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Q: Translation of phrase from English to Latin ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars,   4 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Translation of phrase from English to Latin
Category: Reference, Education and News > General Reference
Asked by: amysk-ga
List Price: $10.00
Posted: 30 May 2004 20:33 PDT
Expires: 29 Jun 2004 20:33 PDT
Question ID: 354103
How do you say "Don't let the bastards grind you down in Latin?"
Answer  
Subject: Re: Translation of phrase from English to Latin
Answered By: juggler-ga on 30 May 2004 21:11 PDT
Rated:5 out of 5 stars
 
Hi.

I'd go with:

"Noli nothis permittere te terere"

See:
Latin Phrases for Work
http://www.qis.net/~jimjr/work104.htm
Insultmonger.com Latin
http://www.insultmonger.com/swearing/latin.htm
Fun Latin:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/omnibus.html

----------------

I should also note that there's a popular quote: 

"Nil carborundum illegitimi"
"Don't let the bastards grind you down."

This appears on various web pages:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22Nil+carborundum+illegitimi%22&btnG=Google+Search

HOWEVER, this is a fake Latin quotation. See:
Open Dictionary: Noli illegitimi carborundum
http://open-dictionary.com/Noli_illegitimi_carborundum

Also see these newsgroup messages:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=8f1tt6%24q91%241%40saltmine.radix.net
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=8q83ki%24rn7%241%40nnrp1.deja.com&prev=/groups%3Fq%3D%2522Noli%2Bnothis%2B%2522%2Blatin%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26selm%3D8q83ki%2524rn7%25241%2540nnrp1.deja.com%26rnum%3D9

----------
search strategy:
"don't let the bastards", noli 

I hope this helps.
amysk-ga rated this answer:5 out of 5 stars
Thank you very much...you have saved me from extreme error...

Comments  
Subject: Re: Translation of phrase from English to Latin
From: voila-ga on 02 Jun 2004 09:14 PDT
 
Many variants on the web for this phrase.  Here are a couple more:

Illegitimis non carborundum (origin and explanation from Roman Law)
http://www.ukans.edu/history/index/europe/ancient_rome/E/Gazetteer/Periods/Roman/Topics/Language/Illegitimi/2.html

From Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale"
Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. 
http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/worldlit/canada/handmaid_plot.html
Subject: Re: Translation of phrase from English to Latin
From: juggler-ga on 02 Jun 2004 09:22 PDT
 
As noted above, though, carborundum is not real a Latin word.
http://open-dictionary.com/Carborundum

As such, the University of Kansas page cited by Voila-ga, "A Famous
Phrase from Antiquity: Origin and Explanation" is clearly satirical.
Subject: Re: Translation of phrase from English to Latin
From: juggler-ga on 02 Jun 2004 09:23 PDT
 
typo: "...not REALLY a Latin word."
Subject: Re: Translation of phrase from English to Latin
From: voila-ga on 02 Jun 2004 11:16 PDT
 
But I like it for a new Atwood premise "The Dentist's Tale," don't you?  ;-)

"Illegitimis non carborundum" is the phrase I'd seen most often but it
is pseudo-Latin (thanks for setting a lot of us straight on this,
Juggler-ga and Columbia.edu).  Really some very interesting research
chasing the origins here.  It's amazing this phrase has slid by in
many corrupted forms, finding its way onto signage, etc.  I think it
even made it past a few priests.

Lots of variations on "corundum" too, but Tamil, Hindi, and Sanskrit
are *way* out of my league.

"The term corundum only sounds like Latin. The mineral is found in Sri
Lanka [new improved postcolonial name for Ceylon] and parts of India,
and its name in English comes from the Tamil word "kuruntam."

...Corundum:  Hindi "kurund" or the Tamil "kurundam," describing a
native stone of India.

...Corundum is from the Sanskrit word for "kurivinda."

Ow, my head hurts,
V

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