By my basic research, “Oderint, dum amaverint.” should mean “Let them hate (now), so long as they love (now).”
Am I correct? Is it sensible Latin, and does it mean what I think it does?
(I’m trying to come up with a motto for Facebook.)
There are two potential problems here, and I don’t know how to solve them. Take the following with half a grain of salt.
*Oderint *is correct, but it is a “defective” verb, which only has a perfect stem. So using the preterite tense, as you have done, has a present sense.
Amō, on the other hand, has both present and perfect stems. Here I think you need the present to match the sense of oderint, not the perfect tense to match the form of oderint.
The other issue is using *dum *with the indicative or subjunctive. I think what you have would be translated “Let them hate, provided that they have loved.”
I think I would say something like Nunc [se] oderint, dum etiam amant, which I would render as “Let them hate [each other] right now, so long as they are also loving.”
Except that isn’t what I mean.
I mean “Let them hate me, as long as they love me.”, both present tense.
You ever see the “It’s Complicated” relationship? You ever see someone talk shit about someone they’d never seriously imagine leaving? That’s what I mean.
oderint dum ament sounds good
it follows the example of this phrase