Latin Translations

[paradoxhorizon]

One of my stories decided it needed a country with a shadowy council of people with ridiculous Latin titles. While I don't really need 100% perfect Latin (the rule of cool is definitely in play here), I'd like to know the accurate Latin (because, well, because I like knowing the correct thing before I choose the less correct, aesthetically better

Comments

[rusquen]

My Latin is sort of self-taught with a couple of informal lessons thrown in, but...
I'd say you want Dominus (Lord)/ Domina (Lady) and the Genitive declension of whatever it is you want them to be the lord/lady of.I don't think there's a neuter version of the title.

[rusquen]

Dominus/Domina
...venaturae (hunt)
...mani ferrei (iron hand)
...mani aurei (golden hand)
...clavis argentei (silver key)
...portarum et viarum/ portarum viarumque / viarum portarumque (doors and ways)
...liminis (threshold)
...arvi (fields/ farmland)
...campi herbidi (grassy field)
...aquarum (waters)
...aequorae (seas)
...praestigiarum (illusions/spectres/ phantoms)
...umbrarum (illusions/ shadows/ shades/ ghosts)
...flammae scientiae (flame of knowledge - really not sure about this, two genitives one on top of another O_o)
...opulentiae (wealth/riches/might)
...vitae et mortis/ vitae mortisque/ mortis vitaeque (life and death in various combinations)

Hope this helps :)

[mel_sha]

The translation seems correct to me -5 years of latin in high school, but I'm not good at it xD-, but the name comes last. So if you want to say Lord of hunt, the corrct translation is venaturae dominus. The same goes to Lord of iron hand, that translates into ferrei mani dominus.
Ancient latin, not the one christians use, has a different order of the names and the verbs. It's one of the first things teachers tells students when starting learning latin.

[lizzardgirl]

The name doesn't *have* to come last, however. Think of Henry VIII's famous title, which I've seen as both Defensor Fidei and Fidei Defensor. Since the different endings make it obvious which is which, you have a lot of liberty (especially when there's the rule of cool) to arrange in whichever way you like best.

Also, I completely agree with the translations above, but I'd like to add that if you want to have your lord/lady titles more of a teacher-like slant (in the way that Snape was called Potions Master in HP, if you're familiar with that) there's always the alternative of magister/magistra. In my understanding, dominus/domina would be someone who is ruling the domain in question, whereas a magister/magistra would be one who had mastered that domain. Just thought I'd throw it out there.

[paradoxhorizon]

I'm afraid it's not too, too hammy so I can't quite go as far as dog Latin or else I might have just tried to wing it myself. (I do love Pratchett's dog Latin.)

[whatifoundthere]

I'm one of those people who thinks good Latin is a LOT more "cool" than bad Latin.

This website will probably be a good starting place for you.

[peraspera]

What a cool read! Thanks for sharing this!

[paradoxhorizon]

My general preference is for accuracy and I generally try to make the accurate thing work in my fiction. But when writing melodramatic folk in a fantasy story, I figure it's okay to allow for a little slippage.

Thank you very much for the link! Looks useful and I'll definitely have to give it a good look when my brain is less dead!

[hibiscusrose]

(sorry, don't know anything about Latin, but do know a few minor things about languages)

Languages do change. Time, immigrants/invaders, etc; plus I am told that there were a few times that there was an unaccountable lingual shift in Europe that did things like change a hard sound to a soft sound or a guttural no longer was (or vice versa). No one really knows why it happened. Probably why Church Latin became different from classical Latin. (hey, that could be a great sci-fi prompt--aliens caused it! :D)

But that could account for reversed adjectives & nouns, or changed pronunciation, etc etc.

[paradoxhorizon]

Absolutely. And totally an excuse/reason I will use for whatever terrible things I do with Latin.

[sollersuk]

One of my nerdy areas here. It looks like Classical Latin (the kind taught in schools) was a deliberate invention as a literary language to keep up with the Greeks. What people actually spoke was Vulgar Latin; what Jerome translated the Bible into, and what became Church Latin, was a slightly classicised form of Vulgar Latin (he agonised over being too classical, but believe me, he had nothing to worry about). Separately, Vulgar Latin itself developed into the various Romance languages, some (eg French) moving further away than others (eg Italian).

There was also the development of Medieval Latin as another entity, where it helps to know the home language of the writer: a German isn't (and wasn't) likely to make much sense of "shoppa [can't remember original spelling] super corneram"; if you're guessing that means "shop on the corner", you're right.