Translation of Doxology

[bedwere]

Hi,

I once translated into English a Latin hymn, which was written in the XVII century or later. A friend of mine improved my translation, since English is my second language. However in the doxology he modified substantially what I had written:

Almae sit Triadi gloria perpetim,
Quam caelum, barathrum, terraque suscipit

He translated as:

Constant Glory be to the nourishing Trinity,
Sustainer of the Sky, Abyss and Earth themselves;

The first verse is fine, but my original translation of the second verse was
Whom the Sky, the Abyss, and the Earth receive.
I interpreted Quam to refer to the Trinity, Whose presence is everywhere. I also thought it was an echo of Psalm 138:8-10 :

8 Si ascendero in cælum, tu illic es ;
si descendero in infernum, ades.
9 Si sumpsero pennas meas diluculo,
et habitavero in extremis maris,
10 etenim illuc manus tua deducet me,
et tenebit me dextera tua.

Do you agree?

[modus.irrealis]

It's clear that caelum, barathrum, and terra are the subjects of suscipit and quam the object, and looking it up, I couldn't find any meaning of suscipio that would be equivalent to your friend's translation, so I understood it as you did (although I'm not sure whether quam refers to Triadi or gloria).

[bedwere]

It's clear that caelum, barathrum, and terra are the subjects of suscipit and quam the object, and looking it up, I couldn't find any meaning of suscipio that would be equivalent to your friend's translation, so I understood it as you did (although I'm not sure whether quam refers to Triadi or gloria).

Thank you, Modus. I think quam refers to Triadi on the light of what follows next:

Quae nobis Nerii det prece jugia
Dulcis guadia patriae. Amen.

Where Quae obviously refers to Triadi:

Who may grant us through [St. Philip] Neri's prayers the perennial joys of the sweet homeland [Heaven].

Since Quae refers to Triadi also Quam likely does.

[modus.irrealis]

Ah, that's a good point. I agree that quam -> Triadi.