Freezing mist...

[paulmoore]

Ok here is another one of those deals where I'd like to give you the scene and then maybe you can suggest the most proper phrasing.

After my bad guy, Tyranus, kills the king, archers are ordered to fire arrows at him. He puts up the magic barrier and the arrows deflecet harmlessly. While they are reloading, he drops the shield and uses his energy spheres, slinging them at the castle towers and ramparts where the archers are at, casuing the stone structures of the castle to crumble and fall to the ground. With the threat of the archer's removed, he walks up to the castle's portcullis(a giant metal lattice-work style gate structure) and attempts to open it. Realizing that he cannot move it by strength alone, he casts a spell that violently expels an outward projecting freezing mist or frost that is immensely cold. The cold soaks into the metal of the portcullis, causing it to crack and creak from the stress of compression, and renders the iron brittle. After the spell is completed, he simply taps the metal with the back of his hand, and the whole portcullis comes crashing down like broken glass.
Once again, sorry for the long post.

 

[paulmoore]

Double post again, sorry for that. I was looking on the web and came across some stuff that I am not sure of. The mechanics of the spell that I am trying to convey will be somewhat similar to the Cone of Cold spell from the Dungeons and Dragons game, with some differences. I did manage to find the 'Latin' naming for cone of cold, and it was listed like this..
'Algor Conus'

Is there any validity to that, or would there be a better fitting translation? Thanks again!

 

[Nikolaos]

Algor conus looks ungrammatical, but the intended meaning seems to be "cold cone" or something like that.

Perhaps Nebula pruinosa portam infirmet - "May a frosty mist weaken the gate" - it's simple, and given time I can probably think of something better. But, I like the subjunctive "let/may", and I'll probably use that in most of my translations for you : p

 

[cinefactus]

What about something like:

fiat frigor acerbus

Let there come into being a bitter cold

 

[paulmoore]

Nebula pruinosa portam infirmet - "May a frosty mist weaken the gate" Hmm, not to bad, however, I don't think the spell would be used specifically for just weakening the gate. There will be armed soldiers inside the gatehouse of the castle as well. For those who are not familiar, the gatehouse is that chamber type opening after the portcullis, and before the main entrance to the castle/city. Anyways, some of the soldiers will get hit by this spell, and they will be instanty frozen, with thier bodies contorted horribly, and screams of pain will be forever etched on their faces. That is, until the bad buy sees the frozen people and takes delight in shashing them to pieces a la the T1000 in Terminator 2(kinda). Needless to say, I like the first part "May a frosty mist.." but is there something else that can finish the phrase?

fiat frigor acerbus-Let there come into being a bitter cold

I also like this one due to its simplicity and relatively short phrasing, but I would be worried that bitter cold might not accurately describe the scene. I would think that it might be described as just a temperature or wind perhaps. I don't think that it will matter much though, as I can almost guarantee that 90% of anyone who reads my book will not understand the latin anyway. For those that can read and understand the latin, I"d like the phrase to take on a more descriptive meaning. I don't want to be difficult or unreasonable in any way, and if I come across as such, then I truly am sorry.