a motto/ warning

Here you can discuss all things Latin. Use this board to ask questions about grammar, discuss learning strategies, get help with a difficult passage of Latin, and more.
Post Reply
franciscus
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 3:41 pm

a motto/ warning

Post by franciscus »

Y'all, I'm trying to translate the ff. statement:

"If you speak ill of another person, I will tell him all about it. The truth will set us free."

Here's my try:

"Sic diceris vituperatione ad hominen, dicero ad eum. Veritas nos liberavit."

Good enough? Pls advise. Gratia vobis.

Qimmik
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 2090
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 10:15 pm

Re: a motto/ warning

Post by Qimmik »

[Si] cui maledixeris perferam.

Si is not necessary here. ("Anyone who . . . ") Without si it's pithier.

maledixeris - future perfect

perferam - future; object ei is understood.

Maledico takes a dative complement in classical Latin; accusative later.

http://perseus.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/phi ... isandshort

Veritas nos liberabit is ok.
Last edited by Qimmik on Sun Apr 13, 2014 6:37 pm, edited 3 times in total.

adrianus
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 3270
Joined: Sun Sep 10, 2006 9:45 pm

Re: a motto/ warning

Post by adrianus »

Sic = thus; si = if
Liberavit = it set free / it has set free; liberabit = it will set free.
Dicero / diceris ?
dicam = I will say
de re vel ad rem = about a thing
omnia = everything (all things)
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.

User avatar
bedwere
Global Moderator
Posts: 5101
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:23 pm
Location: Didacopoli in California
Contact:

Re: a motto/ warning

Post by bedwere »

If I may add:

ad hominem

A minor point: to my ear, Veritas liberabit nos sounds better, as in John 8:32 in the Vulgate.

franciscus
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 3:41 pm

Re: a motto/ warning

Post by franciscus »

Gratia vobis omnes!

Gregarius
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 28
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2010 2:03 am

Re: a motto/ warning

Post by Gregarius »

Often, you see these great truisms such as "The truth will set us free" in English using the future tense. I wonder if we English speakers often play fast and loose with our tenses. "The truth will set us free" (but not yet? someday soon?) Is it more idiomatic Latin to use the present tense for these? "The truth (always) sets us free"?

adrianus
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 3270
Joined: Sun Sep 10, 2006 9:45 pm

Re: a motto/ warning

Post by adrianus »

It's a quote // dictum bibliae vulgatae:
Novum Testamentum, Joannis in evangelio wrote:8:31/8:32 dicebat ergo Iesus ad eos qui crediderunt ei Iudaeos si vos manseritis in sermone meo vere discipuli mei eritis et cognoscetis veritatem et veritas liberabit vos
Post scriptum. Me excusas, Bedwere. Id jam suprà dixisti, quod non animadverti. Ut dicit Bedwere.
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.

User avatar
bedwere
Global Moderator
Posts: 5101
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:23 pm
Location: Didacopoli in California
Contact:

Re: a motto/ warning

Post by bedwere »

adrianus wrote:
Post scriptum. Me excusas, Bedwere. Id jam suprà dixisti, quod non animadverti. Ut dicit Bedwere.
Nihil quidem excusandum, optime Adriane!

Post Reply