If could ask a few questions on this?. First, is Nil Illegitimi carborundem a proper Latin translation? Seems like there are too few words. How does the Latin translate literally? Why is it in Latin (or rather, why do I associate it with Latin) in the first place? Lastly, I have found several references to it on the net… does anyone have the SD on its origin?
Thanks,
Rhythmdvl
(Wondering if my attempt to quit smoking has anything to do with this phrase)
Once in a while you can get shown the light
in the strangest of places
if you look at it right…
I have a paperweight that says, “Illegitimi non carborundum est”; maybe that’s an appropriate alternate translation? Sorry, I don’t know why it’s in Latin, or where it came from…
From what I know of Latin, the second translation is utterly horrible. It loosely translates as something like “Bastards are not carborundum” - not to mention that the adjective carborundum is in the singular, while illegitimi is in the plural. Gonna have to go find my old textbooks.
All I wanna do is to thank you, even though I don’t know who you are…
It doesn’t really mean anything; it is ‘joke’ Latin, using fake roots which the English reader will be able to guess. It’s intended to mean" Don’t let the bastards(= " illegitimi" ) wear you down (= “carborundum”)." Correct Latin for this would be “Non conterendus est nothis.” But who would get the joke? The slogan may have been invented in the R.A.F. during World War II, and it has enjoyed wide-spread popularity ever since.
(Sigh.) No, they’re not real Latin words. Yes, it’s a joke. I believe it originated in British prep schools, where they have a very strange sense of humor. The grammatical construction is called a “passive periphrastic” – a future passive participle with an imperative sense. In other words, the literal translation would be something like “It should not be ground down by the bastard.”
“Illegitimi” is a singular dative of agent, not a plural nominative, so Olentzero’s objection doesn’t apply. In any case, “carborundum” would agree with the (unspecified) subject, not the agent.
It’s OK to leave out forms of the verb “to be,” so either “Illegitimi non carborundum” or “Illegitimi non carborundum est” is acceptable.
“I can’t think why fancy religions should have such a ghastly effect on one’s grammar.”
– Dorothy L. Sayers
I always heard it as nolite te illegitimi carborundorum. By the way, the term for a phrase like this in joke Latin or using Latin endings is a “macaronic”. Another one:
What is it that roareth thus?
Can it be a motor bus?
Yes, the smell and hideous hum Indicat motorem bum!
I stand corrected by Fretful Porpentine, and gladly admit to it. My Latin was sketchy at best when it was current and I was going on what I remembered I knew. matt_mcl, that’s actually the first four lines of an entire poem that declines the phrase ‘motor bus’ as if it were Latin. My sister has it in a book she got several Christmases ago, and with the Board’s permission I’m going to get her to send it to me and reprint it here. For us linguophiles it’s a laff riot.
There’s also another one, starts like this:
The nox was lit by lux of Luna
and 'twas a nox most opportuna
to catch a possum or a coona.
Don’t remember the whole thing, it was rather long, but I remember this couplet:
Unum canis, duo puer,
Nunquam braver, nunquam truer…
I have a squadron (USN) patch that is entirely black, (note: Naval squadron patches tend to be about 4" diameter, with a “ribbon” or “banner” at the bottom, and maybe one at the top) with red borders around the outside and the banner. There is red lettering around the inner-top and inner-bottom which reads: Si ego certiorem facem… mihi tu delendus eres. (I don’t have it in front of me, so I’m guessing at the spelling.)
Latin experts, does it mean what it’s supposed to mean?
“I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry
Si = if
ego = I
certior = faster
facem = some form of “make”
so my guess for the first half is “if I make more speed”
mihi = (by) me
tu = you
delendus eres = something along the lines of “will be destroyed”
So altogether I think it means something along the lines of “If I make more speed, you will be destroyed by me.” But my Latin is so rusty, you should wait for some more opinions to come in.
I don’t know if it’s where it originated, but the phrase “don’t let the bastards grind you down” was popularized in Allan Sillitoe’s 1958 novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.
Damn Olympic motto was confusing me “Altior, celior, fortior” is “higher, faster, stronger”. I was transposing the rt from fortior into celior as well. Damn, I’m so dumb sometimes. The second part is about as I rendered it, with an imperative mood to it “you will have to be destroyed by me”.
