Tattoo Perfectly Imperfect

[Akimbo2006]

Hello,

I, am a Dutch woman, and have several chronic illnesses, that keep me side lined.
I, really would like a Latin phrase, of Perfectly Imperfect. Because although, I am sick, I do matter.
I hope, that someone can help me.
Greetings Natascha

 

[Jiacheng Liu]

If you allow me to change your idea slightly, I would suggest “imperfectio Immaculata,” literally, “immaculate imperfection.” If you really want to use an adjective plus an adverb, I would say “immaculate imperfecta,” although I find it a bit more awkward in Latin. My Latin has gone rather rusty, so I would love to see if the rest of the members here have a better idea.

I wish you all the best for your health!

 

[Glabrigausapes]

The aforesaid is interesting because both words are technically negated, so it’s sort of a litotes. I don’t see why either couldn’t work, although they don’t make direct reference to you (whereas an adjective alone, in the feminine, would imply that you, a woman, are its referent).

Then again, I don’t see why a word-for-word, or more specifically morpheme-for-morpheme, translation wouldn’t work:
Perfectē imperfecta.

 

[Pacifica]

As I've said elsewhere, I've got some doubts about the use of perfecte and imperfecta.

Perfecte imperfecta might seem obvious to some but I'm not sure it works quite as well as in English. I've got this idea of (im)perfectus being more like (in)complete, (un)finished rather than with(out) flaws in a more general sense.

 

[Bitmap]

As I've said elsewhere, I've got some doubts about the use of perfecte and imperfecta.

Perfecte imperfecta might seem obvious to some but I'm not sure it works quite as well as in English. I've got this idea of (im)perfectus being more like (in)complete, (un)finished rather than with(out) flaws in a more general sense.

The adverb seems to work ... you find instances of perfecte eruditus or perfecte absolutus in Cicero.

Not sure about imperfectus ... as I've said elsewhere, there is an instance in Seneca where it sort of means "immoral" or "unwise", but it's true that you find it in the sense you described a lot more often.

Maybe perfecte vitiosa could work.

 

[Pacifica]

The adverb seems to work ... you find instances of perfecte eruditus or perfecte absolutus in Cicero.

That's still about completion though, isn't it?

 

[Pacifica]

Not sure about imperfectus ... as I've said elsewhere, there is an instance in Seneca where it sort of means "immoral" or "unwise", but it's true that you find it in the sense you described a lot more often.

If you mean this, it isn't clear to me that it doesn't mean a lack of completion (of education or the like):

Ad imperfectos et mediocres et male sanos hic meus sermo pertinet, non ad sapientem.

 

[Bitmap]

That's still about completion though, isn't it?

I suppose so ... you would probably translate it with "completely".
Maybe something like optime?

it isn't clear to me that it doesn't mean a lack of completion (of education or the like)

I think that's what it means. I suppose my point was initially that the word can refer to a person at all.

 

[Pacifica]

I never doubted it could refer to a person. I'm just not sure (im)perfectus shares the whole semantic range of English "(im)perfect". It can mean "perfect" or "imperfect" as applied to a person who has or has not gotten perfect in some area through a "perfecting" process, but can you say that someone is imperfectus because they have some flaw that has nothing to do with an uncompleted perfecting process, for instance because they have some health condition*, like the OP? It could be that my idea of (im)perfectus is too restricted, but I've got doubts because I can't remember seeing (im)perfectus used in that sense.

*I can definitely imagine imperfectus being used of someone born without some body part, because then the "perfecting" process of the fetus in the womb was clearly not completed, but it's not quite the same when a "complete" person falls ill.