I’m considering a tattoo, and would obviously want to get it right. So - are felicitas, fecunditus and longaevitas all correctly spelled and in the same form? Like they would be in an old-school family motto? They’re all listed in ODE in those forms as origins to the English words, but I’m curious about the difference between -us and -as.
Also, would it be terribly anachronistic to spell it as FELICITAS FECVNDITVS LONGÆVITAS? (V for U and Æ for AE, at the same time). I’m supposing perhaps medieval times were the heydays of family mottos, so medieval spelling would probably be good.
In case anyone has any good ideas, I’m also wondering what sort of animal (or animal skull, it’s going to be a tattoo, after all) I should put above it - I’d like something with wings, but probably more majestic than Darwin’s finch. Ideas are welcome.
Finally, it would be wonderfully self-referential if this meme were to catch on, so you’re all welcome to steal my splendid idea
Well, first of all, there’s the standard admonition about getting tattooed in a language you don’t understand.
The -tas endings are basically like the english -ity or -dom. A free man has freedom. A vir līber has lībertās. The -us generally indicates the masculine singular form of a noun or adjective except with plenty of exceptions. If you want to represent the abstract quality of fruitfulness, the word you want is fēcunditās. Whitaker’s Words resolves fecunditus as an adverb, i.e., fruitfully, but I suspect that’s not what you’re looking for. Longaevitās is longevity, and I assume that’s what you wanted.
The choice between the V and U depends on style. It’s really all the same in Latin, except to clarify whether you’re using the letter as a vowel or consonant. But if you’re trying to make it look like it was carved in stone, then capital V would be the look you’re going for. The straight lines and angles are easier to carve.
Ligatures like æ are for handwriting and print. It would not be the style of things in something meant to look like an inscription in stone. It would fit if it were meant to look like it was written on paper as in an old book or across an unfurled scroll.
In either case, you’d leave off the macrons. I write them because I’m in favor of maintaining them in written communication for the same reason we maintain spelling in English, but decorative mottos is a different medium of expression.
As for an appropriate animal, wyverns used to be common symbols in heraldry, and here you can find an artist’s conception of what a wyvern skeleton might look like.
I’m already planning a Latin tattoo, but it’s a simple one: stet, a proofreader’s mark literally translated as “let it stand” and signifying “Leave this unchanged; it’s not a mistake, it’s the way it should be.”