Please help translate this Latin building inscription!
October 5, 2010 1:44 PM
Latin translation filter: please help translate a building dedication from the University of Toronto’s former “Department of Household Science”
My sister is writing an architecture assignment on the Lillian Massey Department of Household Science building (check it out, apparently it “offered courses covering everything from the biology of yeast to the principles of clarifying soup”!). Once upon a time, a long time ago, I studied Latin, so my sister asked me if I could translate the Latin inscription on the building’s stained glass windows for her. But it’s been more than 10 years since I read any Latin so I can only manage some of the words and my sentence structure is terrible (oh the shame!). If any of you amazing Latin heroes who always do such a great job here on AskMeFi could take a look at it and give a rough translation, I’d be very grateful indeed! (p.s. there are three windows- I think I’ve got them in the right order but I could be wrong)
Quae domos suas opibus domesticis ornaverunt, quorum ornamentorum et ipsae pars fuere maxima, hanc
Elissae Phelps Massey, fundatricis nostrae matri et omnibusa liis feminis bonis
vitream honoris caus aponendam collocavit Lillian Massey Treble
[Gratias vobis ago!]
My sister is writing an architecture assignment on the Lillian Massey Department of Household Science building (check it out, apparently it “offered courses covering everything from the biology of yeast to the principles of clarifying soup”!). Once upon a time, a long time ago, I studied Latin, so my sister asked me if I could translate the Latin inscription on the building’s stained glass windows for her. But it’s been more than 10 years since I read any Latin so I can only manage some of the words and my sentence structure is terrible (oh the shame!). If any of you amazing Latin heroes who always do such a great job here on AskMeFi could take a look at it and give a rough translation, I’d be very grateful indeed! (p.s. there are three windows- I think I’ve got them in the right order but I could be wrong)
Quae domos suas opibus domesticis ornaverunt, quorum ornamentorum et ipsae pars fuere maxima, hanc
Elissae Phelps Massey, fundatricis nostrae matri et omnibusa liis feminis bonis
vitream honoris caus aponendam collocavit Lillian Massey Treble
[Gratias vobis ago!]
The text, in order, is:
Elissae Phelps Massey, fundatricis nostrae matri, et omnibus aliis feminis bonis, quae domos suas opibus domesticis ornaverunt, quorum ornamentorum et ipsae pars fuere maxima, hanc vitream honoris causa ponendam collocavit Lillian Massey Treble, kal. Octob. MDCCCCXV.
Which should make it quite a bit easier, if you still want to give it a shot on your own.
posted by The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal at 2:02 PM on October 5, 2010
Elissae Phelps Massey, fundatricis nostrae matri, et omnibus aliis feminis bonis, quae domos suas opibus domesticis ornaverunt, quorum ornamentorum et ipsae pars fuere maxima, hanc vitream honoris causa ponendam collocavit Lillian Massey Treble, kal. Octob. MDCCCCXV.
Which should make it quite a bit easier, if you still want to give it a shot on your own.
posted by The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal at 2:02 PM on October 5, 2010
(via the UoT's Medieval Studies dep't newsletter)
posted by The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal at 2:03 PM on October 5, 2010
posted by The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal at 2:03 PM on October 5, 2010
D'oh! "Ornaverunt" is indicative perfect, not future perfect (which would be ornaverint). So my translation should read, "all other good women who adorned their houses," not "will have." Sorry.
posted by brianogilvie at 2:04 PM on October 5, 2010
posted by brianogilvie at 2:04 PM on October 5, 2010
It's not as good as the above, but FYI Google Translate has recently added Latin as one of its languages, producing:
"Elissa Phelps Massey, of the founding of our mother, and his other women all good things, which domestic resources to their own houses they adorned the front, of which the ornaments and they themselves were the greatest majority were, the cause of this lay the glass he placed a garrison of honor Lillian Massey Treble, incurred upon them. Of October. 1915."
posted by Rumple at 3:09 PM on October 5, 2010
"Elissa Phelps Massey, of the founding of our mother, and his other women all good things, which domestic resources to their own houses they adorned the front, of which the ornaments and they themselves were the greatest majority were, the cause of this lay the glass he placed a garrison of honor Lillian Massey Treble, incurred upon them. Of October. 1915."
posted by Rumple at 3:09 PM on October 5, 2010
Here's how Google Translate parses it:
Elissa Phelps Massey, of the founding of our mother, and his other women all good things, which domestic resources to their own houses they adorned the front, of which the ornaments and they themselves were the greatest majority were, the cause of this lay the glass he placed a garrison of honor Lillian Massey Treble, incurred upon them. Of October. 1915.
It has a way to go.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:11 PM on October 5, 2010
Elissa Phelps Massey, of the founding of our mother, and his other women all good things, which domestic resources to their own houses they adorned the front, of which the ornaments and they themselves were the greatest majority were, the cause of this lay the glass he placed a garrison of honor Lillian Massey Treble, incurred upon them. Of October. 1915.
It has a way to go.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:11 PM on October 5, 2010
Thanks everyone and especially to you brianogilvie for your translation! No wonder some of the words didn't seem to make any sense- the spacing of the words in the windows is exactly as I transcribed them & clearly wrong as you point out.
(I had already tried the new Latin Google Translate, but I think you'll all agree that it still needs a bit more work... Anyway, MeFites are always better!)
posted by Kirjava at 3:24 PM on October 5, 2010
(I had already tried the new Latin Google Translate, but I think you'll all agree that it still needs a bit more work... Anyway, MeFites are always better!)
posted by Kirjava at 3:24 PM on October 5, 2010
Happy to help. And as for Google Translate's accuracy: a bad translation is often worse than none at all.
posted by brianogilvie at 4:16 PM on October 5, 2010
posted by brianogilvie at 4:16 PM on October 5, 2010
By the way, the order of text in the newsletter to which The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal linked makes much more sense.
posted by brianogilvie at 4:17 PM on October 5, 2010
posted by brianogilvie at 4:17 PM on October 5, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
In the second line, the words "omnibus aliis" should be divided like that; similarly, in the third line, read "honoris causa ponendam."
Technically speaking, Elissa Phelps Massey and the other good women are in the dative, as recipients: the window is placed for them, for the sake of honor (honoris causa).
It's not the loveliest translation, but then it's not the loveliest Latin either.
posted by brianogilvie at 2:00 PM on October 5, 2010