# Gimme some Latin **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 9, 2004, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-some-latin/223706 "2004-01-09T20:12:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-some-latin/223706/1 "2004-01-09T20:12:36Z")
Dead language or no, I like Latin. I wanted to come up with some cool latin pohrases (don’t ask me why please) and I was wondering if Dopers, being a sart Latin-capable bunch, would 'elp me. 1. Book of Armageddon/Ragnarok: I was thinking this should be “Liber Megiddo”, since i don’t recall the Greco-Romans having a final Gotterdamerung. And it sounds cool. 2. Book of the Damned: Can’t find a good word for “Damned” 3. Book of the Unseen: Ditto, except replace “Damned” with “Unseen”. And I just wrote more than if I hadn’t said that whole spiel didnt I? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TheInterruptingCow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9c0ed/32.png) [@TheInterruptingCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheInterruptingCow)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-some-latin/223706/2 "2004-01-09T21:00:11Z")
I’m sure it’s not 100% authentic and accurate, but I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of [Lingua Latina Occasionibus Omnibus (Latin for All Occasions)](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/sim-explorer/explore-items/-/0394586603/0/101/1/none/purchase/ref%3Dpd%5Fsxp%5Fr0/103-7613427-9042200) by Henry Beard. It won’t give you lofty mottos and such, but you’ll learn more useful phrases like “Screw you and the horse you rode in on”. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-some-latin/223706/3 "2004-01-10T07:09:03Z")
_bump_ ---
**Author:** ![12hazel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/919ad9/32.png) [@12hazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/12hazel)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-some-latin/223706/4 "2004-01-10T12:46:08Z")
1. dunno 2. damn = damnare, condemnare damned = damnatus or condemnatus (nom. singular) of the damned = damnatibus (gen. plural) 3. unseen = invisus of the unseen = invisibus (gen. plural) Source: Cassell’s New Latin Dictionary (1960) ---
**Author:** ![Nichol\_storm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Nichol\_storm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nichol_storm)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-some-latin/223706/5 "2004-01-10T12:54:52Z")
While you’re at it, why not check out the [latest single](http://www.livejournal.com/users/quislibet/164084.html) from Mixoloto Equitis? Magnae clunes mihi placent, nec possum de hac re mentiri ut quatiant illas clunes sanas! And it’s sequel… Amo se. Volo amas me. Quandocumque miserabilis Volo tu super me. Exploro se. Volo reperias me. Dedisco se. Volo commemeras me. Nolo quisquam sed tu. Cum cogito ad tu tango se. Nolo quisquam sed tu. O ne, o ne, o ne… ---
**Author:** ![Roches](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc8723/32.png) [@Roches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roches)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-some-latin/223706/6 "2004-01-10T17:53:13Z")
12hazel: I learned Latin some time ago and it’s certainly faded, but isn’t the second declension genitive plural ending _-orum_ rather than _-ibus_? Nouns in _-ibus_ are dative/ablative plural – I think the declensions would have been a lot harder to learn if the dative and ablative hadn’t been the same so often (especially in plurals). ---
**Author:** ![Jabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@Jabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jabba)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-some-latin/223706/7 "2004-01-11T00:55:07Z")
Yes, “of the damned” is _damnatorum_, or _damnatarum_ if they’re women. The difficulty with the other one is that the primary meaning of _invisus_ is “hated”, so _Liber invisorum_ would usually be translated as “The Book of the Despised” ( say). You could try _Liber non visorum_. ---
**Author:** ![12hazel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/919ad9/32.png) [@12hazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/12hazel)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-some-latin/223706/8 "2004-01-11T23:48:26Z")
Yes, of course, **Roches**! How embarrassing… :smack: Damnatorum and invisorum. Of course. It came to me yesterday, so I had to go back & dig up this thread, to make sure the record was set straight. Thank you for doing it. **Jabba,** my Cassell’s has “unseen, invisible” as the primary meaning for invisus. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Jabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@Jabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jabba)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-some-latin/223706/9 "2004-01-12T00:34:26Z")
**12hazel** : Certainly, _invisus_ is the obvious word to guess for “unseen, invisible.” It was the first thing I looked up. My dictionary, though, doesn’t list it as a possible meaning at all. The problem is that classical literature has much more use for hatred than invisibility as a topic of discussion. Off hand, I can’t think of any sources where you could look to see if _invisus_ is used in this way. If Cassell’s has it, though, it surely can’t be too far wrong. It does has the attraction that you could call it _Liber Invisorum_ and go for an erudite Latin pun, intending shades of both “Book of the Despised” and “Book of the Unseen.” **smiling bandit** must be the judge of that. Incidentally, isn’t it wonderful what a bump can do for a thread? ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-some-latin/223706/10 "2004-01-12T01:39:28Z")
**Jabba** , my dictionary does list _unseen_ (well, “ungesehen” actually 🙂 ) as a primary meaning for _invisus_ and cites Vergil (but no individual work unfortunately.) ---
**Author:** ![Melandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Melandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melandry)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-some-latin/223706/11 "2004-01-12T01:57:22Z")
Any opportunity to trot out my **OLD** \*. invisus[sup]2[/sup] ~a ~um _a_ [in-[sup]2[/sup] + pple. of video] unseen. Examples given: from Cato _de agri cultura_ 1.41.2; Cicero _de haruspicum responso_ 57; Florus(?) _Epitome bellorum omnium annorum DCC_ 2.30; Apuleius _Metamorphoses_ 5.3. No Virgil, so that’s still a mystery. But the citations for the second definition (unseen) are much fewer. Oh, the fine distinction, apparently, is that invisus[sup]1[/sup] is the participle of invideo, but as noted above invisus[sup]2[/sup] is in + the participle of video. \*The Oxford Latin Dictionary, the most recent and thorough of unabridged Classical Latin dictionaries. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-some-latin/223706/12 "2004-01-12T13:18:33Z")
WoW! ThanKs!