Little translation help

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Rafael Almeida
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Little translation help

Post by Rafael Almeida »

Hello all!

I'm new to this forum and I'm trying to translate a few sentences from a AngrA song. Here they are:

Salve ara, salve victima
De passionis gloria
Qua vita mortem pertulit
Et morte vitam reddidit


Unfortunately, I can't provide you any translation trials I have made, because my vocaulary knowledge related to these sentences is "ara" and "victima".
If you can't (or even don't want to) translate it. You could provide the meaning of the keywords in the sentences.

Thanks for any help!

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benissimus
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Re: Little translation help

Post by benissimus »

Welcome to the forum :)



Salve ara, salve victima
be well, altar; be well, sacrifice

De passionis gloria
from the glory of suffering

Qua vita mortem pertulit
by which life brings death

Et morte vitam reddidit
and by death returns life


the last two verbs are perfect but I chose to translate them as "gnomic perfects". that use of de in line 2 seems a little unusual to me ...
flebile nescio quid queritur lyra, flebile lingua murmurat exanimis, respondent flebile ripae

Mulciber
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Post by Mulciber »

It was the de in line 2 that stumped me.

Rafael Almeida
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Post by Rafael Almeida »

Thanks a lot, benissimus! Also thanks for the welcome words!

Could you tell me all the possible meanings of the verb "Salva" (is this the infinitive form? :P)

About your comment about the "de" on the second verse, I can't explain it because my Latin knowledge is very short or null. However, it's a chorus of a song, so this word could well be used to keep musicality. What word you think should be used?

Mike M
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Re: Little translation help

Post by Mike M »

I just tuned in. That stanza Salve Ara salve, victima. De passions Gloria, qua vita mortem pertulit. Et morte vitam reddidit. Is form the ancient hymn Vexilla Regis composed by the Bishop of Portiers Venantius Fortunatus, upon the arrival of a relic of the Holy Rood in the Sixth Century. It is in fact a poem/chant.

mwh
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Re: Little translation help

Post by mwh »

Hail, altar, hail, victim,
from the glory of the passion [of Christ],
where life endured death
and by death restored life.

Sounds better in Latin. It's in iambic dimeters (both quantitative and accentual).

A weak attempt at reflecting the meter:
Hail áltar, víctim álso thoú,
from glory of His Passion come,
where life did death withal endure
and by that death did life restore.

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