Tattoo Battle Scars

LindaHatch

New Member

Hello,

I would like a few phrases translated into Latin. A friend of mine is trying to create a slogan/personal motto and I said that I would help out.

The phrases are:

"Battle Scars"
"Moments of Character"
"Tempered through Fire"
"Scarred but undefeated"
"Ultimate Perseverance"

I think this may end up becoming a tattoo. Many thanks!
 

EstQuodFulmineIungo

Civis Illustris

  • Civis Illustris

Hi
pugnae cicatrices - battle scars
igne induratus or flammis induratus - Tempered through fire
suprema perseverantia or postrema perseverantia or novissima perseverantia or extrema perseverantia- Ultimate perseverance
cicatricibus compunctus sed invictus - Scarred but undefeated

I don't actually grasp the idea of "Moments of Character", could you explain a little more?
 

LindaHatch

New Member

Sure!

Moments of Character...frankly I'm stumped by that one too. My friend is a photographer so he likes to say that when he takes someone's portrait he's looking for a moment that demonstrates their character. Whatever that means.

Your guess is as good as mine.
 
 

Matthaeus

Vemortuicida strenuus

  • Civis Illustris

  • Patronus

Location:
Varsovia
Yeah, this is ambiguous and vague as hell. Guess we'd have to reword it somehow first...not really sure myself, as some kind of circumlocution is no doubt called for here... :think:

@Glabrigausapes adiuvabisne nos sodalis?
 

Pacifica

grammaticissima

  • Aedilis

Location:
Belgium
pugnae cicatrices - battle scars
Note that that refers to scars from one battle. If the scars are from several battles, pugnae should be changed to pugnarum.
suprema perseverantia or postrema perseverantia or novissima perseverantia or extrema perseverantia- Ultimate perseverance
I don't think any of those quite work. They all sound more like "the last perseverance". Maybe summa perseverantia would come closer, though I wouldn't say it's an exact equivalent either.
Frankly, I don't know how to translate "Moments of Character". I mean, a literal translation here wouldn't do. I hope more capable members such as @Pacifica or @Matthaeus or other I forgot to mention can help us here.
Well, I'm not sure, but based on the explanation in post #3 I might perhaps hazard a kind of literal momenta indolis...? That may be a little weird and vague, but on the other hand if we start explicitating it as "moment in which a person's character appears" or so, we'll end up with something quite long.
 

EstQuodFulmineIungo

Civis Illustris

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I don't think any of those quite work. They all sound more like "the last perseverance". Maybe summa perseverantia would come closer, though I wouldn't say it's an exact equivalent either.
Ok, thank you. I take note. "Summus" is better indeed, but very similar in meaning to "supremus". I looked up the word "ultimate" in the C.E.D.: and it has a wide range of meanings I just picked one (last in a series, most important, highest, last or final, ...).
 

Glabrigausapes

Philistine

  • Civis Illustris

Location:
Milwaukee
@Glabrigausapes adiuvabisne nos sodalis?
:no-clue:

I was thinking the Latin equivalent of 'telling', like 'a telling name' (I nome parlante), one that indicates its 'nature/character' by its sound/appearance. But I don't know if such an equivalence exists.
 

Glabrigausapes

Philistine

  • Civis Illustris

Location:
Milwaukee
Momenta Loquentia? Momenta Quae Loquuntur? Momenta Quae Patefaciunt?
 

EstQuodFulmineIungo

Civis Illustris

  • Civis Illustris

If I had to try on Glabrigausapes's line of thought, I would say

momentum manifestans

Although, my favourite is "momenta quae patefaciunt"
 

Pacifica

grammaticissima

  • Aedilis

Location:
Belgium
That all sounds a bit odd. Not that my own suggestion doesn't, I guess.
 
 

Matthaeus

Vemortuicida strenuus

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Location:
Varsovia
That all sounds a bit odd. Not that my own suggestion doesn't, I guess.
that's because the original doesn't make a whole lot of sense in the first place... :|
 

Michael Zwingli

Civis Illustris

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"Moments of Character"
Very difficult! "Moments when the true person can be seen"?
a moment that demonstrates their character.
I am thinking, then, that "glimpses of character", or "glimpses of the true person" is more like it? I know what is meant, but it is even hard to convey in English! Still very hard to translate...
Note that that refers to scars from one battle. If the scars are from several battles, pugnae should be changed to pugnarum.

I don't think any of those quite work...if we start explicitating it as "moment in which a person's character appears" or so, we'll end up with something quite long.
Indeed, it appears to be one of those, those for which Latin concepts are not sufficient. In such cases, my inclination is to go full-out Shakespearean, and start creating words. Something like moris visiculi or dispositionis moralis visiculae, wherein visum "a seeing" + -culus/-cula, and so "a little seeing, a glimpse". This is just "Mikey being Mikey", though.
 
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Quintilianus

Civis Illustris

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Location:
France
You might consider something along the lines of "pectus apertum".
See, for instance, Cic. Laelius 97 : " [ ...] in qua nisi, ut dicitur, apertum pectus videas tuumque ostendas, nihil fidum, nihil exploratum habeas"
It's clearly not a faithful translation and is more akin to "open-heart" but maybe someone can think of a way to bring it closer or of another part of the anatomy that can be used as a metaphor for characters.

edit :
There's this in Suetonius :
patefacta interiore notā animi sui, Suet. Tib. 54.
Of course, there's no litteral mention of a "moment".
 
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