I’d be eternally greatful if somebody could translate these words and this phrase (below). These translations will be titles for a major work (short-stories) I am doing for my last year of Secondary School.
English: Lethe (River of the Greek Underworld)
Latin Dictionary: Lethe -es
I want to know if the extension (-es) is needed if i am just going to use the word as a title.
English: Mnemosyne (Personified as the Spring of Memory in Greek Mythology)
I’m not too sure of the Latin, but i’m guessing it may remain the same since it is a name of something? The same with Lethe?
The Waters [as in River or Ocean] of Remorse [as in guilt]
I need help on the Latin for this phrase, as it is going to be the title of my major work, and i am not too sure of the translation…
If anybody could provide me with the translations as soon as possible, I would be most exceedingly obliged…
English: Mnemosyne (Personified as the Spring of Memory in Greek Mythology)
I’m not too sure of the Latin, but i’m guessing it may remain the same since it is a name of something? The same with Lethe?
Latin Mnemosyne does exist. It is the loan translation of Greek μνημοσύνη meaning “Memory”, the name of the goddess who is a personification of memory.
The Waters [as in River or Ocean] of Remorse [as in guilt]
I need help on the Latin for this phrase, as it is going to be the title of my major work, and i am not too sure of the translation…
“Waters” is normally aquae and there is nos special word for “remorse” other than conscientia “awareness”, often in phrases such as conscientia sceleris “awareness of a crime”, i.e. “remorse at a crime”.
Now aquae conscientiae “the waters of awareness” is no pretty phrase in Latin. I would suggest aestus “the tide” or fluctus “the waves” instead of aquae.
Others will doubtless get better ideas. Wait and see.
Skylax’s suggestions are admirable. I think if you chose to opt for conscientia, the phrase would be awkwardly ambiguous, unless it were qualified by the adj. malus, which was the typical way of referring to ‘conscience’ in the modern pejorative sense. paenitentia is perhaps the closest single abstract noun, which generally refers to one’s regret at a past action.
in order to give you a satisfactory translation, you will need to specify what you envisage these ‘waters’ to be, and how they are related to remorse, for the english is ambiguous. if they affect someone with remorse, or perhaps, personified, feel remorse themselves, you could say aquae paenitentes, using the present ptpl. of the impersonal paenitet. aestus is a nice suggestion, but you must, Manwe, evaluate what kind of ‘waters’ you mean, so as to ascertain whether it is fitting.
I understand whiteoctave. The title is inevitably a metaphor, as it relates to as you stated the “waters” having an affect upon the persona, and hence stimulate “remorse.”
However, the waters provide a metaphor in relation to the constant flowing ability of remorse or guilt, and hence convey the personification of guilt being continually remembered through memory in a cyclic motion of stages (similar to that of the hydrological water cycle)…
So thats where the “waters” come into the title…I hope my explanation makes some sense…
i see. well aquae was used often of a collected area of flowing water, especially of springs, so could be utilised. aestus, meaning ‘tide’, as suggested, would emphasise the ebbing and flowing of remorse, but that would be a quite a regular toing and froing. flumen or flumina would underline the fact that such a feeling is constantly flowing from one place to another. fluxus loses the hydrometaphor, but stresses the variability or flux of the feelings. whichever one of these you want would, of course, be succeeded (or preceded) by paenitentiae (vel sim.).
I think i’ll choose “flumina paenitentiae.” Would that be suitable?