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How would you translate this Latin quote?

by jawq81, December 25, 2008

Messages: 17

Language: English

jawq81 (User's profile) December 25, 2008, 1:57:15 PM

I recently saw this Latin quote: "De mortuis nil nisi bonum." = Of the dead, nothing but good.
I'm finding it a bit difficult to mentally translate this into Esperanto.

Could you say "(Kiam oni parolas) de la mortuloj, (diru) nenion sed bona." with the parts in parenthesis being omitted? So, "De la mortuloj, nenion sed bona."

But "the dead" in the quote is speaking of the dead in general, not just to a specific dead person, so would "la mortuloj" still be correct? I am also unsure whether or not "good" should carry an -n. If you view it as saying "...but (speak only) good", then it would carry an accusative -n.

Filu (User's profile) December 25, 2008, 2:16:29 PM

I would propose the following, but I am unsure:

Pri mortuloj, nenion krom bonaĵojn.

In any case, though, I would use "pri" instead of "de la" and "krom" instead of "sed".

BeRReGoN (User's profile) December 25, 2008, 2:47:15 PM

Filu:I would propose the following, but I am unsure:

Pri mortuloj, nenion krom bonaĵojn.

In any case, though, I would use "pri" instead of "de la" and "krom" instead of "sed".
Would it means "About the dead, noting but good" instead of "From the dead, nothing but good" ?

jawq81 (User's profile) December 25, 2008, 3:06:46 PM

Dankon al vi ambaŭ.

I thought about using 'pri', then decided to stay with 'de'. The quote used "de" and to my mind there is a fine distinction -- a very fine distinction -- between "of the dead" and "about the dead", so fine that I cannot really describe it. Imagination?

Do, mi ne scias... Also, I didn't think about using 'krom'.

Amike,

Filu (User's profile) December 25, 2008, 3:23:03 PM

Perhaps there is a slight difference, but it is indeed very fine. Anyways, if you decide that "de" is better than "pri", how about dropping the "la"?

andogigi (User's profile) December 25, 2008, 5:54:41 PM

Filu:Perhaps there is a slight difference, but it is indeed very fine. Anyways, if you decide that "de" is better than "pri", how about dropping the "la"?
I think the quote works better with the definite article. It adds to the implication that we're discussing "the dead" and only "the dead".

danielcg (User's profile) December 25, 2008, 6:41:27 PM

I'll add my two cents.

"Pri mortintoj, nur bondiraĵoj".

I prefer "mortintoj" instead of "mortuloj", because the latter could be rendered as "mortal beings", and so it would comprise all of us, while the former relates to those who have already died (which is the sense of the phrase).

Regards,

Daniel

andogigi:
Filu:Perhaps there is a slight difference, but it is indeed very fine. Anyways, if you decide that "de" is better than "pri", how about dropping the "la"?
I think the quote works better with the definite article. It adds to the implication that we're discussing "the dead" and only "the dead".

Filu (User's profile) December 25, 2008, 6:58:58 PM

"Pri mortintoj, nur bondiraĵoj"
I love this version! That is by far the best one yet.

Miland (User's profile) December 25, 2008, 7:23:54 PM

I have not studied Latin, but I might translate the English as:

Pri la mortintoj, parolu nur la bonan.

Of course, that's not a direct translation from the Latin, and so I wouldn't expect it to be as good as a direct translation by someone who knows Latin into Esperanto.

BeRReGoN (User's profile) December 26, 2008, 6:32:53 AM

Thanks for the exact meaning of the latin sentence, now i agree that pri is the right word so:

Pri la mortuloj, (diru) nenion krom bonaĵojn
or
Pri mortintoj, nur bondiraĵoj

Because when i read:
De (la) mortintoj(mortuloj), nenion krom bonaĵojn

I though the meaning was, From the dead, we expect nothing but good (from them).

Kind of saying they can do us no harm. ridulo.gif

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