Black Metal Latin 401: the inverted curse...

March 23, 2012 12:55 PM

Latinfilter: how would one replace "Satan" with "Christ" in the "Vade Retro satanas" exorcism formula?

"The Latin text says:

Crux sancta sit mihi lux / Non draco sit mihi dux
Vade retro satana / Numquam suade mihi vana
Sunt mala quae libas / Ipse venena bibas
In approximate translation:

'Let the Holy Cross be my light / Let not the dragon be my guide
Step back Satan / Never tempt me with vain things
What you offer me is evil / You drink the poison yourself.' "

In this context, I want to make 4 little changes:

Holy = vilemy light = your darknessSatan = Christ ,&
dragon = virgin

posted by herbplarfegan to Writing & Language (7 answers total)

Response by poster: sorry about the linebreaks.

Holy = vile
my light = your darkness
Satan = Christ , &
dragon = virgin
posted by herbplarfegan at 12:57 PM on March 23, 2012

Best answer: satana is the vocative for Satan; the vocative for Jesus is Jesu.
The word for virgin is virgo (nominative -- draco is nominative).
posted by katemonster at 1:13 PM on March 23, 2012

It's not just rhyme and words actually here, I think: metre's important too. Trochees, right? (stressed/unstressed) So you may need to mess around with the words quite a lot more for it to fit.

Um, I don't have time to polish this, so maybe this can be a starting point for someone else:

Crux sordido tibi nox non virgo sit mihi dux [1]
Vade O Jesu retro / Numquam suade mihi vana [2]

[1] 'sit' will have to do double duty here, and just pretend that dux and nox rhyme. It is a poem.
[2] Added 'O' to keep the metre. I can't think of a replacement for 'vana' that rhymes.
posted by randomination at 1:34 PM on March 23, 2012

Best answer: OK, now I am not at work and can spend time checking my grammar, try this:

Crux sordidus tibi nox / Non virgo sit mihi dux
Vade retro O Christe / Numquam benedicite
Sunt mala quae libas / Ipse venena bibas

This changes a bit more than you asked for but keeps the metre, sense, and rhyme. In particular the second line reads 'Step back, Christ, never bless (me)'.

Have fun with whatever you are doing with this!
posted by randomination at 8:06 PM on March 23, 2012 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Awesome work, except that crux is feminine, so 2nd word should be sordida.

Also, shouldn't it still be mihi nox (it's a night to me) rather than tibi (to you)? Or alternatively, crux sordida tua nox (your sordid cross is darkness).
posted by zompist at 1:45 AM on March 24, 2012

Response by poster: Also, shouldn't it still be mihi nox (it's a night to me)

calling it "yours" (as in, not mine) is part of the rejection and distancing-- specifically by changing a "my" directly to a "your."
posted by herbplarfegan at 1:53 PM on March 24, 2012

Response by poster: this is evil gold, y'all. Thank you so much.

It's for a book.
posted by herbplarfegan at 1:58 PM on March 24, 2012