The best thing about knowing Latin is being able to take prosaic phrases and make them sound like highfalutin mottoes.
<center>BIS METIRE SEMEL SECA</center>
<center><small>(“Measure twice, cut once”)</small></center>
Monty,
The Vatican seminary still teaches in Latin.
Pax
On a related note, some months ago I saw one of our regular posters (please forgive me as I’ve forgotten whom) had the sig file:
“Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes”
translation:
“If you can read this, you’re way too educated.”
By the way, while we’re on translations, what does “De minimus non cureat lex” mean, anyway? It’s been far too many years since my last latin class…
I can’t quite suss it either. I don’t think my Latin is quite that rusty, because de clearly can’t take the nominative minimus. And what is cureat? It looks like a second conjugation subjunctive, but it can’t be curo, curare or curro, currere, which are first and third conjugation respectively.
Near as I can tell, it’s ungrammatical nonsense.
Maybe it’s supposed to be De minimo lege non currat, let him not run from the smallest law. That sounds like a Roman sentiment.
Whoops, sorry. That would be De minima lege non currat.
“The law does not concern itself about trifles.”
I can’t speak to the exact spelling or case (and I see that I stuck an “e” into “curat” - I think Dougie Monty got it right in his original inquiry). As for its provenance, it is “Law Latin,” which Brewer’s describes as the “debased Latin used in legal documents.”
The phrase is usually translated, at least by lawyers with little acquaintance with real Latin (such as myself), as “The law is not concerned with trifles,” i.e. that there are some minor matters which may be technical breaches of the law, but which the courts will not address.
See also Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary, under “trifling” - " 'Tis hard for every trifling debt of two shillings to be driven to law." (quoting Spenser).
sorry for not putting the translation in my limerick post - got distracted at the time.
here’s a cite to a legal dictionary: http://www.duhaime.org/dict-d.htm
Not exactly a response to the OP, but I couldn’t help myself. BTW, I ripped these from a friend, so I can’t speak to the grammar or syntax.
Denuone Latine loquebar? Me ineptum. Interdum modo elabitur.
Was I speaking latin again? Silly me. Sometimes it just sort of slips out.
Noli ludere alimento! memento Carthaginienses esurientes!
Don’t play with your food. Remember the starving Carthaginians.
Id in machinam schidarum scindendarum incedit.
It fell into the shredder.
Habesne “olyzam flictam?” Hae hae hae.
Do you have “Flied Lice?” Ha ha ha
Obesa cantavit.
The fat lady has sung.
| | | | | | | | | |
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.
Ah, yes. The expression is `de minimis non curat lex’ That I could have translated. :.)
Johnny Angel, thanks for the poem, I trust that it’s nice & not one that would get me hit on the head with a baseball bat? 
<sigh!>
No, it’s De minibus non curat lex. Ablative plural. “The Law is not concerned with trifles.”
Offhand, I don’t think it’s Roman; I think it’s Elizabethan, and by Coke, but I might be wrong about that.
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams
MysticMilt,
In the glorious text “Latin for all occasions” they have a series of latin bumper stickers. my favorite of which involves the quote in your post but is modified to translate:
“If you can read this you’re both too close and very well educated”
I’m afraid I can’t recall the exact text, though. Alas.
And don’t forget, latin is important in understanding most state mottos.
(Virginia: “Sic Semper Tyrannis” = Thus Always to Tyrants. New York: “Excelsior”= Ever Upward. Michigan: “Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam, circumspice” = If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you.)
“Illigitimi non-carbrendum”
(Don’t let the Bastards grind you down)
Is this spelled right?
Is it even Latin?
I have taken French and Spanish–and taught myself Esperanto. I’ve noticed the dissimilarities between Latin, an inflectional language, and Spanish and French, which treat nouns much like English but still use that maddening system of verb conjugations Latin had.
John 3:16 in:
Latin–*Sic enim deus dilexit mundum, ut Filium suum unigenitum daret, ut omnis, qui credit in Eum, non pereat, sed habeat vitam aeternam. *
French–*Car Dieu a tant aimé le monde, qu’il a donné son Fils unique, afin que quiconque croit en Lui, ne périsse point, mais ait la vie éternelle. *
Spanish–*Por que Dios tal amó el mundo, que dio a su Hijo unigénito, por que todos, que creen en Él, non perezcan, pero tengan vida eterna. *
There are enough dissimilarities between the three languages to suggest that learning Latrin isn’t really so much a key to Spanish or French or Italian.
Handy:
Here’s my translation of Catullus 5:
Let us live, my Lesbia, and let us love
And all the talk of cranky old men
Let us value at one penny!
Suns can set and rise again:
But when our brief light has fallen,
Night is one eternal sleep.
Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred
Then another thousand, then a second hundred
And even another thousand, and another hundred.
Until by these many thousands we will have made
We will be confounded lest we know
Or lest some villain is able to envy us
Knowing the number of our kissings.
If you are at all in to singing Renaissance and “church” music (and there’s a lot of great stuff out there that you don’t have to be “churchy” to enjoy), some knowledge of Latin can enhance the enjoyment in the music. The choir I sing in is about to cut a CD of its latest concert. Included in the program are two selections by Palestrina (late 1500s into the 1600s, I think, not certain), both in Latin. One is “Sicut Cervus” (sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes – as the deer longs for running streams) and the other is “Super Flumina” (by the banks of the river we hung up our instruments . . .). Both are done a cappella, in four parts. Both are haunting, beautiful melodies, and an understanding of the meaning of the words helps bring expression to the presentation of the music.
Other selections include two different versions of “Jubilate Deo,” again both in Latin. We also have one piece in French, and the rest in English, except for a truly magnificent Ave, again in Latin, recently (within the last five or six years, I think) composed by Lauridsen (sp?)who is the composer-in-residence for the L.A. Master Chorale, in honor of conducter Paul Salumnivich (sp. again?). Eight voice parts – a challenge, and absolutely a fantastic piece of music.
-Melin
(who is bisectional – alto and soprano) 
Johnny Angel, that is a great translation, very fitting for me, I much appreciate it.
You folks who are “concerning yourselves with trifles” should note that the English noun that the translation ends with is in the plural. The proper quote is actually:
De minimis (abl. pl.) non curat lex.
You should also realize that after Dan Quayle is elected President, he plans to sponsor a new emphasis on Latin in order that we have enough diplomats, consuls, and inernational businesspeople who can function well in Latin America.