I’m putting together an art project in which I translate the Montreal metro map into numerous different languages and graphic styles, one of which is to be a Renaissance mappa mundi with all the labels in Latin.
To that end, I’ve made a list of the phrases I’d like to include. Naturally, the proper names are translated rather fancifully, but I’d like to make sure they’re grammatically consistent as to case, etc.
Would one of you be good enough to go here and let me know of any corrections that have to be made?
My dictionary shows iter as neuter, but you seem to have it paired with masculine adjectives and pronouns.
> Statio Cutis
Skin Station?
> Insulae Jesus pars
Okay, I assume that Jesus is 4th declension (I’m a heathen, what can I tell you?). Is there a place called Part of the Island of Jesus?
> Hic sunt tavernae cinaedorum
Does the official map point out gay bars?
Otherwise, it looks fine except that none of the place names are familiar to me in English.
Having looked it up, I find the genitive is Iesu. Thanks.
Yep, it’s Île Jésus. (These old maps usually said “Americae pars,” “Africae pars” or whatever instead of just America or Africa when just a part of the landmass was shown.)
I don’t know anything about Latin grammar, but I read your station names to see how you’d translated them. You got a few laughs and a few groans from me. I do have a few questions. You have a “Statio Sancti Bonaventurae” on the map, but apparently the name of the station is simply Bonaventure, not Saint-Bonaventure. Is that a willful choice on your part? Also, you translate Place-d’Armes with Principiae. What’s the reasoning here?
I don’t think this works. Sir Robert Peel was not named for his skin, but for his father, and the ultimate origins of the name are still not epidermal in any way. Statio Peelis or Statio Roberti Peelis, I’d say (or maybe Peeli). Or Pilis or Pili, depending on how you want to Latinize the name.
ETA: The Latin Wikipedia has Robertus Peel. No hint of a declensional class for the surname. I’d pick third, masc. or neuter, by analogy with other nouns in -L in the nominative.
According to my dictionary, principia is actually a neuter plural, so it probably should be Statio Principiorum. I’m not a Latin expert by any means though…
That’s what the smiley was for Likewise, avenue Atwater isn’t actually the street that goes to the water; it’s named after a dude called Edwin Atwater. But Statio Atwaterii* = dorky; Statio ad Aquam = cool.
Interesting, thanks!
(*It seems that in biology, non-Latin family names (of men) are most frequently made into second-declension nouns by adding -ius, making -ii in the genitive; e.g. Gavia adamsii and so forth.)
I do have a few questions. You have a “Statio Sancti Bonaventurae” on the map, but apparently the name of the station is simply Bonaventure, not Saint-Bonaventure. Is that a willful choice on your part? Also, you translate Place-d’Armes with Principiae. What’s the reasoning here?