# Latin translation help **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 23, 2006, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/377627 "2006-10-23T22:09:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/377627/1 "2006-10-23T22:09:12Z")
Hey there Latin dopers, I’d like to translate the phrase “unknown matter” in to Latin. Ideally, this would be a parallel construction to the phrase “Terra Incognita” meaning “unknown land”. Two questions: First, the online Latin dictionaries I’ve read seem to indicate that “corpus” is the best translation for “matter” in this sense; is this correct? Second, I know that Latin has all sorts of genders and cases to deal with, which I’m unfamiliar with. I assume that “Corpus Incognitus” is probably incorrect, but what would the proper phrase be? Many thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/377627/2 "2006-10-23T22:15:21Z")
“Materia” is cognate with, and means, “material” or “matter” in English – so “materia incognita”. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/377627/3 "2006-10-23T22:15:56Z")
I should add that I mean “matter” in the sense of “objects” or “that which takes up space”, as in “gray matter”. ---
**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:** [October 23, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/377627/4 "2006-10-23T22:22:09Z")
[QUOTE=MikeS] Hey there Latin dopers, I’d like to translate the phrase “unknown matter” in to Latin. Ideally, this would be a parallel construction to the phrase “Terra Incognita” meaning “unknown land”. Two questions: First, the online Latin dictionaries I’ve read seem to indicate that “corpus” is the best translation for “matter” in this sense; is this correct? Second, I know that Latin has all sorts of genders and cases to deal with, which I’m unfamiliar with. I assume that “Corpus Incognitus” is probably incorrect, but what would the proper phrase be? Many thanks! [/QUOTE] I think the easiest translation would be _res incognita_, literally ‘unknown thing’ (that’s in the nominative case). ‘Corpus’ works here, for a physical substance, but it’s a stealthy neuter noun, so it would be ‘corpus incognitum’. This is for the nominative and accusative singular (roughly, the subject or direct object in a sentence). If it is a more abstract kind of matter, _materia_ or _materies incognita_ would also work. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/377627/5 "2006-10-23T22:23:51Z")
[QUOTE=DaphneBlack] I think the easiest translation would be _res incognita_, literally ‘unknown thing’ (that’s in the nominative case). [/QUOTE] I’d go with \*res incognita \* too. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/377627/6 "2006-10-23T23:42:39Z")
Another vote for _res_. That word works for everything. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/377627/7 "2006-10-24T04:23:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Second, I know that Latin has all sorts of genders and cases to deal with, which I’m unfamiliar with. I assume that “Corpus Incognitus” is probably incorrect, but what would the proper phrase be? What case you use depends on what the phrase is doing in a sentence. If it’s the thing that’s performing the action represented by the verb (the subject of the sentence), then it goes in the nominative case, which is the most familiar one. If it’s being acted upon (the object of the sentence), it’d be in the accusative case. Those two are the most common, but there are others for other sentence roles. ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/377627/8 "2006-12-05T04:13:15Z")
This is a high jack but I didn’t want to open a new thread for a small question. Can anyone here give me a good translation for “Honored Dead”. The online dictionary says Honestus Exanimalis. Would this be accurate for a list of those fallen friends I’d like to commemorate? Thanks for any help you may be able to give ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/377627/9 "2006-12-05T05:59:27Z")
A literal translation: mortui honorati (for a group of males or a mixed group of males and females) or mortuae honoratae (for a group of females). ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/377627/10 "2006-12-05T15:04:28Z")
[QUOTE=Helen’s Eidolon] Another vote for _res_. That word works for everything. [/QUOTE] Spoken like a true philologist. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latin-translation-help/377627/11 "2006-12-05T16:02:42Z")
[QUOTE=Cunctator] A literal translation: **mortui honorati** (for a group of males or a mixed group of males and females) or mortuae honoratae (for a group of females). [/QUOTE] This is perfect! Thank you very much.