was the "Latin" name for "Enzyte". suffragium asotus Which is gibberish.
It might be an attempt to say, suffragor asotis (aid/help to the dissipated), but it's not. Suffragium is, "vote Asotas was a loan word from the Greek ("more debauched than an asotus Cicero), as a second declension noun. It meant, sensualist, Libertine.
It's most commonly found, for us, as a stock character in Cynthia's Revels by Ben Johnson, or in the Dutch plays, such as that of the Dutch schoolmasters (e.g. Gnaephus, Macropedius). It also shows up in the German "Everyman" plays.
It's right up there with Dannon telling us they have, Bifidus regularis and that it's a special culture. Depending on where you buy the stuff, the name is different (e.g. Bifidus lactis in Canada) Dannon, in response to momre spefic queries says the strain is a proprietary strain of Bifidobacterium What's really special is the package doesn't really specify the differene, it just lists Bifidobacterium as one of the three strains of probiotic culture. Which is in lots of other foods (including some soy milks)
The evidence is, that the strain they have is tougher than most (CR reports that .1 percent of the bacteria survive the stomach), more to the point, the sales of the yogurt (which costs more to the tune of about 30 percent).
Latin, even when bastardised, it's still got punch
There's never a bad time to link to The Bible in Pig Latin. "It is my sincere hope that this work will be of value to scholars, researchers, native speakers of Pig Latin, and all those who wish to further their understanding of scripture by seeing it presented in new terms. As it is said, In-ay e-thay eginning-bay as-way e-thay Ord-way."
Sajia #26: That's lovely. I, like Abi, have never dared the sestina, and I envy your facility and felicity with it.
Dude! I am awesome! I got 1 and 4 and 9 and now feel extremely smart and moderately well-read. Even if it did take a context note (thank you, Abi. I couldn't tell there was a game at first, and couldn't tell you what it was even when I knew it was there).
#4: Naar ZpPnsserl, Qentbafvatre, "Gur yvggyr dhrra nyy tbyqra / syrj uvffvat ng gur frn / gb fgbc rnpu jnir / ure pyhgpu gb fnir / fur iragherq oeniryl."
Rather, I got the first two lines. My key was the second.
C... Let's see...
Greetings. I am the Count. Do you know why they call me the Count? Because I love to count things!... One! Two! Three! Bwahahahah!!!
Abi, I'm curious as to why 'Inane' (which, if I read it correctly, means 'the empty') and not 'Infinitum'?
4. (community effort) Qentbafbat rgp
abi 43: There's also C+, and C++.
And though it's partially spoiled already, I'll add a line from the Monk's aria in "Hansel and Gretel and Ted and Alice" by PDQ Bach: "Caveat Nabisco Mausoleum."
And throw in
"Kriste!
Kriste!
Jesu H. Kriste!"
(Missa Hilarious) for free.
Serge #45:
That reminds me of Punch's celebrated comment on the death of a young man named John Henry Longbottom: Vita summa brevis, ars longa.
Fragano @56:
It depends on your view of the thing, really. I see it as a vast emptiness, emphasis on the emptiness. Someone who sees it as more vast than empty might go for "Infinitum".
Pax britannicus habeus corpus
Rex non potest peccare
Quid pro quo post haste quo vadis
Status quo hip hip hooray!
Diatryma @ #54: Yes! D'oh. ::slaps forehead:: Thank you. That totally explains why I kept reading line four with a cadence. I wasn't even thinking of that book.
Yes, yes you are awesome!
Also, I'm surprised nobody seems to have mentioned that old favourite Sic transit gloria mundi, which of course means "My sister threw up on the bus earlier this week".
So all but Patrick's addenda have been guessed, and guessed correctly. (Well done getting 4 - I didn't ROT-13 "Crea" and didn't realize anyone was on the track of it when I posted earlier.)
Any one want to assemble a list including which passage for ease of looking up?
I'm going to bed. Have fun, guys. Happy 100th Open Thread.
A unicef clearisil!
No, let's stop.
1. gur Yvgnal Ntnvafg Srne, sebz Qhar
2. gur gvghyne cbrz sebz Gur Yrsg Unaq bs Qnexarff
3. gur Fgne Gerx vageb
4. bar bs Zrabyyl'f fbatf sebz Qentbafbat (Gur yvggyr dhrra nyy tbyqra / syrj uvffvat ng gur frn)
5. "Gur Sbepr tvirf gur Wrv gurve cbjre..." sebz Fgne Jnef, boi.
6. "Gur Ebnq Tbrf Rire Rire Ba" (Ovyob'f irefvba sebz gur Ybat-Rkcrpgrq Cnegl)
7. "Vg vf nyjnlf gur cerebtngvir bs puvyqera naq unys-jvgf gb cbvag bhg gung gur rzcrebe unf ab pybgurf..." Qernz, sebz Fnaqzna
8. gur bar guvat urer V unira'g ernq; zl Yngva-ungvat ebbzzngr gryyf zr vg'f sebz Gur Ynfg Havpbea (juvpu V fgnegrq bapr, gjb lrnef ntb, naq unq gb chg qbja unysjnl guebhtu orsber V guerj vg npebff gur ebbz; gur pbafgnag, ivbyrag ertvfgre fuvsgf veevgngrq gur uryy bhg bs zr.)
9. "Gur rarzl'f tngr vf qbja," sebz Raqre'f Tnzr
10. "Ybir. Lbh pna xabj nyy gur zngu va gur 'Irefr..." sebz gur raq bs Freravgl.
Fragano @ 59... That it is. And even though I forgot almost all of the Latin I learned in high-school, I figured it out mostly because my native tongue is French.
abi #60: Okay. I just wondered. To me, it's the vastness that outweighs, as it were, the emptiness.
xeger (#21): It proves you're a geek. In this crowd, that's no reason for demerits.
Serge (#55): The Count demonstrates that the censored version of something can be racier than the unexpurgated one.
Serge at 55: this is Count-themed hilarity, based on our own assumptions of wrongness.
I enjoy Sesame Street so much more now than when I was its target audience. Putative target audience, anyway.
Drat it, Christopher Davies, it took me three tries to get that link right.
Zeynep: Mea culpa, I jumped to soon, and saw merely a noun in the Enlglish.
abi: You should have put the Agnostic Prayer into Russian, where dependent clauses are don't eat one's braind (because the declensional problems start afresh, каториы is your friend.
I just did some strange transforming.
I ROT-13d the text at 25, then I goofed the transformation back... leeting it, and then I ROT to Latined the Leeted text, resulting in:
Se(6em |\|31| 641z4a es6. E6 481em ()e50a 5(077 (4eq.
Serge #67: But did you get the, ahem, paronomasia obvious to those whose native speech is the tongue spoken (and written) on a certain island on the northeastern side of the Atlantic?
Evelyn Browne (66): Thanks for the translations! I hadn't realized it was actual quotes; I thought abi was writing poetry (sometimes) and making clever references in Latin.
So what's so good about New York?
A couple of our friends and their daughters (one kindergarten, one babe in arms) have just uprooted themselves from Melbourne (Australia) to New York. It's a really exciting career move for her, and an adventure for all of them - but their feet have only just touched the ground, and already they long for Vic Market (http://tinyurl.com/2nrwr4, http://tinyurl.com/2sg5vy).
I know at least Patrick and Teresa are New Yorkers, and I suspect there are many more. Any advice for a young Australian family on how to enjoy New York?
Amabo te, spectavi unum errorem exiguum. necesse est scribere
" 1) ne . . . iacias/ieceris
2) ne stes/steteris"
seu liceat "noli iacere" et "noli stare."
Fragano @56 and abi @60 "Inane" is Lucretius' favorite word for the void, so I think it's a great choice.
Sadly, I am insufficiently well read to identify more than two or three.
And I didn't know the author of Patrick's additions, but Google informs me it's Yneel Avira-- "Arire guebj fuvg ng na nezrq zna" naq "Arire fgnaq arkg gb fbzrbar guebjvat fuvg ng na nezrq zna."
Christopher Davis @ 69... Diatryma @ 70... I guess we'll never see that version on Sesame Street. By thew ay, Christopher, wasn't your post's number very à propos?
Fragano @ 74... Of course I did. I was raised as a Catholic after all, but I thought I'd keep my earlier response within the domain of the tasteful.
Well, Google indexes ROT-13ed and disemvoweled words these days; that's a real 21st Century Moment kind of thing, at least to me....
Before I gave up and looked at Evelyn's list, I managed to identify 1, 3, 5, and 6. I also was able to guess which work 2 and 10 came from, though I have not experienced either work ('Versi is really very distinctive).
I have not read 7; I have read 4 and 8, but don't retain much in the way of direct wording; I might have got 9 eventually, except that I went down a blind alley by translating "Portus" as "Door" (and vaguely wondered if it was something from Neverwhere).
I'm glad that's settled. Maybe now I can get some work done. :)
I picked up 1 on cognates and decided not to enlist my Latin-studying daughter's help to try the rest. I had maybe one semester of Latin, many years of French, and one of my prize possessions is a black camisole with a gravestone death's-head and the motto "Memento Te Esse Mortalum." It's always fun to wear it out dancing and see if the people admiring it can translate it, or tell me where the phrase came from.
abi @ 46
Well, I wasn't going to say, but it ought to be pretty clear from the first line ... with a dictionary, possibly.
Come on, 'reginula' with 'aurea' ought to be obvious: Qentbafvatre
Steve Taylor #76, advice for new New Yorkers:
One thing they'll need to do is familiarize themselves with the subway system. It's the city's circulatory system, a way of getting to just about any of the city's interesting places quickly and without having to worry about where to park. MTA.info is the official site for the subway, buses, and commuter trains.
Free maps (one train map with the whole subway system on one side, and the commuter trains to Long Island and upstate on the other; five bus maps covering the five boros) can be found at most subway stations and on many buses -- ask the driver or token booth clerk.
I meant to add that since I only recognized 2 (#s 3 & 8) and even after cheating don't recognize many more I'd be happy to translate them back into English after a suitable interval--for purposes of further hilarity.
Timete... timete maxime.
That's about the extent of my Latin, beyond "Spectate Phoeniciam pulchram" which sounds like a travel brochure for Phoenicia to me.
Most of my Latin is hymns, of course. My favorite line is "Mortis portis fractis fortis." And then there's "Omnis mundus jocundetur." "Jocundetur" is such a lovely word.
Steve at #76: Your friends will want to check out the Greenmarkets - more info at http://www.cenyc.org/greenmarket - which will probably help with missing the market you refer to.
I'd also recommend checking out the magazine Time Out New York, found at newstands everywhere. Comes out on Thursdays, and is the most comprehensive listing of what's happening where. They also publish a quarterly Time Out Kids, which I bet your friends would find helpful.
They might also consider Forgotten NY, which is both a book and a website, and covers all aspects of our mostly paved-over history. My favorite tidbit is the saw marks on the fence in Bowling Green, from when a mob inspired by the first reading of the Declaration of Independence sawed the crowns off the fenceposts.
And if they get really homesick, I expect a visit to the Sunburnt Cow would probably help. =)
Well, I'm glad I gave up and looked at the ROT13s. I had correctly guessed all the ones I'd recognize even in English.
Threads like this remind me that I don't really belong on this blog.
Abi,
Te amo.
Prima narratio feminis Oror Trffrevg est.
What? But, but... but you do!
(you have activated the Emergency Response to Potential Self-Pity and/or Exclusion from Group. Please stand by while we initiate Reminders of Value and Belonginghood.)
I like it when the posts are smarter than I am. Your comments are often smarter than I am-- 'smarter' in this case includes 'I do not know that, and I do not know the context in which it would be useful to me, but *damn* that is interesting, and I would like to see it continued'.
Susan,
I figure that even if I don't belong here, I'm going to wait for someone (Teresa) to kick me out.
We all geek out on different things; I have always been impressed with your dance knowledge!
For 9, I'd've gone with porta, rather than portus, which is "harbor" according to my dictionary.
C is for Cookie
It's good enough for me!
C is for Cookie
It's good enough for me!
C is for Cookie
It's good enough for me!
Cookie, Cookie, Cookie starts with C!
I was surprised that, despite the earlier Sesame Street references, no one had yet provided this lovely ditty.
C is for Cassie, and cookies are for me.
I learned it as 'cookies are for me' even before I realized I could swap my own name in. It's funnier that way.
Nancy at 96: Yes, "gate" is porta. Also, deorsum is "down" as in downwards, or underneath. It's been a while since I read Raqre'f Tnzr, but if "is down" equates to "has fallen," something like casa est would fit the bill. (That's cāsa the past participle of cadere, not the noun meaning "house" which is all short a's.) So (maybe) Porta hostium casa est is a closer equivalent to #9.
None of this is to take away from abi's efforts, which I envy.
Hundredth comment!
(Sorry, had to.)
Oh, sure. I literally just finish throwing out my old Latin notebooks from high school, and then I come here and get a big ol' slap upside the head. :P
Semper ubi sub ubi.
So there.
Steve: Not a New Yorker, but our daughter is, and we visited her a lot when we lived in NJ.
Yes, getting familiar with the subway system is essential. After that, a lot depends on their interests. New York has, pretty nearly, something for everyone. The older girl is about a year younger than my grandson, so I can tell you a couple of places he likes.
* The American Museum of Natural History is a terrific place, where kids can run freely amongst dinosaurs and meteorites and coral reefs and much, much more.
* The Children's Museum of Manhattan, right near there, is even better, with many, many fun things to do for both kids, and lots of organized activities.
* Sticking with that same neighborhood, there's Fairway and Citarella for upscale grocery shopping with enormous variety. And don't forget Zabar's deli. (Don't want to overload on links... these are all in Google.)
But, really, there's great stuff all over NYC. And half the fun is discovering it yourself, so if I had just one word of advice to your friends, it would be: Explore.
About the only Latin I know seems appropriate for those of who are feeling inferior at the moment. It's strong language which shouldn't be taken personally by anyone:
Illegitimi non Carborundum.
Chris @99: Your clarification shows why xkcd's joke on this subject would not work in latin (to clarify my comment on your clarification: In the work itself, the meaning for deorsum you give is what is meant (it's a zero-g exercise). The xkcd comic in question would properly use casa est (there's a technical failure).
Argh. I know no Latin only cognates, which can be infuriatingly misleading, and seeing the solutions, it turns out I haven't actually read all the sources anyways. I'm proud of those I did get.
Hey, I'm putting up a display in the store of classic mid-century fantasy beyond Tolkien. Any favorites that you folks think should be included? There are nice new editions of Porius and the Gormenghast books that settled me on this theme.
Oh, and as for advice for new residents of new amsterdam, I would suggest walking around a bit to orient yourselves. The subway drops you off in so many different neighborhoods without giving you any context.
Strange. Now that I think about it I have so many hyper-specific recommendations, but very few general ones that wouldn't apply to any city.
Susan @91, Xopher @92: Yeah, the Latin goes over my head, too. Then again, I get most of the engineer humor in XKCD, and a lot of people don't, so it balances out. Spend enough time around lots of really smart people, and you discover that there's always *someone* smarter than you at any given field of activity. (And you're probably in turn someone else's "someone who's smarter than me at X", though you may not know it.)
CENTURION:
What's this, then? 'Romanes Eunt Domus'? 'People called Romanes they go the house'?
BRIAN:
It-- it says, 'Romans, go home'.
CENTURION:
No, it doesn't. What's Latin for 'Roman'? Come on!
BRIAN:
Aah!
CENTURION:
Come on!
BRIAN:
'R-- Romanus'?
CENTURION:
Goes like...?
BRIAN:
'Annus'?
CENTURION:
Vocative plural of 'annus' is...?
BRIAN:
Eh. 'Anni'?
CENTURION:
'Romani'. 'Eunt'? What is 'eunt'?
BRIAN:
'Go'. Let--
CENTURION:
Conjugate the verb 'to go'.
BRIAN:
Uh. 'Ire'. Uh, 'eo'. 'Is'. 'It'. 'Imus'. 'Itis'. 'Eunt'.
CENTURION:
So 'eunt' is...?
BRIAN:
Ah, huh, third person plural, uh, present indicative. Uh, 'they go'.
CENTURION:
But 'Romans, go home' is an order, so you must use the...?
BRIAN:
The... imperative!
CENTURION:
Which is...?
BRIAN:
Umm! Oh. Oh. Um, 'i'. 'I'!
CENTURION:
How many Romans?
BRIAN:
Ah! 'I'-- Plural. Plural. 'Ite'. 'Ite'.
CENTURION:
'Ite'.
BRIAN:
Ah. Eh.
CENTURION:
'Domus'?
BRIAN:
Eh.
CENTURION:
Nominative?
BRIAN:
Oh.
CENTURION:
'Go home'? This is motion towards. Isn't it, boy?
BRIAN:
Ah. Ah, dative, sir! Ahh! No, not dative! Not the dative, sir! No! Ah! Oh, the... accusative! Accusative! Ah! 'Domum', sir! 'Ad domum'! Ah! Oooh! Ah!
CENTURION:
Except that 'domus' takes the...?
BRIAN:
The locative, sir!
CENTURION:
Which is...?!
BRIAN:
'Domum'.
CENTURION:
'Domum'.
BRIAN:
Aaah! Ah.
CENTURION:
'Um'. Understand?
BRIAN:
Yes, sir.
CENTURION:
Now, write it out a hundred times.
BRIAN:
Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Hail Caesar, sir.
CENTURION:
Hail Caesar. If it's not done by sunrise, I'll cut your balls off.
BRIAN:
Oh, thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Hail Caesar and everything, sir! Oh. Mmm!
Some more (probably WAY too simple for the classicists) here:
I: Quando nos ... duae ... reconveniemus?
II: Ira inferni fervet in corde meo, mors et abiectio circa me flagrant!
III:
Edi
Pruni
Quae erant
In cistula glacei
Quaeque
Probabiliter
Reservas
Ientaculo
Remitte me
Delicata erant
Tam dulcia
Tam frigida
Apologies for leaving the genres we started in.
Mikael @108:
Fantastic. Particularly that third one.
dido @86:
I'd be happy to translate them back into English after a suitable interval--for purposes of further hilarity.
A fantastic notion, and great fun. It will, of course, expose the significant weaknesses in my translations, but that's fine by me.
It's not like I'm being graded on this.
スゼん ＠９１、クリストファ ＠９２、唯一の解決はあなたが知っている言語で答えるべきである。
I am distressed almost beyond measure that I may have put people off with this piece of obsessive silliness. My Classics geekery is no more or less significant than physics geekery, dance geekery, or computer geekery.
When I first came to Making Light, not many years ago at all, I knew myself to be insignificant, even inaudible. Things I would say to no reaction would be restated by others and get responses. For a while, it was off-putting. But then I found it a kind of freedom. It was my chance to experiment, to play around. To be my kind of geek.
And look where that got me.
Please don't feel out of place. We all define what this place is, so no one here - by definition - can be out of it.
I can recognize most of these...I haven't read the rest of the thread yet, but here's the ones I know (ROT13'd, as per request)
1. Gur Yvgnal Ntnvafg Srne sebz gur Qhar obbxf.
2. Gur cbrz ol Hefhyn Yr Thva sebz juvpu Gur Yrsg Unaq bs Qnexarff gnxrf vgf gvgyr.
3. Gur bcravat zbabybthr sebz "Fgne Gerx" naq/be "Fgne Gerx: GAT".
4. I can more or less translate this one: Gur yvggyr tbyqra dhrra syrj uvffvat ng gur frn gb ubyq onpx gur jnirf naq fnir ure rtt. Fur qvq gurfr guvatf oeniryl. I just don't recognize it.
5. This one took quite a bit of thought and study to recognize. Vg'f Ora Xrabov'f qvfdhvfvgvba ba gur Sbepr: "...vg fheebhaqf hf naq crargengrf hf, vg ovaqf gur tnynkl gbtrgure."
6. Gbyxvra'f "Gur Ebnq Tbrf Rire Ba".
7. Shouldn't that be "puerorum" rather than "puerum"? "Vg vf gur evtug bs oblf naq sbbyf gb fnl gung gur rzcrebe unf ab pybgurf. Ohg gur sbbyf erznva sbbyf naq gur rzcrebe erznvaf na rzcrebe." Gurer'f n dhbgr n ovg yvxr gung va Fnaqzna, ohg V qba'g guvax vg'f rknpgyl gung.
8. Gur havpbea-uhagvat fbat sebz Gur Ynfg Havpbea.
9. Raqre'f Tnzr: "Gur rarzl'f tngr vf qbja."
10. Don't recognize this one and even am having a hard time reading it. The "'Versi" makes me think it might be a quote from Serenity....
Patrick's addition is gjb bs Avira'f Ynjf.
NelC@111: I think you're offering to translate for Susan and Xopher? I've forgotten pretty much all the kanji I ever knew....(and I don't think I was ever taught the "...de aru" construction.)
Abi #113- hear hear. People tend to think of computer geekery, but there are lots more kinds out there, and this should be more widely known.
Terry Karney @ #24: Verbs conjugate, nouns decline.
Which is why verbs are more likely to get invited to fashionable parties?
Mikael @ #108:
You probably couldn't hear it from over there, but the third one made me break into applause.
The first one is also neat. (And so, inductively, must the second one be; but I'm afraid I don't recognise it.)
Paul @ 118: for II you'll want to think opera.
And thank you for the ovation. It's a morning of procrastination well spent if I can impress even parts of the crowd here.
abi -- I'm distressed that you're distressed! My quip was copied from the souvenir pencil I bought at the Archaeological Park in Xanten*. Although I never took Latin**, it's loads of fun seeing what others do with it.
*Xanten isn't too far from you, if you want a Roman/Latin fix. On your side of the border, there's a lot of Roman history in Nijmegen. And Arnhem is also close. It has a fantastic zoo, with a great playground, as well as a good open-air museum. (I'm a sucker for those.)
**For Latin substitute computer science, biochemistry, Chinese...............
Mikael @ 108
1 Jura jvyy jr ... gjb ... zrrg ntnva - Greel Cengpurgg'f jvgpurf. V guvax sebz Ybeqf naq Ynqvrf?
2 I don't recognise this but my best stab would be something like natre oheaf va zl urneg yvxr sver, qrngu naq zvfrel rapvepyr zr, which is probably nothing like it - I last did latin about 35 years ago.
3 I think is obvious just from the line length. I love cistula glacei for ersevqtrengbe though. I know the Vatican have a list of modern terms in Latin, is it from there or an original coining?
David Goldfarb @ #114: 3. Gur bcravat zbabybthr sebz "Fgne Gerx" naq/be "Fgne Gerx: GAT".
Definitely "Fgne Gerx". As people have said, 'quinquennialum' is the giveaway; for "Fgne Gerx: GAT" it would be, um, (rustling of dictionary pages) 'perseverans'?
Andy @ 121:
I. spot on.
II. you have your verbs kinda mixed up. The oheavat only occurs in the second of two clauses.
III. the version I saw on the web had vprobk; which made the translation to cistula glacei more obvious than with ersevqtrengbe.
Susan (especially) - don't worry. For one thing, even though I could translate most of the Latin, I had a hard time recognising most of them. (In one case, demonstrating to myself the uselessness of googling for "Little Golden Queen"...) And for another, even though I'm supposed to be a proper classicist, my Latin (especially composition) is nowhere near the standard of plenty of people on this blog, many of whom know more dead languages than me anyhow.
Somehow I have to keep learning the lesson that there is always likely to be someone around who knows more than you about any given thing - and that this is an opportunity rather than a problem!
Hmm, didn't mean to preach there. It's just that I constantly forget that this is precisely why I like Making Light.
Ps: Mikael: I'm very impressed that you made III go into Latin so well. I love the run of single words in the middle. Perhaps WCW should have written in Latin in the first place. Perhaps he did.
Abi @ 113... Classics geekery is no more or less significant than physics geekery, dance geekery, or computer geekery.
You forgot poetry geekery - and that rhymes too. Say, is there such a thing as pun geekery? According to the movie Ridicule, puns are the death of wit.
Pun geekery can be identified by the tendency to cluster together in a park, exchanging puns, rather than chilling out on the grass.
Yes, the pun is matey-er than the sward.
candle @124:
my Latin (especially composition) is nowhere near the standard of plenty of people on this blog
I hope you're not referring to me there. This post took about a week of subjecting Messrs Lewis, Short, Allen and Greenough to some enhanced interrogation techniques, and I still forgot that puer is second declension.
One day Professor Griffith* is going to track this blog down and flunk me.
-----
* Latin Prose Composition, UC Berkeley, spring semester of 1990. I got a B+.
Serge @125:
puns are the death of wit.
Some would say puns show a dearth of wit, but I don't agree.
dido #77: Far be it from me to contradict either the Queen of Carthage or the immortal author of On The Nature of Things.
Debbie @120:
I didn't think you were feeling distressed, but several other people seem to be.
And thanks for the tip about Arnhem - summer trips beckon!
Abi @ 128... The movie was quoting Voltaire. The latter probably was jealous because he couldn't come up with any puns. So would say Seamus Zelazny Harper.
I am surprised at both how much and how little I recognize - I got one, three and ten, but the rest are mystifying me.
However, I'm not sure how much of that is due to it being 7 A.M. or due to my being a very poor sort of geek. But at last, twelve years of Latin are useful!
Forsan, et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.
Mikael #108: I'm certain that Guilliemus Carolus Guilliemus would have loved your number 3.
abi #113: I don't see why you're distressed. I'm no Latininst, but I found this amusing and pleasant. I was deeply impressed by the effort you put into it, and how deftly it was done.
Vivat Abi!
Allan Beatty @ #31: Knowing this forum, I'm sure one of these must be by Zvxr Sbeq, but I haven't spotted it yet.
An unaccountable omission. I was going to offer to remedy the lack, but on reflection I think it's a job for somebody who'll get the word endings right.
Instead, here's something that I briefly thought abi's #10 might be:
Matrimonium. Matrimonium esse quae conciliare nobis hodie. Matrimonium, illa compositionis beatum, illa somnium intus somnium. Et amor, amor verum, semper exequor. Ita amor colere.
(I apologise for the errors I'm certain that paragraph contains; the best dictionaries in the world, even assuming that's what I used, would not make up for the fact that I never studied Latin. Scholars, console yourselves with the reflection that if I'd also attempted to ersyrpg gur fcrnxre'f yvfc it would have been much, much worse.)
Latin never really leaves one - I was rather pleased to discover that I'd identified all the ones I had actually read. But shouldn't the word order in V be really, really strange? (Q: how would one display this sort of oddity in Latin, anyway? Perhaps the speaker should always talk in the subjunctive?)
ajay @ #136: But shouldn't the word order in V be really, really strange?
No, because it's Ora Xrabov, not Znfgre Lbqn.
(But "How best to represent the odd speech of Znfgre Lbqn in Latin?" is still an interesting question, though not one I feel qualified to comment on.)
I do love this place, and all the people who do read and write hereupon. My years of French tipped me to a couple o' these, but the whole tenor of the game just has me beaming from ear to ear, and eager for real morning to come, so I can show it to my Latin scholar sweetie who lies gently snoring in the next room.
Susan (91), Xopher (92), of course you belong here! Gvzrf jura jr'er gnyxvat nobhg fbzrguvat lbh xabj jryy naq bguref ner oynax ba, lbh qba'g guvax "Uzzzzs, gurl boivbhfyl qba'g orybat urer," qb lbh? Bs pbhefr abg. Lbh fnl "Bu, urer, guvf vf arng, yrg zr rkcynva vg ..." Fb jul ner lbh zbegvslvat lbhefryirf abj? Vg'f fb mundane, vs lbh'yy rkphfr zl fnlvat fb.
I thought Diatryma (54) had exactly the right reaction to this kind of game:
Dude! I am awesome! I got 1 and 4 and 9 and now feel extremely smart and moderately well-read."Orfvqrf, vs lbh qba'g purre hc naq erpbyyrpg lbhe bja tbbq fryirf, jr'yy fgneg gb srry yvxr vg'f haxvaq bs hf gb or univat guvf zhpu sha. V'z abg rira fher ubj gb cnefr gung. V whfg xabj jr'yy qb vg.
Abi @ 128... Speaking of deaths and dearths... Did I ever tell what I saw 22 years and one week ago, when Sue and I moved from Toronto to California? As we were driving along I-80, we saw a sign (in Utah?) that pointed to a ranch off the road, a place called the Deeth Starr Valley. I kid you not.
It turns out I got 9 wrong-- I saw 'port*' and thought, "Oh, yeah, if I were putting this together, I'd definitely include a dilating door."
And I had my own made-up tune for 4 going through my head pretty solidly all last night.
Niall @ 142... Noticed the exit number? That was rather ominous. Or maybe half ominous.
Sicut Deus Dominus
in campo pleno ossibus
Anglemittus Circumservus
gentem nomine Jonis
creavit ...
(Gratias ago tibi, Abi, for fixing two bits of grammar and subtracting a superfluous pronoun.)
Paul A. @ #117
in re: "Verbs conjugate; nouns decline."
The nouns get invited. They just turn down the invite.
The verbs get invited, but they do tend to behave somewhat shockingly.
And, all, my only contribution to the Latinate foolery this morning is to point you to Yarn Harlot's post in praise of every writer's favorite Latin term, "STET."
http://www.yarnharl
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