Colloquialisms

[mszegedy]

So, I am writing a "short" story in Latin, and I have mostly grasped the language (my vocabulary is limited; this, however, can be amended). However, I have been unable to find translations for certain interjections; I keep just finding the words "ēheu", "mehercule", "quid" (what?), and occasionally "eugepae". There are several interjections left undocumented: most particularly, I want a translation as to "oh", but other colloquialisms are welcome (the items on my mental list of things to write down seem to have fled in terror, for fear of death by inscription (bonus points for knowing what ancient Greek philosopher believed in this)). There also seem to be a rather lacking number of translations for "modern" colloquialisms: although I have looked over the Wikipedia article on profanity, I have yet to find translations for both the noun and verb forms of "gay", and I haven't found any racial slurs whatsoever, although I guess that this is more a question of culture. Could y'all please fill in the gaps?

Oh, and I'm unclear on the usage of rēs, rei. Could it be construed into some verb? Its equivalents in modern language seem to be susceptible to this sort of contortion (I am a native speaker of Hungarian; for example, we use our equivalent, izé, as both a verb and a noun: "Izéltem az izét," "I thingged the thing.").

 

[Bitmap]

So, I am writing a "short" story in Latin, and I have mostly grasped the language (my vocabulary is limited; this, however, can be amended). However, I have been unable to find translations for certain interjections; I keep just finding the words "ēheu", "mehercule", "quid" (what?), and occasionally "eugepae".

You can find those words in pretty much every dictionary

There are several interjections left undocumented: most particularly, I want a translation as to "oh"

the translation is o

I have yet to find translations for both the noun and verb forms of "gay"

impudicus
Suet. Dom. X:
Satisque constat, duos solos e notioribus venia donatos, tribunum laticlavium et centurionem, qui se, quo facilius expertes culpae ostenderet, impudicos probaverant et ob id neque apud ducem neque apud milites ullius momenti esse potuisse.
"And it is sufficiently well known that only two of any note were pardoned, a tribune who wore the narrow stripe, and a centurion; who, to show more easily that they were free from guilt, came out as gay so as to prove they have been incapable of exercising any influence either over the general or the soldiers."

and I haven't found any racial slurs whatsoever, although I guess that this is more a question of culture.

barbarus maybe - generally there didn't seem to be any racial slurs in Roman literature... at least none that I could think of

Oh, and I'm unclear on the usage of rēs, rei. Could it be construed into some verb? Its equivalents in modern language seem to be susceptible to this sort of contortion (I am a native speaker of Hungarian; for example, we use our equivalent, izé, as both a verb and a noun: "Izéltem az izét," "I thingged the thing.").

With some imagination, you could coin a word like *rerare. Per se, such a word doesn't exist, though.

 

[Acsacal]

The noun cinaedus, -i, m is used in Satiricon.

 

[Godmy]

Could we have a smiley for "a grave [thread] digging"?

(<< ...good point Acsacal, although graecism)

 

[malleolus]

you might consider pathicus
have a list stashed away somewhere but can't seem to find it