Latin for "and this too shall pass" please?
June 21, 2010 9:06 AM Subscribe
A passing acquaintance who knows I took Latin some years ago has asked me to translate something for him for a tattoo. I've found this online, and it jibes, more or less with what I remember, but its been years, and I'd love to pass this by someone before I'm an accessory to something permanent. I'm leaning towards one of the first two. What he wants is "And this too shall pass."
-“Et hoc transibit”
-“Hoc quoque transibit"
-“Hoc etiam transibit”
This is apparently a Persian proverb. See Wikipedia (with references). It would seem that getting it done in Persian would make more sense (but creates a whole different set of calligraphy/expert needed problems.
posted by ThisIsNotMe at 9:37 AM on June 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by ThisIsNotMe at 9:37 AM on June 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
As, ThisIsNotMe notes, Latin is not the appropriate language for that particular proverb. The closest Latin proverb would be "Sic transit gloria mundi."
posted by signalnine at 10:08 AM on June 21, 2010
posted by signalnine at 10:08 AM on June 21, 2010
This is apparently a Persian proverb. See Wikipedia (with references). It would seem that getting it done in Persian would make more sense (but creates a whole different set of calligraphy/expert needed problems.
Since this proverb is sometimes attributed to King Solomon (per Wikipedia), it seems likely that medieval scholars would have rendered it in Latin somewhere. They were into that stuff.
posted by grobstein at 10:43 AM on June 21, 2010
Since this proverb is sometimes attributed to King Solomon (per Wikipedia), it seems likely that medieval scholars would have rendered it in Latin somewhere. They were into that stuff.
posted by grobstein at 10:43 AM on June 21, 2010
A similar, famous Latin phrase is "Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit," "maybe one day it will be a pleasure to remember even these things" (Virgil Aeneid 1.203). Fagles mentions it in this NYT profile piece.
posted by dd42 at 12:21 PM on June 21, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by dd42 at 12:21 PM on June 21, 2010 [2 favorites]
Best answer: > It would seem that getting it done in Persian would make more sense
It only "makes sense" to get tattoos in the original language of what the tattoo is saying? That's a very odd position.
I agree with Jedicus: spend the money to get a real translation from real experts. I love AskMe, but this is not something it's good at.
posted by languagehat at 12:48 PM on June 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
It only "makes sense" to get tattoos in the original language of what the tattoo is saying? That's a very odd position.
I agree with Jedicus: spend the money to get a real translation from real experts. I love AskMe, but this is not something it's good at.
posted by languagehat at 12:48 PM on June 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Many thanks - I'll run it by an expert!
posted by korej at 9:51 AM on June 22, 2010
posted by korej at 9:51 AM on June 22, 2010
Incidentally I'm pretty sure that transeo can't mean "pass" in the sense of "run its course; come to an end." transeo refers to crossing something or to the passing of time: flumen transere "to cross the river" or "menses transeunt" "months pass."
posted by dd42 at 1:18 PM on June 22, 2010
posted by dd42 at 1:18 PM on June 22, 2010
> Don't you think "months pass" is the same sense?
No. What events do (come to an end) and what months do (succeed each other according to definition) are two different things. You're confused by the fact that English uses the same word for them. (A parallel example I recently discovered: Russians think of the kind of sword you fight with and the kind of sword you fence with as entirely different entities and have a hard time believing English uses the same word for both.)
posted by languagehat at 4:57 PM on June 22, 2010
No. What events do (come to an end) and what months do (succeed each other according to definition) are two different things. You're confused by the fact that English uses the same word for them. (A parallel example I recently discovered: Russians think of the kind of sword you fight with and the kind of sword you fence with as entirely different entities and have a hard time believing English uses the same word for both.)
posted by languagehat at 4:57 PM on June 22, 2010
Am I? Bear in mind that "sic transit gloria mundi" is proper Latin, at least in the medieval idiom. But perhaps that doesn't speak to the narrow "same sense" question, and the last thing I want to do is get involved in Russian s words, so I'll bow out.
posted by grobstein at 5:16 PM on June 22, 2010
posted by grobstein at 5:16 PM on June 22, 2010
You're quite right, grobstein - transeo can be used in that sense not only in medieval Latin but also in classical Latin. The 13th def. in the OLD is "(of conditions, etc.) to pass away, pass from existence." e.g. ~isse gloriam "[he says that] the glory has passed away" (Pliny. Nat. 13.4). This is what happens when you don't look things up in the big dictionary before writing.
posted by dd42 at 5:27 PM on June 22, 2010
posted by dd42 at 5:27 PM on June 22, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by jedicus at 9:11 AM on June 21, 2010 [2 favorites]