Translation help

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chaostie
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Translation help

Post by chaostie »

i want to combine two Latin phrases into one sentence, whether with a comma, two separate lines, or something else.

The two phrases in question are "sic itur ad astra" (thus you shall go to the stars) and "alis volat propriis" (she flies with her own wings). It's my understanding that there isn't really a female / male pro-noun in the Latin language, thus making the translation of "she" wrong, but it is the most accepted translation from what I see.

Preferably I'd like them to just be two lines, but obviously "you" and "she" don't work together, so I'd like to mess with them to where they both have the same "pro-nouns". If that is even needed, as I'm not 100% sure if it ever needs to be changed around, and might just work together as is.

adrianus
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Re: Translation help

Post by adrianus »

Looks good to me, chaostie // Bonum id mihi videtur, chaostie
"Sic itur ad astra; aliis volat propriis"
Thus one goes to the stars: he/she flies by his/her own wings."

or even, I think // etiam hoc, ut opinor
"Sic itur ad astra: alis volatur propriis"
"Thus [/this is the way] one goes[/you go] to the stars: one flies [/you fly] by one's [/your] own wings."

Itur = "one goes" [impersonal passive, "it is gone" or second person, if you like// impersonalis figura passivae vocis, vel anglicè secundae personae, si placet]
Thus Apollo to Julus in Book 9 of the Aeneid:
Sic in libro Aeneidos nono dicit Apollo Julo:
"Macte nova virtute, puer; sic itur ad astra,
dis genite et geniture deos." (versus 641-642)


"Blessed by exceptional virtue, [my] lad; that's how one gets to the stars,
[as] one begotten of Gods and who is to beget Gods."
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.

Sinister Petrus
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Re: Translation help

Post by Sinister Petrus »

adrianus wrote:Itur = "one goes" [impersonal passive, "it is gone" or second person, if you like//
Yes, this is impersonal. As you surmise volatur would be the way to make the verbs in parallel.

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