# Latin translation appreciated! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-appreciated/551465 "2010-08-25T22:28:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Libre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85e7bf/32.png) [@Libre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Libre)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-appreciated/551465/1 "2010-08-25T22:28:09Z")
Is anyone able to translate these phrases into Latin? “Great light cannot exist without great darkness” and, similarly: “Great light does not exist without great darkness.” I’ve looked these up without success – any help would be appreciated. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Ionizer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5daacb/32.png) [@Ionizer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ionizer)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-appreciated/551465/2 "2010-08-25T23:13:46Z")
You try [here](http://www.translation-guide.com/free_online_translators.php?from=English&to=Latin)?I tried to copy/paste answers, but fonts in this reply got all screwy when I tried such (wtf??) Sorry, can’t get 'em all the same now ETA - seems the word “cannot” is not available in (true) Latin (???). Maybe a variant of it would be better? ---
**Author:** ![Libre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85e7bf/32.png) [@Libre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Libre)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-appreciated/551465/3 "2010-08-25T23:35:04Z")
“There is no great light without great darkness” would work too. Thanks for the link; I’ll check it when I get home - I’m on my iPhone right now 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-appreciated/551465/4 "2010-08-25T23:56:23Z")
Lux magna sine obscurum magnum non potest ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-appreciated/551465/5 "2010-08-26T00:07:22Z")
Correction on the above. _Sine_ takes the ablative. It should be: _Lux Magana sine obscuro magno non potest_ (Literally, “Great light is not able to exist without great darkness.”) ---
**Author:** ![Libre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85e7bf/32.png) [@Libre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Libre)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-appreciated/551465/6 "2010-08-26T00:58:11Z")
Gratias tibi ago Diogenes! ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-appreciated/551465/7 "2010-08-26T01:36:39Z")
Your welcome, but I still put a typo in there. There should only be one ‘a’ in “magna.” ---
**Author:** ![heavyarms553](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/779978/32.png) [@heavyarms553](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heavyarms553)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-appreciated/551465/8 "2010-08-26T02:36:52Z")
Someone is playing dnd, methinks. ---
**Author:** ![Libre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85e7bf/32.png) [@Libre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Libre)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-appreciated/551465/9 "2010-08-26T03:19:18Z")
Funny how, using the online translator and “magana” it produced: “Lux Small tents without darkness very not power.” ---
**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:** [August 26, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-appreciated/551465/10 "2010-08-26T03:20:08Z")
Do Not Disturb is a very fun game. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-appreciated/551465/11 "2010-08-26T14:32:48Z")
> [@Ionizer](#): > > You try [here](http://www.translation-guide.com/free_online_translators.php?from=English&to=Latin)?I tried to copy/paste answers, but fonts in this reply got all screwy when I tried such (wtf??) Sorry, can’t get 'em all the same now > > ETA - seems the word “cannot” is not available in (true) Latin (???). Maybe a variant of it would be better? This translator is terrible. It’s the same engine I ran across when looking for where the writers got the gibberish Latin used in the season finale of CSI: New York, as I complained about in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12771384&postcount=103). There is no reason to ever use an automatic translator to produce Latin, because the result is meaningless to you and it’s meaningless to anyone who knows Latin. You might just as well make shit up e.g.: “Demonus stayus in circlus…” There are lots of ways to say “cannot” in Latin. Even if this translator is only capable of suggesting one word for one other word, thus eliminating the way you’d normally express “cannot” (_nōn possum_), it should at least have turned up _nequeō_. At least for “up yours” it gives the merely puzzling “sursum vestri” (upward of you (pl)). It seems that somebody out there has actually paid money for a t-shirt that says: [I Mount Your Thing](http://shop.cafepress.com/tuum-ascendo).