I hope this doesn’t violate the rules of the forum, but I need some text translated into Latin.
“A Mother’s Love” and “My children, My Soul”.
I need this for a good friend of mine who has asked for my help. I think she has confused my knowledge of the Greek language with Latin. But I don’t want to let her down. It’s for a tattoo, because she is one of the most devoted mother’s out there. Her Dad is dying of prostate cancer so I know she would like to get it done for him to see. I just don’t want to tell her the wrong thing, because a tattoo is forever!
Thanks for your time
I have been given “Liberi Mea Anima” for My Children My Soul, and “Amor Matris” for A Mother’s Love. Pretty confident about the mother’s love one, just want to know if the first one is correct?
Well here’s some feedback which may not be worth much: It seems that “liberi” is a masculine word and plural. So I think it would take the plural masculine adjective “mei”. On the other hand, your friend is one woman, singular, so I think she would use the singular feminine word “anima” which would take the singular feminine adjective “mea”. Anima would also be a predicate nominative, I believe, putting it on equal (nominative) terms with “liberi”.
So perhaps “Liberi mei anima mea”. Or maybe “Liberi mei sunt anima mea.” Or even “Mei liberi sunt anima mea.”
I know that sounds wrong and inelegant but I wanted to jump in so that the effort will teach me, myself, something; and let you know you’re not being ignored.
If you meant to imply that the feminine gender of “anima” is significant, I’m not sure the Romans thought of it that way. Grammatical gender is just that: grammatical. “Masculine” and “feminine” are convenient names more than anything. (For example, the German word for “girl” – Mädchen – is neuter!) For instance, the word “victima” is always feminine and takes feminine agreement even if it definitely refers to a man.
Thanks for that clarification, furrykef. Now to really show my ignorance – why are we confronted with these choices between masculine, feminine, and neuter? What would determine whether to use anima or animus?
Animus and anima are two different words with two, though slightly different, meanings.
anim.us N 2 1 NOM S M
animus, animi N M [XXXAO]
mind; intellect; soul; feelings; heart; spirit, courage, character, pride; air;
anim.a N 1 1 NOM S F
anim.a N 1 1 ABL S F
anima, animae N F [XXXAO]
soul, spirit, vital principle; life; breathing; wind, breeze; air (element);