Protected By God

[Chris07]

Hi All,

Just looking for a little bit of help from some of you guys who actually have good knowledge when it comes to Latin. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

My friend is quite religious is putting out a cd and wants it to be titled "protected by god" or "god as our protector" something along those lines, he wants it titled in Latin though.

So he comes to me and says "I found out what the Latin is for my cd title" he then claims it is "Deo Vindice" now straight away I thought I'd heard this elsewhere and I've looked it up and sure enough it's the Confederates Motto (The real Irony here is that my friend is black) now when I researched this "Deo Vindice" it turns out it actually means God Is Vengeful or God Will Punish? something along them lines? Is that right?

So yeah if anyone can tell me what the real Latin is for "protected by God" or anything along them lines it will be greatly appreciated. I'm sure you get guys flying by here all the time for a quick translation but really this will be greatly appreciated. Also if anyone could post anything with regards ro the real meaning of "Deo Vindice" I'm actually really interested in hearing it myself.

Thankyou to anyone who has taken time to read this.

Chris.

 

[QMF]

Actually your friend was right. "Deo Vindice" is an ablative absolute and so rather difficult to translate, but it means "With God as a protector". You could use a number of other words, but "Deo Vindice" is fine IMO.

 

[Chris07]

Thankyou for you answer.

I've read in a couple of places though that "Deo Vindice" literally means "God Will Vindicate" is there any truth to this?

So are there no alternatives to use for "Protected By God" then.. My Latin knowledge really is slim to none so please don't think I'm being disrespectful and trying to argue, I'm just going on what I have read and wonder what your views are on it?

 

[Marius Magnus]

However, considering it's the Confederate motto, you might want to think up something else instead...

 

[Chris07]

That is actually my main concern Marius, I'm from England so again my knowledge on Confederate's is slim... to my knowledge it was a group of southern states with big racial motives? Maybe I'm wrong with that though so apologies for any ignorance.

So are there any alternatives to "Deo Vindice" at all then, anything along the lines of "God Watches Over me" or "God Protects" etc.

Thanks for all the help guys, it's appreciated.

 

[Marius Magnus]

I've read in a couple of places though that "Deo Vindice" literally means "God Will Vindicate" is there any truth to this?

Not exactly. Vindice is the ablative case of vindex (pronounced "Windex"...haha), which means "vindicator" (defender, avenger, etc.). Deo vindice therefore means "With God as vindicator". In context, this phrase would be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas:

With God as vindicator, we will defeat the Yankee scum.

Or something like that.

So are there no alternatives to use for "Protected By God" then.. My Latin knowledge really is slim to none so please don't think I'm being disrespectful and trying to argue, I'm just going on what I have read and wonder what your views are on it?

There are plenty of other words that mean "protect". I don't know all the grammatical details of them off the top of my head, though.

 

[Marius Magnus]

That is actually my main concern Marius, I'm from England so again my knowledge on Confederate's is slim... to my knowledge it was a group of southern states with big racial motives? Maybe I'm wrong with that though so apologies for any ignorance.

Ah, ok, probably the best thing to do then is look up the United States Civil War on Wikipedia. Basically what happened is all the Southern states seceded in the mid-1800's to form the Confederate States of America, presumably over several issues, but especially over the issue of slavery, the Southern states' economies being heavily dependent on African slaves. What followed was the bloodiest war in American history (at least until WWI). It pretty sharply divided the nation, and still today there are people in the South who resent the Confederate defeat, and who champion white supremacist causes. Flying a Confederate flag or using a Confederate motto is sure to be interpreted as claiming affiliation with these groups.

It's almost like using a swastika, really.

 

[QMF]

Oh geez Marius, don't get into the idiots who tell you Latin v's are pronounced as w's...that's professorial stupidity.
I mean...say "veni, vidi, vici" (whether with the Italian ch sound or not) with the v's pronounced that way, and it'll sound like baby talk.
But yes, there are many possibilities. You may want to stick with an ablative absolute, as in the "Deo Vindice" example, hence perhaps:
Deo Servante (With God protecting)
Deo Custode (With God as a guardian)
Deo Aegide (With God as a shield)
Deo Patrocinante (With God protecting)
Deo Patrono (With God as a guardian)
Deo Praesite (With God protecting)
Deo Tutamine (With God as a protecting force (trying to illustrate that it is neuter))
Deo Tutante (With God protecting)
Deo Vindicante (With God protecting/seeking vengeance)
Cinctus Deum (This is a different structure, and I think I did it right. It's supposed to be "protected with God" using cinctus as a middle, as often done in Vergil, etc. Not positive if I did it right, but it's kind of insulting to God, treating him as armor).
(In, Ob, Pro)tectus Deo (Protected by God) Note that any of those prefixes or none of them may be used. Also note that this is a different structure.

There are many choices and most of them are basically the same. If you want a sentence with "God protects me" as opposed to something like "With God Protecting" I'll do that.

And the Civil War, for America, was the bloodiest war ever. Only recently have all the wars we've participated in combined surpassed the amount of American casualties in that war.

 

[Chris07]

Ahhh I see so the "hatred" of Confedrates is more due to the fact that they divided the nation and killed many people more than "they were racist"

QuemQuem, thanks for all the translations. Personally I really like the "Deo Custode" one. If you could spare the time to show me the variations for "With God Protecting" that would be great also is there anything along the lines of "God Watches Over Me"

Thanks Guys.

nb. I think I'm actually going to read up on the American Civil War as it's quite a big event and for me to have little knowledge on it is quite poor.

 

[QMF]

1. Quemquem is one word. My name (which actually makes little sense in Latin) means "whomever you make me [to be]".
2. "Watch over"...hmm. Good question. The only verb (according to my dictionary) that corresponds directly to "watch over" in Latin is vigilare, but that is exclusively in the passive (otherwise it is intransitive). Otherwise I would stick to "guard" as it also has a sense of "watch". I will give you both, in that order:
Vigilor (a) Deo
Deus me custodit.

The (a) is unnecessary but may add better clarification.

 

[Marius Magnus]

Oh geez Marius, don't get into the idiots who tell you Latin v's are pronounced as w's...that's professorial stupidity.
I mean...say "veni, vidi, vici" (whether with the Italian ch sound or not) with the v's pronounced that way, and it'll sound like baby talk.

This can certainly be argued...probably better for a different thread, though.

 

[Chris07]

Dues me custodit.

What does the above mean then literally translated into English? "God Guards Me"? Sorry I'm being a bit Blonde.

 

[QMF]

Literally, yes. God Guards Me. "Watch over" is sort of included in the verb...kind of.

 

[Iynx]

1. Just catching a little typo here: Deus, not Dues.

2. Another verb for "watching over" that might be considered is tueor, which means either "to look at" or "to protect"-- pretty similar in this regard to the English "watch". How about Deus tuetur (nos), "God watches (over) (us)?"

Or Deus nos defendit; Deus nos custodit ("God defends us"; "God guards us")?

 

[Chris07]

Cheers guys these are all great suggestions. I'm taking note of them all and will present them over to my friend tomorrow and let you know what he goes with.

How about a translation for "Watched From Above" I think that's pretty good, would be easy to translate?

So am I right in presuming "Deus Tuetur Nos" is God Watches Over Us?

 

[Iynx]

How about a translation for "Watched From Above" I think that's pretty good, would be easy to translate?

So am I right in presuming "Deus Tuetur Nos" is God Watches Over Us?

2. Yes, Deus Tuetur Nos does indeed mean "God Watches Over Us".

1. "Watched from above" is actually not straightforward. For this you probably don't want tueor, which is an awkward sort of verb called a deponent. There's always a little uncertainty (unless you're a lot more expert than I am) as to whether the last principal part of such verbs is active or passive in sense. Tutus Desuper would likely be read as "protected from above", but it could possibly mean "watchful from above".

So let's use a non-deponent:

Custoditus Desuper.

Custoditus would be for a masculine singular entity, Custoditi masculine plural, Custoditum neuter singular, Custodita feminine singular or neuter plural, and Custoditae feminine plural.

 

[Chris07]

Okay guys so in summary can you please just clarify I have the below all correct :

Deo Custode "God As My Guardian"
Deus Me Cusdoit "God Guards Me"
Deus Teutur Nos "God Watches Over Me"
Custoditus Desuper "Watched From Above"

I think that's it, I'm sure I seen "Protected From Above" earlier in the thread but cannot seem to find it now?

You guys have been fantastic, I appreciate all the help. Latin is something I definately want to learn seriously in the future, It seems a really interesting language.

Thanks again guys.

Chris

 

[QMF]

Other than typos you're pretty much right.
The "My" is not explicitly stated; an indefinite article or a lack of an article is a bit more fitting.
Custodit in the 2nd.
Tuetur in the 3rd.
Nos=we/us, not I/me.

 

[Chris07]

Thankyou, so in "Deus Tuetur Nos" what would I change to nos to to make it me instead of us?

 

[Andy]

Deus Tuetur Me

God guards/upholds/protects me.

You would be changing the accusative of the verb. Whom God protects?
Nos - us. Me - me.