Hi. I’ve been trying to write a little ‘farewell’ to a four-legged friend, but I’m a beginner (only about halfway through my ‘teach yourself’ book, and I’m sure there are errors. If anyone could spare a moment to help me fix the mistakes (or even phrase it a bit more elegantly) I’d be grateful. Here it is:
Hodie mane Iacobus mortuus est.
Vale parve amice, felibus optime omnium!
Socius bonus eras et amicus mihi melior quam multi homines.
Quam tristissimus sum.
Septemdecim annos nobiscum habitabas.
Numquam perfidus eras, numquam molestus, numquam iratus,
sed semper fidelis, semper placidus, semper laetus.
Saepe in horto dormire amabas. Nunc ibi dormis atque in aeternum dormies.
Nunc tibi dolor non est, neque morbus.
The only error I see on a quick read is in the second line: felium, not felibus. Feles or faeles is generally feminine in Latin, but I wouldn’t worry about that since your cat was male.
That’s exactly the sort of stupid error that makes me want to tear my hair out, because I KNOW it should be felium, but managed to write felibus anyway (and failed to spot the error in spite of checking and rechecking!!!)
Thanks for the fresh pair of eyes, and for spotting it. I’m relieved to find that most of what I wrote was actually intelligible, though!
Coincidentally, when our beloved dog died a few weeks ago, I tried (for the first time in many years) to write a proper little poem, in elegiac couplets, to mark her passing. I’ve cheated a little bit with the metre in the first line, but otherwise it seems to work OK, although the Latin is clumsy at some points. I wonder if those more expert than I (Qimmik?) could suggest any improvements:
flete canem nobis maerentibu’ semper amatam,
unica, laeta comes: GEORGIA nomen erat.
saltatrix, soror ac venatrix, dulcis amica,
monstrabant aures caudaque laetitiam.
iamque terant pectus manes tibi semper abunde;
mentibus in nostris GEORGIA permaneat.
This is wonderful, and I’m loath to suggest any improvements.
Maybe you should put a period after the first line, so that you don’t switch from accusative to nominative in the same sentence.
Also, why not change permaneat to permaneas, to continue the more affectionate and poignant second person?
I’m sorry for your loss. I’ve gone through this myself with a dog and two cats, and I know that sooner or later I will have to part with my 13-year-old Siberian husky (the real Qimmik; it means “dog” in Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit).
I hope you and Whitefort eventually find another companion.