Always on my mind, my hero

Quubra

New Member

Hi:)
I was wondering how you translate : ''Always on my mind, my hero '' to Latin. I've looked it up in other discussions and I found :'' semper in animo meo/mente mea '' for the first part, and :''heros meus'' for the second part. I'm not pretty sure if you can combine those two the way they are written above to complete the sentence. I used to have Latin classes years ago, and that's how I know heros meus is nominativus(I think). So I was wondering if the heros meus has to be written in a different form, to translate it correctly. Also how do you say my lovely hero ( in the same sentence)? And :'' I will never forget you'' ?

I hope someone can help me out with this. I'm sorry for my bad english. It's not my first language. :D
 

Pacifica

grammaticissima

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If you mean "always on my mind (is) my hero", heros meus is ok. But if you're directly calling the person by the name "my hero", then you need the vocative, mi heros. I don't find it quite clear which one you mean, so... For "lovely", a possibility is to add amabilis at the end.

"I will never forget you" = tui numquam obliviscar.
 

Abbatiſſæ Scriptor

Senex

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But if you're directly calling the person by the name "my hero", then you need the vocative, mi heros.
While 'mi' is certainly well atteſted and recogniſed as a vocative form, and perhaps the beſt form when the vocative caſe is to be clearly distinguiſhed, 'meus' is alſo commonly uſed for the vocative caſe as well as the nominative, eſpecially in later Latin. It might be better to complete the ſentence with either 'es' or 'eſt' to diſtinguiſh a direct addreſs to one's hero from a ſtatement about him.
 

Imber Ranae

Ranunculus Iracundus

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Location:
Grand Rapids, Michigan
I wouldn't say vocative meus is at all common in classical Latin, Scriptor. In ecclesiastical Latin it's principally used with vocative Deus, and rarely elsewhere.
 

Quubra

New Member

@ Pacis Puella .

It was the second option you said, calling the person by the name : my hero. So the whole thing would be : semper in mente mea/animo meo, mi heros amabilis? And what if you say : '' you're Always on my mind''. ? How do you translate the '' you are'' part?

Thanks for all the quick responses, it's a really big help for me!
 

Abbatiſſæ Scriptor

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Latin always makes a clear diſtinction between 'you' and 'thou', ſo if 'you are' were intended to be ſingular it would be 'tu es', but if actually plural, it would be 'vos eſtis'. Whether ſingular or plural, though, it would be normal to omit either the pronoun or the verb, and not uſe both unleſs some ſpecial emphaſis were intended.
 

Michael Moravicus

Member

Location:
Prague
I agree the correct vocative is "mi".
E.g. Seneca begins his famous letter with: "Ita fac, mi Lucili".

But the sentence "Always on my mind" is like some strange stub, I recommend replacing it with something making full sense, as Puella pacis says: "I will never forget you".

Numquam tui obliviscar, mi heros.

By the way, is "heros" the right Greek vocative, as the word is Greek?

But since the phrase "numquam tui obliviscar" appears just in the new tatoo-translations on the internet, I would be interested in how Romans said this. I think they would express it differently.
 

Pacifica

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Location:
Belgium
It's still heros in the vocative
Really? I didn't realize yesterday when I posted but later I wondered if it shouldn't be hero as it's borrowed from greek?
Latin always makes a clear diſtinction between 'you' and 'thou', ſo if 'you are' were intended to be ſingular it would be 'tu es', but if actually plural, it would be 'vos eſtis'.
Well here it's easy to know without even asking the OP because "my hero" in singular shows that "you are" is singular.
 

Michael Moravicus

Member

Location:
Prague
Infacundus: I know it is used with people. I just can't imagine anyone in Roman literature saying "I'll never forget you". Or even today I cannot imagine it in real life. Seems too much like Hollywood-style. But that's a different question, she wanted a translation so here it is.
 

Pacifica

grammaticissima

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Location:
Belgium
Well I don't know that kind of declension yet, but as it seems that you often have to remove the sigma from the nominative to get the vocative, like aeneas ---> aenea; πολις ---> πολι; βασιλευς ---> βασιλευ...

The voc. doesn't change then?
 

Aurifex

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Well I don't know that kind of declension yet, but as it seems that you often have to remove the sigma from the nominative to get the vocative, like aneas ---> aenea; πολις ---> πολι; βασιλευς ---> βασιλευ...
I follow your reasoning. Actually there's quite a bit of variety in Greek vocatives, all told; considerably more than in Latin, at any rate.
ἥρως is part of a small group of third declension nouns ending -ως, -ω, and -ας. Almost all the nouns in this group have vocatives identical with the nominative.
 

Pacifica

grammaticissima

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Location:
Belgium
Ok.

So, "my lovely hero" = mi heros amabilis.

But since the phrase "numquam tui obliviscar" appears just in the new tatoo-translations on the internet, I would be interested in how Romans said this. I think they would express it differently.
Infacundus: I know it is used with people. I just can't imagine anyone in Roman literature saying "I'll never forget you".
At first sight it seems to me like such a basic and simple human sentiment that I don't see why it wouldn't have made sense to a Roman or why he couldn't have said it.
 

Aurifex

Aedilis

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Location:
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I know it is used with people. I just can't imagine anyone in Roman literature saying "I'll never forget you".
If Accius (born 170 B.C.) can write, in one of his plays (Nyctegresia, frag. 488), "An ego Ulixen obliviscar umquam aut quemquam praeponi velim?", is it still impossible to imagine anyone in Roman literature saying numquam obliviscar tui?
Or even today I cannot imagine it in real life.
If you really mean that, I for my part can't imagine how you can't imagine it.
 

Michael Moravicus

Member

Location:
Prague
Yes, guys, but these are 2 different things:

1) Let's say, a girl says to her maid, "I will never forget him". That is OK .

2) A girls says to a boy: "I will never forget you." - And that, to me, is Hollywood-style rubbish.
 
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