can "de cum" = down with?

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Rufus Coppertop
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can "de cum" = down with?

Post by Rufus Coppertop »

In the same sense that we say "down with dictatorship" or "down with socialism" or whatever, if one wanted to say, "down with ultra-low pants" in Latin, would it work to render it, "de cum demissimis bracis"? Or "de cum deorsus pendentibus bracis

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furrykef
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Re: can "de cum" = down with?

Post by furrykef »

Although I don't know what the proper phrasing would be, but I don't think you can combine prepositions like that. Besides, "dē" doesn't mean "down". It means "down from".

I do know that in Spanish, you say "abajo la dictadura" (down with dictatorship), skipping the "with" altogether.
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calvinist
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Re: can "de cum" = down with?

Post by calvinist »

How about "Abolete dictaturam!"? --Abolish the dictatorship!-- Trying to render an idiomatic expression directly into Latin usually doesn't work. I don't know of any instance where Latin combines two prepositions like that, but others may. In fact isn't the English really a shortened form of "down with (respect to) dictatorship"? That makes more sense syntactically. Instead of two prepositions with one object it's really a more complicated phrase that is shortened with the underlying structure implied. In any case, "de cum" would not have the meaning of "down with ___" as it does in English. Hope that helps!

Rufus Coppertop
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Re: can "de cum" = down with?

Post by Rufus Coppertop »

I specifically wanted "down with low hanging pants" because I hate the look of workmans' bum and the crotch dangling near the knees but I want a pun on "down".

So it's "down with" as in, "abolish" as well as "down with" as in "pants falling down".

I didn't think de with cum would quite work but hoped someone might know of some sort of precedent that would legitimize it.

Thanks for your answers.

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Re: can "de cum" = down with?

Post by adrianus »

"Frangantur [bracae dependentes seu quaedam regimina]" or "frange/ite [bracas dependentes seu quoddam regimen]" or "coerceantur" or "coerce/ete",—but "demittantur" or "demitte/ite" is the pun you need, I reckon. In truth, in view of your dislike, you desire the opposite for trousers: "leva/ate" or "eleva/ate". In fact, if you said "tollantur bracae dependentes!", you wouldn't know if low-hanging trousers were to be "raised" or "stolen" or "destroyed".

Bonum ut adnominatio est "demittantur bracae dependentes seu quaedam regimina" seu "demitte/demittite", ut opinor. Eâ autem causâ à te supra citatâ bracas spectante, contrarium, "elevare" seu "altare" enim, velis. Verum dicere, huius in dicendo, "tollantur bracae dependentes", id et placet et confundit, quod nescias an bracae leventur an amoveantur.
I'm writing in Latin hoping for correction, and not because I'm confident in how I express myself. Latinè scribo ut ab omnibus corrigar, non quod confidenter me exprimam.

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Re: can "de cum" = down with?

Post by adrianus »

calvinist wrote:I don't know of any instance where Latin combines two prepositions like that...
It happens in Latin too (rarely), e.g., "ab ante" , "in circum", "in super".
Praepositiones latinè deinceps occurrere rarò accidit, exempli gratiâ, "ab ante", "in circum" "in super"

Post scriptum
Thomas Tallis (Spem in alium, c.1570)
"Spem in alium nunquam habui praeter in te
Deus Israël"
I'm writing in Latin hoping for correction, and not because I'm confident in how I express myself. Latinè scribo ut ab omnibus corrigar, non quod confidenter me exprimam.

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