How to say..

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kblais
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How to say..

Post by kblais »

Ok, I have seen that to go from the phrase, I came, I saw, I conquered, to WE came, We saw, We conquered, you would change it Veni, Vidi, Vici to Venimus, Vidimus, Vicious.... However, I work with a robotics team that is trying to say "We Came, We Saw, We Built" (as in, built robots etc). What would be the correct latin for the "We Built" part?

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bedwere
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Re: How to say..

Post by bedwere »

aedificavimus

PS

vicimus, not vicious

kblais
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Re: How to say..

Post by kblais »

Whoops -- vicious was an autocorrection error....! Thank you for your help on aedificavimus !

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Barry Hofstetter
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Re: How to say..

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

bedwere wrote:aedificavimus

PS

vicimus, not vicious
Although the Gauls might have thought that the conquering was a bit on the vicious side at times... :shock:

However, I'm not sure aedifico works that well, since it's normally in the sense of buildings or ships and such like. I would suggest compono, "assemble" and so the perfect tense composuimus.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter

Cuncta mortalia incerta...

mwh
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Re: How to say..

Post by mwh »

Fecimus would come closer to matching the crisp alliteration of the original. It's about sound as much as meaning.

But why do people who don't know Latin want Latin mottoes? (Don't answer that.)

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Barry Hofstetter
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Re: How to say..

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

The great thing about the original is that sound and meaning are in perfect accord. Once we begin to change things up, that tends to get lost. What's nice about facio is that it's sufficiently broad in meaning that it can fit just about any context in which "making" something is suggested. Maybe we should "make do" with it? :lol:
N.E. Barry Hofstetter

Cuncta mortalia incerta...

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Barry Hofstetter
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Re: How to say..

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

mwh wrote: But why do people who don't know Latin want Latin mottoes? (Don't answer that.)
One of my professors from grad school, Mark Morford, was once commissioned to come up with a Greek or Latin name for a new company. He asked the company for a description of their product. They said "it's a dry copy process designed to replace ditto machines." And so Xerox (from ξηρός) was born. Dr. Morford was paid for his efforts -- $100.00.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter

Cuncta mortalia incerta...

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