[Danish] Intet er umuligt for den som baerer viljen i hjertet

[Lenette]

Hey guys.
I panic to your help! My cousin is graduating, and she has done it very well. It has been at very tough battle for her, the grades doesn't come easy to her, still she got straight A's. So I've bought her a clock, that i would like to get engraved, and it has to be in latin, because thats her major. I have written the quote in danish, so i hope very much, that there are som danish people out there. I tried to find the quote in english, which said: Nothing is impossible for a willing heart. But it has not quite the same meaning as in danish i think. In danish it is more like: Nothing is impossible for those (the one) who bares the will in his/her heart.
Please help me! Ill be so thankful!

 

[Tomer]

Hej, Lenette, hvordan har du det?

Recollecting my Danish efforts, it means exactly what you've written in your line before last.

*Illi qui cupiditam in corde fert nihil ardui est (based on Horace's nil moratalibus ardui est - Nothing is impossible for mankind)

Literally: "To him/her who bears desire in heart nothing is too high (=impossible)"

*Note that this phrase is in the singular form.
Plus, if by "will at heart" you mean more like "zeal" (in English) than "longing, desire" maybe the word Studium should fit better than cupiditas.

Please stay tuned for more answers before you get the engraving.

Held og lykke!

 

[Lenette]

Hej Tomer!
Jeg har det godt, og du? (Flot dansk! Er du oprindeligt dansker?)

Thank you very much for your translation! As you would possibly know, I have no knowledge of this being correct or not, but im just very thankful for your help, and that you took the time to look into it! I will standby for more answers then!

Again thank you!

Og tak - ha' en dejlig dag

 

[Godmy]

cupiditatem* :- P

By the way, there is always a problem with translating this sense of "heart" as cor. It's not totally impossible in the classical Latin, but just quite rare in prose (I think one instance in Cicero and the rest of them just in poets). For a frequent word there is pectus or sometimes animus (I believe). But, of course, you can always decide that you are OK with the poetic language... which kind of makes sense for this kind of things. But one should be careful.

 

[Lenette]

Thank you Godmy!
Im so grateful for your help. As i wrote to Tomer, I have no knowledge of latin, som my question is: Is this the right way to translate the sentence? - "Illi qui cupiditatem in corde fert nihil ardui est"?
Im all in ave of your language skills. It's quite impressive. There is so much to it!

 

[Godmy]

No problem

Yes, that's correct now, but if you want it to sound more as a natural everyday language (since you have provided an everyday language as your source text too), then you might consider instead of corde write either pectore or animo. But as I described in my earlier post, there are certain circumstances where all the options are correct, one just needs to be careful.

 

[Tomer]

Hey, thanks for the correction! I must have been too focused on my forgotten Danish, thus neglecting the goal of the Latin.
I was thinking of pectore myself, but decided, since nihil ardui est is also quite poetic, to use cor.

To Lenette: Just like Godmy said, it's up to you to choose. Og tak for komplimenten, det er ikke noget. Jeg har selv-studeret Dansk, som jeg var i Danmark.
Min Dansk er lang fra flot .

You're good to go now!

 

[Pacifica]

Nihil ardui is more like "nothing difficult".