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Q: Latin translation of phrase wanted ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars,   3 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Latin translation of phrase wanted
Category: Reference, Education and News > Teaching and Research
Asked by: simon12340_0-ga
List Price: $10.00
Posted: 24 Aug 2005 05:11 PDT
Expires: 23 Sep 2005 05:11 PDT
Question ID: 559661
I would like "When a man is tired of London he is tired of life"
translating into Latin
Answer  
Subject: Re: Latin translation of phrase wanted
Answered By: hlabadie-ga on 29 Aug 2005 21:52 PDT
Rated:5 out of 5 stars
 
"I suggested a doubt, that if I were to reside in London, the
exquisite zest with which I relished it in occasional visits might go
off, and I might grow tired of it. Johnson: "Why, Sir, you find no
man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir,
when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in
London all that life can afford."
Boswell, James, The Life of Samuel Johnson, L.L.D., September 20,
1777, page 733, Modern Library Edition, New York.

Latin supplies an idiomatic construction that conveys the sentiment
expressed by Johnson almost exactly, and it would have been familiar
to him, himself a competent Latinist. The impersonal verb taedet
combined with the accusative case of the person and the genitive case
of the thing produces a phrase that parallels the English.

For example, a man, homo, hominis, who is tired of life, vita, vitae,
would be hominem taedet vitae.

homo, hominis -- man

homo	nominative
hominis	genitive
homini	dative
hominem	accusative
homine	ablative
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3D%2320867
http://tinyurl.com/e4ewq

hominem, a man, accusative singular masculine
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/morphindex?lookup=hominem&.submit=Analyze+Form&lang=la&formentry=1
http://tinyurl.com/99lns

vita, vitae -- life

vita		nominative
vitae		genitive
vitae		dative
vitam	accusative
vita		ablative
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3D%2351148
http://tinyurl.com/7kvam

"When" is translated as the adverb "quando." The masculine personal
pronoun "he" is translated by the inflected form of "is", eum.

quando -- when
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0060%3Aentry%3D%2313478
http://tinyurl.com/bcvzz

is, ea, id -- he, she, it
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3D%2325030
http://tinyurl.com/7j44o

is		nominative
eius		genitive
ei		dative
eum		accusative
eo		ablative

eum -- him, accusative singular masculine.
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/morphindex?lookup=eum&.submit=Analyze+Form&lang=la&formentry=1
http://tinyurl.com/athv3

Londinium, Londinii -- London
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3D%2326941
http://tinyurl.com/aevgj

taedet -- to be tired of
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3D%2347385
http://tinyurl.com/8zvcl

Taken altogether:

"Quando hominem taedet Londinii, eum taedet vitae."


hlabadie-ga
simon12340_0-ga rated this answer:5 out of 5 stars
A very thorough answer

Comments  
Subject: Re: Latin translation of phrase wanted
From: myoarin-ga on 24 Aug 2005 10:22 PDT
 
Samuel Johnson may turn over in his grave just at the suggestion of
translating his words into Latin.  ;-)
Subject: Re: Latin translation of phrase wanted
From: hlabadie-ga on 28 Aug 2005 12:07 PDT
 
The standard idiomatic phrase that expresses the sense of Dr.
Johnson's quip is formed around the impersonal verb taedet, with the
person in the accusative and the object in the genitive. Thus,
simplified, homines (man)  is declined to hominem and vita (life) to
vitae, and these are combined with the verb to construct the phrase
"hominem taedet vitae" -- "the man is tired or life." (Or "bored with"
or disgusted by," depending on the context.) The full sentence would
run, "Quando hominem taedet Londinii, eum taedet vitae" -- "When a man
is tired of London, he is tired of life."
Subject: Re: Latin translation of phrase wanted
From: hlabadie-ga on 03 Sep 2005 14:19 PDT
 
Thank you for the rating.

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