# "hic sunt dracones" on Jeopardy today (5/23) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 24, 2011, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hic-sunt-dracones-on-jeopardy-today-5-23/582959 "2011-05-24T00:01:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hic-sunt-dracones-on-jeopardy-today-5-23/582959/1 "2011-05-24T00:01:10Z")
On a question with a globe with this phrase asking for the 3-word translation, a contestant said “here are dragons” (not answering in the form of a question) and Alex counted him wrong for not saying “what is” but also said that they were looking for “here be dragons” Seems to me like there is no difference in Latin between the “are” and “be”, although “be” is the more common form of the phrase in English. Gotta complain about something I noticed wrong on TV. Guess if he had phrased the answer in the proper Jeopardy way he would have a legit complaint against the judges if they counted it wrong. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hic-sunt-dracones-on-jeopardy-today-5-23/582959/2 "2011-05-24T00:05:00Z")
I disagree, I think the contestant got the answer wrong for the simple fact that _I_ knew the answer is “here be dragons” even though I forgot all my my Latin. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hic-sunt-dracones-on-jeopardy-today-5-23/582959/3 "2011-05-24T00:08:32Z")
But why is “here be dragons” any more correct than “here are dragons”? ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hic-sunt-dracones-on-jeopardy-today-5-23/582959/4 "2011-05-24T00:09:15Z")
Wrong on both counts. He didn’t phrase it in the form of a question. AND he didn’t get the translation right. Sorry bud. I KNEW it was “Here Be Dragons” from all my old D&D maps. Thanks, TSR! ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hic-sunt-dracones-on-jeopardy-today-5-23/582959/5 "2011-05-24T00:21:02Z")
The maps say “be” but there is no difference in the Latin, so you can’t say that “are” is wrong. It is more right, because “be” isn’t even proper English there. The question is specifically asking for a translation of the Latin, not for the more common English phrasing ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hic-sunt-dracones-on-jeopardy-today-5-23/582959/6 "2011-05-24T00:24:34Z")
“Be” is perfectly proper (though not colloquial) English. But I agree that it can be translated equally well either way. What was the precise phrasing of the question? Did they ask for the commonly-known or cliched translation? Or just a translation? ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hic-sunt-dracones-on-jeopardy-today-5-23/582959/7 "2011-05-24T00:38:33Z")
I don’t remember the exact wording and J-archive hasn’t updated for this episode yet and I don’t know any other way to find the precise wording. I don’t understand how “Here be dragons” is proper English (while trying to avoid derailing the topic into what “proper English” means, but in any other context I would certainly say “be” for “sunt” is wrong) and think that “be” in this sense is only used to seem archaic (like on D&D maps) ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hic-sunt-dracones-on-jeopardy-today-5-23/582959/8 "2011-05-24T00:39:37Z")
I thought it was “here there be dragons”. Not correct? ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hic-sunt-dracones-on-jeopardy-today-5-23/582959/9 "2011-05-24T00:42:19Z")
English uses the word “there” in a phrase like “Here there be dragons” but there is no difference in Latin between that phrase and the phrase “Here be dragons” ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hic-sunt-dracones-on-jeopardy-today-5-23/582959/10 "2011-05-24T00:53:01Z")
Gotcha. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hic-sunt-dracones-on-jeopardy-today-5-23/582959/11 "2011-05-24T00:57:20Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > I don’t understand how “Here be dragons” is proper English (while trying to avoid derailing the topic into what “proper English” means, but in any other context I would certainly say “be” for “sunt” is wrong) and think that “be” in this sense is only used to seem archaic (like on D&D maps) I think that the issue is that “here (there) be dragons” is how it’s been traditionally represented in English. > **[Here be dragons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_be_dragons)** > > "Here be dragons" (Latin: hic sunt dracones) is a phrase used to indicate dangerous or unexplored territories, in imitation of a medieval practice of putting illustrations of dragons, sea monsters and other mythological creatures on uncharted areas of maps where potential dangers were thought to exist. > Although several early maps, such as the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, have illustrations of mythological creatures for decoration, the phrase itself is an anachronism. Until the Ostrich Egg Globe was ... ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hic-sunt-dracones-on-jeopardy-today-5-23/582959/12 "2011-05-24T02:08:32Z")
Was it clear that they were looking for a translation of the Latin phrase into the corresponding English phrase, or a mere translation of the individual words? The word-by-word translation would be “Here are dragons,” but the phrase, as an entity, would be translated as “Here be dragons.” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hic-sunt-dracones-on-jeopardy-today-5-23/582959/13 "2011-05-24T17:27:36Z")
The archive has it now. Here’s the “answer”: “The circa 1510 Hunt-Lenox globe bears the Latin inscription ‘hc svnt dracones’ which translates to this 3-word phrase.” I agree with PSXer. I see no reason why “Here are dragons” shouldn’t been accepted. It did not specify a common phrase or any other language that would indicate that only an idiomatically correct translation would be accepted. I’d ask the [official Jeopardy forums](http://boards.sonypictures.com/boards/forumdisplay.php?f=11) if you haven’t already. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hic-sunt-dracones-on-jeopardy-today-5-23/582959/14 "2011-05-24T17:51:40Z")
I also agree with the OP, and I hope that as someone with significant experience in translating 16th-century Latin documents into English, my words carry some weight. If “hic sunt” means “here are” in most contexts, there’s no reason it can’t and shouldn’t mean “here are” in this context. “Here be dragons” seems little more than a lame attempt at sounding Ye Olde Englishe, anyway. Most contemporary writers would have used “There are dragons here.” ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hic-sunt-dracones-on-jeopardy-today-5-23/582959/15 "2011-05-24T18:06:36Z")
In Double Jeopardy if you don’t phrase your answer in the form of a question, it is counted as incorrect. (They let you get away with it in the Jeopardy round.) So if he had phrased it as a question, the judges may have looked at his answer and decided it was acceptable. Occasionally they will change someone’s score (for better or worse) after a second look from the judges. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hic-sunt-dracones-on-jeopardy-today-5-23/582959/16 "2011-05-25T03:38:10Z")
I usually avoid the official Jeopardy forums most of the time, but when something interesting like this happens I go there to check out what people are saying. Something about the forum there just annoys me. They seem to take the game way too seriously (and I would like to think of myself as a dedicated fan of the game, but I got nothing on these guys). With this topic I was really more interested in Latin and English rather than the actual Jeopardy game. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hic-sunt-dracones-on-jeopardy-today-5-23/582959/17 "2011-05-25T13:54:05Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > I usually avoid the official Jeopardy forums most of the time, but when something interesting like this happens I go there to check out what people are saying. Something about the forum there just annoys me. They seem to take the game way too seriously (and I would like to think of myself as a dedicated fan of the game, but I got nothing on these guys). With this topic I was really more interested in Latin and English rather than the actual Jeopardy game. Well, from what little I read, it seems they suspect that “Here are dragons” would have been accepted by the judges (though not Alex) if in the form of a question, and in fact find it weird that no one else buzzed in and just said it in question form. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hic-sunt-dracones-on-jeopardy-today-5-23/582959/18 "2011-05-25T15:15:41Z")
Maybe none of the other contestants realized that Alex hadn’t accepted his response because of the phrasing, and thought “here are dragons” was what was being counted wrong.