posted
I've got kind of an odd request. I've been asked to translate a phrase into Classical Latin that involves concepts that didn't exist in the Roman world.
The phrase is "Every Airman, Every Aircraft". Any suggestions? Although I took a semester or two of Latin, it's never been a language with which I had any real proficiency. Despite that, as my office's official "liberal arts type guy", I've been tasked with this.
posted
Pelegius' help would certainly be welcome, but he's not the only person here who can read and write Latin.
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posted
I speak absotutely no Latin, but would it be possible to create compound words? Presumably the Roman world had words for air, man, and craft. Or does Latin not do that sort of thing?
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posted
My initial thought was to translate "airman" as "pilot", but I was told that the term was too specific; airman, in this case, refers to anyone who supports the people actually flying the planes, including mechanics, ground crews, and so forth.
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quote: I speak absotutely no Latin, but would it be possible to create compound words? Presumably the Roman world had words for air, man, and craft. Or does Latin not do that sort of thing?
Latin doesn't really do that, although there may be a few examples (that I can't think of now.) In any case, I tried that and none of the things I came up with really made any sense.
Noemon, could you give me a little more context as to what the phrase is about/refers to/stands for? It might help.
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posted
It would be a motto for a team of people who provide support for airplanes. It'll eventually find its way onto a badge of some sort, I think. What they're trying to convey is that the work done by the organization effects everybody involved in the larger enterprise, and every plane.
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In a rather stilted manner: Omnia Homones Æris, Omnia Naviculæ Æris. All Men of Air, All Ships of Air. Which actualys sounds better than I thought it would.
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quote:Originally posted by Noemon: I've got kind of an odd request. I've been asked to translate a phrase into Classical Latin that involves concepts that didn't exist in the Roman world.
The phrase is "Every Airman, Every Aircraft". Any suggestions? Although I took a semester or two of Latin, it's never been a language with which I had any real proficiency. Despite that, as my office's official "liberal arts type guy", I've been tasked with this.
posted
A friend of mine emailed me this suggestion, but warns me that he's only worked his way through the first chapter of Wheelock, which might fall a little short of making him an expert:
Omnis aeristor; Omnis aernavis
I like the coinage of "aeristor". The rationale behind it is that the Romans often had "trade names"--"eques" for "horesman", "vintor" for someone who works with grapes, that sort of thing. It made sense to my friend that there would be a coinage for "airman", were the profession to have existed during the days of the Republic or Empire.
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posted
My digital dictionary turns up no matches for "airman," but gives me: gubernius, helmsman, pilot, one who directs/controls (less specific) gubernator, helmsman, pilot, one who directs/controls (more specific) aeroplaniga, aviator, aircraft pilot
Nothing came up for either "airplane" or "aeroplane." Wikipedia came to my rescue with aeroplanum.
I'm still rather stumped on "airman." None of the options I found quite catch the meaning (though I'm leaning towards aeroplaniga. Despite myself, I'm tempted by aeristor - I know it's not a "real" word, but there's a grand tradition of making up words in neo-Latin.
I need a bit more context on "every." Is it in the sense of "each," or in the sense of "all"?
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Aviator is pretty close, but I like aeristor. aeroplanum isn't a "real" word either, right? I think it's a sense of all tinged with each, from what I'm reading.
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Why does it have to be in Latin? I mean, will this group or whatever feel more special if their motto is in Latin? Will they feel smarter? Do they think it'll make the motto more official?
I mean, I've just never really understood why the mottos of anything tend to be in Latin (unless they are phrases that were originally produced in Latin [such as veni, vidi, vici]).
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posted
I gave this a stab over on GC, but the translation of "every" was giving me heck, as well as the clause structure. I'd give "aeristor" a thumbs up, though.
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That's my best suggestion, having mulled it over for a few days. I figured I'd follow the Latin pattern, and cast aeristor in the masculine. In the end, I went with aeristor over aeroplaniga because the latter seemed too specific for the context. The ligature Pelegius used isn't necessary, being more of a palaeographical feature than a grammatical one.
Best of luck with it all, Noemon.
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Can you explain aeroplanum's derivation? I didn't have more than an online translation dictionary, but I never came close to anything like "planum" for various words I tried to translate from English into Latin.
Thanks!
(and, really aero is obvious, so just what planum means...)
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posted
I think it's mostly a Latinisation of "plane." Planum is an adjective most commonly translated as "level, flat." I couldn't find anything using "craft" that fit the sense of it.
Which online dictionary were you using, out of curiosity?
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