[Semi-OT] A few Latin translations requested for a PC

[SteelDraco]

I'm about to start playing a character who uses Latin for his spellcasting. Essentially, he's a Catholic version of a paladin, a knight in the service of the Church, trained to deal with the supernatural threats that are hidden from most people. This is for a Cthulhu-esque campaign that I'm running using the d20 rules. I'm experimenting with having alternating DMs during the campaign, so it should be interesting to see how well it works.

Anyway, I wanted to use a few Latin phrases for his spellcasting, but don't know any Latin myself. Therefore, I turn to you all for a bit of help. Any assistance would be mostly appreciated in translating the following spell names and phrases into Latin.

Knowing thy Enemy - "May the enemies of the Lord stand revealed, that they may face His judgement."

Sacred Illumination - "Light of the Lord, shine into this place of darkness, that Your servants may do Your work."

Guidance from Above - "May God and the saints aid me and grant me strength in this time of need."

Divine Resistance - "I stand resolute in my service to You, Lord. I will not falter. I will not fall."

Blessed Weapon - "Lord, I swear this blade to you. May it serve as the instrument of Your wrath against the wicked."

Shield of Faith - "Let my faith be my armor and my shield, that I may fight on in the name of the Lord."

Smite - "In the name of the Lord, I strike!"

That should serve for the first couple of levels. As I said, any assistance would be most appreciated.

 

[Rahkan]

If you really want help from us high-school Latin geniuses then try to put all your phrases in the indicative (statement of fact) or imperative (command). Don't say May God and the Saints aid me. Say God and the Saints will aid me. Most of the above are subjunctive constructions in that they express unsurety or doubt, and all of us have (are, in my case) sweated over this endlessly in high school. It should suit the character too, I'm sure he has no lack of absolute (read totally sure) faith in his god to do this junk. No matter what it actually means it'll sound good in Latin. Its not like we need to be Cicero here.

May the enemies of the Lord stand revealed, that they may face His judgement." Becomes
The enemies of the lord will be revealed. They will be judged by him. Translate to
Hostes domini aperientur. Iudicabuntur eo

Light of the Lord, shine into this place of darkness, that Your servants may do Your work. Becomes
Light of the Lord, shine into this dark place. In order that your servants do your work. Translates to
Lux domini, cande (refulge - shine brightly) in eum locum acerbum, servi agent (Ag-Ent, with a hard g) tuum laborem.

May God and the saints aid me and grant me strength in this time of need. Becomes
God and the saints, Aid me and Grant me strength in this time of need. Translates to
Deus et beati, Adjuve me (may) et Annue me vires in id tempus necessitatis.

I stand resolute in my service to You, Lord. I will not falter. I will not fall. Becomes
I stand resolutely in my service to you, Lord. I will not falter. I will not fail.
Sto prompte in meo famulatum a te, Domine. No nutabim (nootabam). No delinquem.

How lucky you are indeed. I almost lost this in the sending. Anyway here it is, the first four, although rephrased for my convenience. No doubt my teacher will find some fault with this, no doubt someone else on the board will also. But its decent, I tried to give you the right connotations, but sometimes I may have used an innapropriate word, it doesn't matter. Enjoy

 

[Sir Hawkeye]

Interesting. I can get all of these with time, but the last one would be:

"In Nomine Domini, Ico!"

Pulso and Premo also work for "I strike".

 

[Steven McRownt]

A- (!)

uhm... just a quick view on them, checkin them with my first latin vocabolary (smaller than Castiglioni-Mariotti the holy bible in fact of latin here in Italy) and i must they they're almost correct. And i do agree saying that a stardard latin wording should be kept simple (after all Caesar's De Bello Gallico, the history of his victories in France was very simple). If you want something more "poetic" and "modern" (with modern i want to say early middle age) you can use more complex sentences. Actually one of the most complex latin use is the one made by the catholic churce. The Pope each year makes his enciclicae, and as centuries ago, they are still in latin.

Steven Mc Rownt

 

[SteelDraco]

Thanks for the help, all. Great stuff. A few replies...

From Steven-

If you want something more "poetic" and "modern" (with modern i want to say early middle age) you can use more complex sentences. Actually one of the most complex latin use is the one made by the catholic churce. The Pope each year makes his enciclicae, and as centuries ago, they are still in latin.

That was the sort of thing I was thinking of. As I'll just be using these as a bit of flavor to spice up my character, 'flowery-ness' is something I was rather going for. I was fairly surprised at how easily I could translate the Latin that Rahkan provided back into English with my knowledge of Spanish. Similar structure, different vocabulary.

From Rahkan-

If you really want help from us high-school Latin geniuses then try to put all your phrases in the indicative (statement of fact) or imperative (command). Don't say May God and the Saints aid me. Say God and the Saints will aid me. Most of the above are subjunctive constructions in that they express unsurety or doubt, and all of us have (are, in my case) sweated over this endlessly in high school. It should suit the character too, I'm sure he has no lack of absolute (read totally sure) faith in his god to do this junk.

Indicative and imperative works fine; as you put it, everything sounds better in Latin. I did phrase the sentences like that intentionally, though - aren't prayers usually in subjunctive? It seems a bit odd to ask for help by stating the fact that you will be helped or commanding your (ultimate) superiors.

I'll likely use these as presented, though. Once again, thanks for your help. I did think of one more thing I'd like translated, if you'd be so kind as to help - he has the ability to turn/destroy Evil Outsiders. Definitely imperative case here. I was thinking something along the lines of "In the name of the Lord, I cast you out! By Bell, Book, and Candle, I expel you! Be gone!"

(and yes, this post is a semi-bump)

 

[Rahkan]

You can also just pretend he's saying all the other stuff when he's actually only saying something very similar. I'll translate the rest when I'm at home.

 

[Tiberius]

I'll likely use these as presented, though. Once again, thanks for your help. I did think of one more thing I'd like translated, if you'd be so kind as to help - he has the ability to turn/destroy Evil Outsiders. Definitely imperative case here. I was thinking something along the lines of "In the name of the Lord, I cast you out! By Bell, Book, and Candle, I expel you! Be gone!"

Here's what that would translate to if you are speaking to a single creature:

"In nomine Domini te iacio! Campana, Libra, Candelaque, te expelo! I! (pronounced as the letter e)"

For multiple creatures:

"In nomine Domini vos iacio! Campana, Libra, Candelaque, vos expelo! Ite!" Note that the ite is bisllyabic: "E-tay".

You should also determine whether the character pronounces in the Classical or ecclesiastical style. Doesn't matter a whole lot, but there are some differences. For example, ecclesiastical Latin pronounces the v as a v, whereas the Classical style treats it as a w. Also, some ecclesiastical c sounds get turned into ch sounds, like in caelum and ancilla, whereas Classical Latin treats them as hard c sounds. Again, there aren't too many of these, but they are noticable when they appear.

-Tiberius

[EDIT: Oh, yeah. Since campana, libra, and candela are first declension words in the ablative case, the ending a should be long, to differentiate it from the nominative. You could also add "Nefande" (2nd declension vocative singular) or "Nefandi" (vocative plural) before the "In nomine...". This would have the effect of addressing your targets. In this case, "Nefandi, in nomine Domini vos iacio! Campana, Libra, Candelaque, vos expelo! Ite!" would mean "O evil(devilish/foul, take your pick) ones, in the name of the Lord I remove/cast out/eject you (all)! By the Bell, Book, and Candle I expel you (all)! Be (all of you) gone!"]

 

[Xar]

Hmm, nice thread.

Consider this a Bump.

 

[Sir Hawkeye]

The Shield of Faith one could be:

"Mea fides sit mea arma et ancile, ut possim pugnare in nomine Domini."

The Blessed Weapon one:

"Domine, polliceor hunc ensem[or "gladium"] tibi. Sit organo ira tua contra malos."

Mmm. Subjunctilicious.