Emergency Medieval Latin translation

April 1, 2008 5:00 PM

Emergency Medieval Latin translation? Yes, you read that correctly.

My wife desperately needs to have a Medieval Latin text translated--and quickly. Are there any resources on the net to help someone in her situation connect with the right person. Craigslist, local sites, and her entire university network have failed us completely (well, she has found a flaky guy who will commit to and then fail-to-deliver on stuff gladly).

The text is less than 1000 words, and is from the glossa ordinaria, if that helps you. The translation is for an academic project, but it's all totally above-board and she is not in any way going to claim to know medieval Latin or to have done her own translation.

posted by Ignatius J. Reilly to writing & language (5 comments total)

Medieval Latin I assume. Some of the people on that articles talk page I think can read it. First step is to put it online and give the random person a shot at it.

BTW, appropriate screen name for this question - although Boethius wrote in classical Latin, close enough :)
posted by stbalbach at 5:28 PM on April 1

Google found this site : Latin to English Translator (the Latin option is the last in the pull down box)

That will give you a vague idea of what the text says.

And then there is this : Vulsearch

Looks like vulsearch will let you read the vulgate bible. It has a plugin that includes the glossa ordinaria. If you know where in the glossa the text comes from you might be able to get a translation out of it.
posted by ibfrog at 5:35 PM on April 1

I'm fluent in Latin.

That said, if you can find the passage, that'll provide more reliable translating.
posted by kldickson at 7:30 PM on April 1

Assume you checked something like Quintus or Applied Language?
posted by dhartung at 12:07 AM on April 2

Ignatius, I'm a medievalist and can translate Latin quickly. Happy to do it if your wife cites me; feel free to MefiMail me.
posted by venividivici at 4:46 AM on April 2 [2 favorites]