i am what i am

[Anonymous]

Hello all, very nice forums you have here. i was wondering how to translate "i am what i am" to latin. any help would be great. thanks, rkrum

 

[QMF]

To me, this is so idiomatic that it can't be translated. I suppose you could say:
(illud) quod sum sum.
But that's just stupid. Like I said, it's just too idiomatic.

 

[Akela]

or you could say 'ego sum', as with an emphasis in English "I am me". I am afraid this is too idiomatic.

 

[deudeditus]

sum qui sum... too many sums! the idiom police just broke down my door... gotta go!

:lol: -Jon

 

[Iynx]

How about Re sum quae sum? (I am the thing that I am).

The English version of this was, I believe, among the dicta of a minor twentieth-century philosopher, from whom we have heard but little in recent years, and who is (I understand) currently in seclusion following the recent unfortunate events in California involving a certain green vegetable.

 

[Cato]

How about Re sum quae sum? (I am the thing that I am).

The English version of this was, I believe, among the dicta of a minor twentieth-century philosopher, from whom we have heard but little in recent years, and who is (I understand) currently in seclusion following the recent unfortunate events in California involving a certain green vegetable.

I thought he said Res yum quae yum

 

[QMF]

Wouldn't that be res sum quae sum, usage of a predicate nominative? Or was he actually saying (literally) "I am in the thing which I am". But yeah, some things just can't be translated.

 

[Iynx]

Whoops. Missed an "s". Res sum, of course. Thank you, gentlemen.