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translation question
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 2:19 am
by LatinGirly
the phrase cupitatem pecuniae, how would you translate that.
I know it could be longing of money, avarice of money, desire of money, or cupidity of money; but none of those sounds grammatically correct in english. Any thoughts about that?
Thanks!
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 2:52 am
by Twpsyn
The construction is with genitive in Latin, but in this case the English preposition 'for' is more apt.
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 2:55 am
by LatinGirly
Are you able to use "for" instead of "of" with the genitive?
If so that is a really good thing to know
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 3:46 am
by Twpsyn
Do not attempt to translate prepositions from one language literally into another. It's a recipe for failure and for hair-pulling. Yes, you can translate the genitive as for in this instance, but the genitive does not 'mean' for any more than it means eggplant. Try not to think of it as 'what English word can correspond to this Latin form'; rather, learn the meaning of the Latin usage then use the more appropriate English.
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 4:07 am
by LatinGirly
Ok, I had just been translating everything as directly as possible, so if it ws genitive "'s or of" , dat "to/for" etc. I just started in the last two lessons to drop the to/for with datives, realizing that it is often not nessecary in English. I guess I really need to break free with all the prepositions. I don't think I realized that. So, thanks so mush for the hint it is really a good thing to know.
thanks for your continued help
Peace
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 4:16 am
by Essorant
You may turn it into a compound word too, such as <i>moneylust</i>.