Generic Phrases
Translate Latin phrases "pastor quùm traheret", "canimus surdis", "mala ducis avi domum", "mollianhelitu" ?
Can someone translate it from latin to english? It's in the book "The count of Monte Cristo".
Public Comments
- 1 - Not quite sure what quum means. I think it might be a medievalism, which is of course the bane of all classicists. My guess would be that it's a late form of "c-u-m" (sorry, the program won't let me type the letters together 'cause in English it's obscenity, I guess; the earlier form of this not-to-be-typed word was quom) and say that it means " when (or although) the shepherd was dragging..." I'd need context to determine more. 2 - Easier. "We're singing to the deaf" 3 - "You're leading evil (lit. bad things) to the house of your grandfather/ancestor" 4 - literally, "with gentle panting" (it was originally two words, molli anhelitu). Could refer to the breathing that results from activity that's physically taxing, but not exhausting (so as to cause one to have real difficulty breathing). Hope that helps. *z - good call on the Horace. The only thing of his I've read in Latin are the Satires (and the Roman Odes, but that was a while ago), so I didn't recognize the phrases.
- These are snippets from odes of Horace. The few words provided don't really give a sense of the passages. So, the first, "pastor quum traheret", means "when the shepherd was dragging..." and refers to an ode where Helen of Troy is being dragged off. Canimus surdis means "we sing to the deaf" (and is usually preceded by non in Latin--i.e. we do not sing to the deaf is a proverb.) Mala ducis avi domum: "You lead wickedness to the home of your forefather." Mala here might also refer to time. Molli anhelitu: "softly gasping" and refers to a fleeing stag. Apologies to any classicists who would know these texts far better than I.
