Latinitas non canina?

[DPRK]

So, Harry Potter has “Petrificus Totalus” and ilk (according to Tv Tropes, this is popular for exotic-sounding magical or scientific terminology). From the Warhammer thread there are “Adepti Astartes”, one Liber Medicinalis has “abracadabra”, and so on. But the question is, are there any such books where the Latin/Greek/Sanskrit/Irish/Chinese/Hebrew/… spells, names, mottoes, etc. all make perfect sense and are grammatically correct? As a marginal case, we can include cases like Tolkien’s where a language is made up enough to be consistent.

[markn_1]

The Latin bits in The Aeneid are pretty accurate.

Sorry, I’ll see myself out.

[Chronos]

Life of Brian?

[Ulfreida]

@Chronos

Life of Brian?

I watched Life of Brian with a group of young Latin teachers. They thought it was very funny.

[Andy_L]

@Chronos

Life of Brian?

Exactly - some of the Pythons were classically educated, and would naturally get the Latin right (Latin awareness was, in my impression, far more extensive in Britain in the 20th century than in the United States, anyway, which is why even children’s games could include Latin puns in the title in Britain, but not the States*)

• What we call “Clue” in the States was “Cluedo” in Britain - because “ludo” is Latin for “I play” (so “Cluedo” is a “I play at clues”, or “a game of clues”)

[Peter_Morris]

I understand that the Latin in the Discworld books is accurate. (They call it Latatian on the Disc. )

https://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Latatian_Phrases

[Ludovic]

@Andy_L

Exactly - some of the Pythons were classically educated, and would naturally get the Latin right (Latin awareness was, in my impression, far more extensive in Britain in the 20th century than in the United States, anyway, which is why even children’s games could include Latin puns in the title in Britain, but not the States*)

• What we call “Clue” in the States was “Cluedo” in Britain - because “ludo” is Latin for “I play” (so “Cluedo” is a “I play at clues”, or “a game of clues”)

That might be somewhat true, but there is also a game called Ludo which is called Parcheesi in America, so you didn’t actually have to know Latin in Britain to get the pun, whereas the pun wouldn’t have the same weight with most Americans whether or not they knew Latin.

[Peter_Morris]

@Andy_L

• What we call “Clue” in the States was “Cluedo” in Britain - because “ludo” is Latin for “I play” (so “Cluedo” is a “I play at clues”, or “a game of clues”)

Not quite. Ludo is a board game played in UK, the same game is called Parcheesiin USA. The name comes from the Latin for* I play*. And Cluedo is a pun, a portmanteau of clue and Ludo. You don’t have to know the Latin origin of Ludo to spot the pun.

Edit - what Ludovic said. (Hmmm, Ludo + Vic … Is he Reverend Green?)

[Andy_L]

@Ludovic

That might be somewhat true, but there is also a game called Ludo which is called Parcheesi in America, so you didn’t actually have to know Latin in Britain to get the pun, whereas the pun wouldn’t have the same weight with most Americans whether or not they knew Latin.

Ah, I see. Thanks (and thanks to Peter Morris too).

[Ludovic]

@Peter_Morris

Edit - what Ludovic said. (Hmmm, Ludo + Vic … Is he Reverend Green?)

Heh, I didn’t even know the game existed when I made my user name. I found out in the mid 2000s when someone from another online community gave me a travel version titled “Ludo in a Tin” so we could make “Prince Albert in a Can” jokes about it.