Help with translating a line from Hellraiser IV - Bloodline

[jeremybbbbbbb]

Alright, thanks everyone.

I actually tracked down the script to try and find the origin of why these words were chosen and it reads:

LATIN WORDS ARE SPOKEN

So apparently even the writers didn't care what was said, as long as it sounded cool.

 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

I wish I could remember what the stage work was that I saw reviewed many years ago – it could have been an avant-garde production of a classical or modern play, or an original composition. In any case it was set in ancient Greece, so someone decided it that having a Greek word shouted at the climactic murder would lend an air of authenticity. The word chosen was καί.

 

[Laurentius]

I wish I could remember what the stage work was that I saw reviewed many years ago – it could have been an avant-garde production of a classical or modern play, or an original composition. In any case it was set in ancient Greece, so someone decided it that having a Greek word shouted at the climactic murder would lend an air of authenticity. The word chosen was καί.

Maybe they meant 'kay.

 

[Callaina]

LATIN WORDS ARE SPOKEN

Apparently Latin, any Latin at all, has the power to raise the dead!

 

[Araneus]

I wonder it doesn't say "cool latin words are spoken". That's usually what they aim for isn't it?

 

[Callaina]

One can't help comparing this to, say, the speech that Marlowe gives Faust when he summons Mephistopheles in Doctor Faustus:

Sint mihi Dei Acherontis propitii! Valeat numen triplex Jehovae! Ignei, aerii, aquatani spiritus, salvete! Orientis princeps Belzebub, inferni ardentis monarcha, et Demogorgon, propitiamus vos, ut appareat et surgat Mephistophilis. Quid tu moraris? per Jehovam, Gehennam et consecratum aquam quam nunc spargo, signumque crucis quod nunc facio, et per vota nostra, ipse nunc surgat nobis dicatus Mephistophilis!

I do realize that rather more people were fluent in Latin at that time, so "Spectare navicula suavis" wouldn't have cut it; but still, I can't help but think that Marlowe, were he alive now, would be tearing out his hair. Sic transit gloria mundi.

 

[Callaina]

Though, glancing at the speech from Doctor Faustus again, I have to wonder why exactly Faust is scattering holy water and making the sign of the cross if he wants to summon a demon. Seems counterproductive.

 

[Pacifica]

Though, glancing at the speech from Doctor Faustus again, I have to wonder why exactly Faust is scattering holy water and making the sign of the cross if he wants to summon a demon. Seems counterproductive.

Indeed, I don't get it.

 

[Araneus]

... per Jehovam, Gehennam... Quite a mix. But the holy water and the cross are probably protective measures that help confine and control the demon that is summoned.

 

[Callaina]

... per Jehovam, Gehennam... Quite a mix. But the holy water and the cross are probably protective measures that help confine and control the demon that is summoned.

But he says per...consecratum aquam quam nunc spargo, signumque crucis quod nunc facio...ipse nunc surgat nobis dicatus Mephistophilis. So he seems to be commanding the demon to appear through these measures, which doesn't make much sense.

 

[Araneus]

Well, back in the day it was (sometimes at least) thought that learned christians could summon demons and even the Devil to do their bidding. Using them that way was not the same as worshipping them. I don't know much about the Faust legend, but a famous Norwegian priest and poet called Petter Dass was, according to legend a "black priest" who summoned the Devil to get help in various issues. He made bargains with the Devil, but always came well out of it because he managed to trick him each time. He was no less of a holy and pious man for this.

 

[Callaina]

Well, a bit later in the scene there is this:

Meph. I am a servant to great Lucifer,
And may not follow thee without his leave
No more than he commands must we perform.
Faust. Did not he charge thee to appear to me?
Meph. No, I came hither of mine own accord.
Faust. Did not my conjuring speeches raise thee? Speak.
Meph. That was the cause, but yet per accidens;
For when we hear one rack the name of God,
Abjure the Scriptures and his Saviour Christ,
We fly in hope to get his glorious soul;
Nor will we come, unless he use such means
Whereby he is in danger to be damn’d:
Therefore the shortest cut for conjuring
Is stoutly to abjure the Trinity,
And pray devoutly to the Prince of Hell.

So maybe the holy water and the sign of the cross (not to mention "Valeat numen triplex Jehovae!", LOL) actually were counterproductive, but because he wanted to get Faust's soul, Mephistophilis was determined to appear and so had to work very hard to counteract them.

 

[Callaina]

Well, a bit later in the scene there is this:

Meph. I am a servant to great Lucifer,
And may not follow thee without his leave
No more than he commands must we perform.
Faust. Did not he charge thee to appear to me?
Meph. No, I came hither of mine own accord.
Faust. Did not my conjuring speeches raise thee? Speak.
Meph. That was the cause, but yet per accidens;
For when we hear one rack the name of God,
Abjure the Scriptures and his Saviour Christ,
We fly in hope to get his glorious soul;
Nor will we come, unless he use such means
Whereby he is in danger to be damn’d:
Therefore the shortest cut for conjuring
Is stoutly to abjure the Trinity,
And pray devoutly to the Prince of Hell.

So maybe the holy water and the sign of the cross (not to mention "Valeat numen triplex Jehovae!", LOL) actually were counterproductive, but because he wanted to get Faust's soul, Mephistophilis was determined to appear and so had to work very hard to counteract them.

Heck, given what Mephistophilis says here, Faust probably could've chanted "Spectare navicula suavis!" and Mephistophilis still would've appeared

 

[Araneus]

OK, then I guess Faust had a bit of a confused notion about the whole conjuring thing. Perhaps the whole thing, from Marlowe's side, was intended as a warning against hermetic magic, which was in vogue in those days.

 

[Araneus]

Heck, given what Mephistophilis says here, Faust probably could've chanted "Spectare navicula suavis!" and Mephistophilis still would've appeared

Faust: Spectare navicula suavis... Spectare hordeum suavis...
Meph: [Rising from the underworld] Correct thy grammar knave!
Faust: What now? Where be my sweete ship? My lush barley?

 

[Callaina]

 

[erol]

Spectare naviculum suavis

Behold the boat shaped Delight, or watch the nice boat(shape).
The box, if it is touched, becomes shaped like a boat (like the leviatan from the movie).
It is mostly about the shape, something like this: <> (a boat)
There is also a bone in your foot, called navicula. I'm pretty sure it's about shape there too.
And the leviathan (supreme devil) is shaped like that.
Barley (hordeum) has the same shape and can also be explained as a seed, which they just sowed.

Otherwise it's gibberish like others have already said.

 

[Araneus]

Well, I don't know. It's still ungrammatical and weird. Is that your interpretation, or did you find that explanation somewhere?