Ex libris grandiloquent

July 16, 2009 5:39 AM

Latinfilter: Help me translate "From the library of humanity/man/" into latin. So "Ex libris …" something or other…
posted by monocultured to writing & language (10 comments total)

"Ex libris hominis."

hominis is the genitive case ("of man") of homo, where homo means "man" as in "mankind." In contrast, vir means "man" as in, "manly" (virile).
posted by explosion at 5:45 AM on July 16

I am under the impression that "ex libris hominis" will suggest "from the library of a [particular] person" rather than man generally (though explosion is right that it is not gendered).

I might suggest, "ex libris hominum," or, "from the library of men."
posted by grobstein at 5:57 AM on July 16

So is there another word for humanity or man that could be used in the context of books, library or writing? Perhaps a word for "those who think/write" or somesuch? Ex libris "the result of human thought". (Still looking to keep it short and simple, mind)

(I'll refrain from marking best answer until you who know actually iron the kinks out of the grammar)
posted by monocultured at 6:05 AM on July 16

Have a look at this page. You will notice that the usage examples give the plural for mankind. So in context, hominum (the genitive plural) is correct.

I would not complicate it any further, though. "ex libris hominum" seems like exactly what you're looking for.
posted by grobstein at 6:12 AM on July 16

You will notice that the usage examples give the plural for mankind.

Ugh, what a horrible sentence. What I meant was, the usage examples which are translated as "mankind" use plural forms of "homo."
posted by grobstein at 6:13 AM on July 16

Ijust realised that last sentence sounded slightly snarky, which was unintentional. I marked explosions anwer as the best as soon as he wrote it, was all. Carry on.
posted by monocultured at 6:14 AM on July 16

Ex libris hominum it is. Cheers.
posted by monocultured at 6:55 AM on July 16

Would not humanitas be a better choice?

Homo is man; ex libris hominum I would read as from some specific people: "From the library of (of some) Men".

In contrast, ex libris human humanitatis would mean "From the library of humanity".
posted by bonehead at 9:00 AM on July 16

Horrible proofing, sorry. That's ex libris humanitatis.
posted by bonehead at 9:01 AM on July 16

ex libris hominum I would read as from some specific people: "From the library of (of some) Men".

Check the usage examples linked above; "hominum" is used in classical sources to mean "mankind."

"Humanitas" actually means something else: the quality of humanity or "human-ness." It is occasionally used to mean "humankind," but mostly in post-classical sources, which suggests to me that it's a kind of ret-con error.
posted by grobstein at 9:29 AM on July 16