# Help with a little Latin Grammar?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-little-latin-grammar/250034>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 12, 2004, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-little-latin-grammar/250034 "2004-06-12T23:49:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Scoundrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Scoundrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoundrel)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-little-latin-grammar/250034/1 "2004-06-12T23:49:28Z")

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Hello all brilliant people,

Many of us who spent time with a history professor before us will have heard about [William Dunbar’s “Lament for the Makers.”](http://www.englishverse.com/poems/lament_for_the_makers).

The chorus of which goes “Timor Mortis Conturbat Me.”

My question is, how would one negate that statement? Would it be “Timor Mortis Conturbat Non Me,” or Timor Mortis Nonconturbat Me" or…what? 😃

Thanks! You’re a big help!

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**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-little-latin-grammar/250034/2 "2004-06-13T03:06:57Z")

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My Latin is rather rusty, but until someone more qualified to answer this question shows up, I guess I might as well take a stab at it.

I would say the normal way to negate that statement would be “Timor mortis non conturbat me.” However, in Latin you can play with the word order of a sentence without changing its meaning more easily than in English (which is a good thing when you’re trying to write in a certain meter), so perhaps moving the “non” wouldn’t change what you’re saying.

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**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-little-latin-grammar/250034/3 "2004-06-13T04:01:37Z")

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**tim314** is correct. It should be “timor mortis non conturbat me.” In prose Latin, it would be very rare for a negation to be far away from its negatived verb. In poetry, though, it sometimes happens. As a side note, while Latin prose is certainly free with word order, probably the most likely ordering for the [original] sentence above would be with the verb last, “timor mortis me [non] conturbat.”