Life gets more interesting when you say yes

[Mertyn]

Hi guys, itd be great if you could transalte these phrases into latin for me, and let me know what the literal transaltion means!

"Say yes"

"Life gets more interesting when you say yes"

"Good things happen when you say yes"

You get the idea, any other ways of saying it would be greatly appreciated too!

Im thinking of having this quote tattooed - so this is a first port of call. The point im trying to get across is the feeling of taking all opportunities, saying 'yes' whenever humanly possible and basically loving life!

Martin

 

[QMF]

Oh my...you don't even have the slightest idea what a big can of worms you just opened. We have trouble just translating the word "yes" into Latin, because Latin has no direct equivalent. There are words which can be used for it, but they vary greatly depending on context. As an example, if you were to say "Do you have my pencil?", a Roman wouldn't say "yes", he would say "I have [it]", "I have the pencil", "I have your pencil" or something else of that nature. So...yeah. To flatly translate "say yes" will be difficult if not impossible. Might you think of another way to put it, perhaps?

 

[Mertyn]

Hi,

Yea absolutely! thanks for explaining that. Im open to any idea people have, have i made it clear enough what im trying to get across? Maybe something along the lines of

"life gets/is better/interesting when you grasp/take all opportunities"

"life gets better when you are positive"

or

"good happens when" and the above...

That sort of thing.. any better?

Really appreciate it!

 

[kmp]

Perhaps it's precisely because Latin doesn't have a standard word for "yes" that it actually has a verb - aio - that means "I say yes".

So you're in luck :

ai = say yes.

 

[QMF]

Err...perhaps my citations are skewed by being poetic, but:
'Parce metu, Cytherea...
...fremet horridus ore cruento.'
Haec ait,
(Aeneid 1.257-297). I don't provide the whole citation because it's a rather long speech, but here it's just used as "say."
Another:
'Tantane vos generis...
...et clauso ventorum carcere regnet.'
Sic ait
(Aeneid 1.132-142)
Another:
'O fortunati, quorum iam moenia surgunt!'
Aeneas ait
(Aeneid 1.437-438)
'Quis iam locus...
...feret haec aliquam tibi fama salutem.'
Sic ait
(Aeneid 1.459-464)
improvisus ait: ...
...cumque vocant terrae.'
(Aeneid 1.595-610)

That's all of its usages in Book I. I see in WORDS that aio can be used as "say yes, affirm, assent" but none these seem to be rendered as such, and there are quite a few of them. Do you happen to know of a citation were it is used as such? Also, does aio have an imperative? It's defective, and the only forms I know of are aio, ais (I've never seen this form), and ait. I'm not trying to be confrontational, I'm just trying to make sure we all have the right information.

Anyway, I'll need to ponder these next suggestions a bit. I can tell that they are doable, but I'm just not sure how to render them off the top of my head.

 

[Marius Magnus]

It does look suspiciously cognate to English "aye"...

 

[kmp]

aio is indeed defective, but it does have an imperative - ai.

As for a citation -

An nata est sponsa praegnas? vel ai vel nega!

- NAEVIUS Incertae Fabulae 9

(Quoted in The Big Gold Book of Latin Verbs))

 

[Mertyn]

Hmm, excuse my lack of experience..

But could it be something like:

"wherever/when opportunities arise, I say yes (iao)" - that would be pretty close to what i was thinking!

I'm also quite intrigued by "ai" - "say yes" is that a definate translation? - very neat and simple...but does im guessing it has many meanings...

You guys are fantastic!

 

[QMF]

Hmm, looking at when Naevius was alive (roughly 270 to 210 BCE), that may be an older usage than I am familiar with. It is a viable usage, however.

 

[kmp]

aio, though extremely defective, has a present subjunctive (amazingly) so you could have a motto like :

aias ut vita fruare = say yes that you may enjoy life

 

[Mertyn]

That sounds pretty interesting!

I'm now thinking:

“Whenever opportunities arise, I will take them”

If you could have a ponder about how best to phrase this and let me know the literal translation that would be awesome - i'm planning on having this as a tattoo - the sentiment is very important to me.

I really appreciate all the help people have given me you guys are fantastic!

 

[kmp]

I would boil down your

“Whenever opportunities arise, I will take them”

to a simpler

carpe occasionem

= seize / enjoy / pluck like a fruit the opportunity.

This has a nice play on Horace's carpe diem = seize the day.

 

[Mertyn]

I actually quite like 'carpe occasionem' - very neat! is this definately correct?

Would anyone be able to translate “Whenever opportunities arise, I will take them” for me?

Thanks for that Kmp

One other translation I wouldnt mind getting hold of is:

'less talk, more action'
or
'less talk, more rock'

 

[kmp]

I think "carpe occasionem" is pretty likely to be good latin (but I would think that, wouldn't I?)

As for "Whenever opportunities arise, I will take them”

utcumque occasio data erit, eam adripiam

This means, "whenever an opportunity is given, I will grasp it"

I suppose we could pluralise it just to be even more literal:

utcumque occasiones datae erunt, eas adripiam

I wouldn't use either of these in a tatoo if I were you until you get some more feedback here. I'm not sure whether utcumque is the best word (perhaps it should simply be "cum") and Latin can be a bit fiddly with its tenses when referring to the future - I've used the future perfect tense followed by the future tense. I think that's correct but wiser heads may have different ideas.

As for "less talk, more action" isn't that just "acta non verba" - acts not words?

And finally

less talk, more rock

assuming you mean rock music, that could be

pauciora verba, plus rockicae

(musica rockica = rock music but I don't know what authority that has - I found it on the Internet. It's certainly more to the point than the term given in Lexicon Recentioris Latinitatis (Vatican) :

modi musici nutantium seque torquentium

which is no help to man nor beast.

And don't use these translations in a tatoo - I'm making it up as I go along.

 

[Mertyn]

Thanks again Kmp!

Im very interested in

'utcumque occasio data erit, eam adripiam '
or
'utcumque occasiones datae erunt, eas adripiam'

Without me sounding like a complete idiot - could you explain the difference between the two versions you've given?

that is pretty much what im trying to get at - would anyone else be willing to confirm its accuracy? As i'm planning on putting this as a tattoo!

Once again thanks so much Kmp, its very much appreciated!

 

[kmp]

'utcumque occasio data erit, eam adripiam ' = whenever the opportunity is presented I will seize it

'utcumque occasiones datae erunt, eas adripiam' = whenever opportunities are presented I will seize them.

But as I said, I would wait for someone else to confirm these as correct before using them in a tatoo. Please note the forum disclaimers on all translations given.

 

[Mertyn]

Don't worry I wouldn't hold you responsible under any circumstance! :-D As long as you consider that your best effort I cant ask for any more!

Obviously id like some more feedback from other members - i think the plural version makes more sense, but the singular might 'look' better...

Really keen to hear from any others as this thread seems to have had loads of views.

 

[QMF]

I'd have to say the singular. Occasio is literally ob+the (hypothetical?) word casio, meaning "falling" (not as in "I am falling"; it's a little hard to explain. to make things simple, I quote WORDS: "indicates the action or result of the action of the verb"). As such, it is something like "what happens right before something befalls someone/something." I don't really have enough linguistic understanding in general to explain this better, but that's how my intuition runs.