How to say "nature does make jumps" in latin?

October 16, 2015 12:03 PM

As opposed to natura non facit saltus. Is it just natura facit saltus? I want to be emphatic that it does saltate. Google Translate and other translation systems are giving divergent answers.
posted by curuinor to Writing & Language (8 answers total)

Response by poster: Oh, I only put question in title. If you turned title off, question goes: "how to say, 'nature does make jumps' in latin"?
posted by curuinor at 12:04 PM on October 16, 2015

Best answer: natura facit saltus is really all there is.
Options:
"ceterum censeo natura saltus facit" which is kinda cheesy,
or "natura facit saltus, it really does"
posted by Namlit at 12:11 PM on October 16, 2015

Best answer: You could also do "natura facit quidem saltus" which would translate roughly as "Nature does indeed make jumps."
posted by firechicago at 12:29 PM on October 16, 2015 [6 favorites]

My Latin is pretty rusty, but what about natura certe facit saltus?
posted by The Tensor at 12:30 PM on October 16, 2015

Best answer: @firechicago's "natural facit quidem saltus" isn't bad. quidem adds the notion of "too": "Nature does too make jumps."

Another way of putting it would be to use the verb salire instead of the noun saltus: "Salit quidem natura."
posted by brianogilvie at 1:05 PM on October 16, 2015

I'm tempted to suggest getting the emphasis you want by adding vere, for "indeed," but I know fuck-all about actual non-Church Latin.
posted by nebulawindphone at 1:07 PM on October 16, 2015

(plus you need to find a way to include a picture of a cute and fuzzy salticid because squee.)
posted by scruss at 2:15 PM on October 16, 2015

quidem works for 'indeed', but also enim and etiam. I'd also put the verb at the end, for emphasis, so

Natura enim/etiam saltus facit

Also, the original phrase is traditionally, natura non facit saltum, with the singular for 'leap', or at least this is how Leibniz used it.
posted by dis_integration at 3:30 PM on October 16, 2015