Would you please help me with the translation of the phrase,
“BY CONSTANT WORK”
in both:
- LATIN
- CLASSICAL GREEK
Thanks!
NobleBaron
For Latin, this could be Labore perpetua, and balative construction.
That was quick, Schnitte!
Would you please clarify “balative contstuction?” I’m kind of new to this.
Thank you.
Ablative, that is. Latin is a language that declines nouns, that means the nouns can come in different cases.
Latin possesses five cases (plus a sixth one, vocative, which isn’t very importat since it’s nearly always identical to the nominative). To illustrate this, let’s use the word amicus (“friend”) and decline it properly. The cases are:
[ul]
[li]The nominative, usually marking the subject of a sentence. The nominative of amicus is exactly that, amicus, and that’s how the word appears when the friend is doing something, so to speak.[/li][li]The genitive, signifying the possessor of something, such as appending an 's to a word in English. Liber amici would be “the friend’s book.”[/li][li]The dative, which usually marks the indirect object of a sentence. In the sentence “I give a book to a friend,” friend appears as indirect object, being amico.[/li][li]The accusative, marking the direct object of the verb. For amicus, it’d be amicum, for liber (“book”) librum, so we can use accusative and dative in one sentence like “I give the book to a friend,” which would be do librum amico in Latin.[/li][li]The ablative, which is probably the most versatile case as it serves many purposes. One is to indicate the instrument of an action; the ablative of amicus would be amico; labore perpetua is the ablative of labor perpetua, meaning constant work.[/li][/ul]
All these declensions exist in the plural form as well. In the order nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and ablative the plural forms of amicus are
amici, amicorum, amicis, amicos, amicis.
That was very comprehensive - thank you. Now I only hope I can retain even part of your explanation 
Tell me, if you will, please, what is the difference between:
“labor perpetua”; and
“laborare perpetuus”
Humbly,
NobleBaron
Also, is the “By” part excluded, or how is this written?
I see you’re from Germany. Are you translating English (a second language?) into Latin (a third?)
That’s pretty cool…
-NB
Laborare is the verb, “to work.”
If you want to combine perpetuus with it, it ought to be the abverb, which I think would be perpetue, but I’m not sure on this.
The “by” is not necessary in Latin, because the usage of the ablative case indicates that the work is the instrument used to achieve something. Or, to put it the other way round, English needs to say “by” because it doesn’t have an ablative.
That’s also the reason why you can put words in pretty much any order you want in a Latin sentence - the declensions indicate the relations between the nouns, unlike in English, where you have to use word order to get the message over.
I learned Latin at school, throughout the whole nine years between elementary and university (on a type of school that’s called Gymnasium in German, but it doesn’t have anything to do with sports). Actually I liked Latin a lot - after three years or so, you’ve finished learning and keep on simply translating from Latin into German. It was a smooth way to get good grades without much work, which is why I recommend taking Latin to every Gymnasium kid.
But keep in mind Latin is a language you practically don’t “speak” - it’s soleely translating written texts; it’s hard to imagine a Latin conversation.
I see, context is the key. I’m very thankful for your insights… and it’s a pleasure to meet you.
NobleBaron.
Labor is a masculine noun, so it scould be labore perpetuo
Thanks for correcting me on that, Sofis.
Thank you, too, Sofis, for further clarifying this.
I do have one final question related to this translation:
“Adnihilo Labore Perpetuo”
Would this be correctly translated as:
“To destroy (annihilate, bring to nothing, etc.) by constant work”
Thanks again in advance.
-N.B.
No, “adnihilo” is the first person singular, present tense indicative active voice (that is, “I destroy”). “To destroy” would be “adnihilare”.
Thank you again.
Allright, so finally, we have it.
“ADNIHILARE LABORE PERPETUO” is “TO DESTROY BY CONSTANT WORK”
N.B.