Translating dates of the year to Latin

A

anth

New Member

hello everyone, sorry to be a pain but is there anyway of translating or converting a date to a latin style?

the date in question would be the 14th july 2007

many thanks
 
Q

QMF

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There is a wonderful summary of the Roman date system in a quote that I have found by someone who used to post here quite frequently named Andy:
Quite simple, if I may explain Very Happy:

The Romans had, during the early Republican days, a Calendar of 12 months: Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Iunius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, December, Ianuarius and Februarius.

In each of these months, the Romans counted three important dates: The Kalends, the Nones and the Ides.

The Kalends were always the first day of the month, the Nones could fall on the 5th day (Aprilis, Iunius, Sextilis, September, November, December, Ianuarius and Februarius) or the 7th (Martius, Maius, Quintilis and October).

The Ides fell exactly nine days after (remember the Romans counted both the beginning and ending dates) So, for Nones on the 5th (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 = 9 days), the Ides fell on the 13th, and with the Nones on the 7th (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 = 9 days) the Ides fell on the 15th.

Now, the Romans counted backwards towards the next important day. So, rather than saying: 1 day past the Kalends of April, they would say: 4 days before the Nones of April (remember, 2, 3, 4, 5 = 4 days).

So:

a.d. VIII Id. Sex MMDCCXLVI ab urbe condita

Means:

ante diem VIII Ides Sextilis or 8 days before the Ides of July.

If the day was exactly before a special day, it was marked: pridie Kal. or pridie Id.

Hope this helped, QMF Smile
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I hope this helps. It gives most of the pertinent information that you might use to calculate dates, albeit some of the references (e.g. what each month is in Latin) is not actually there. July is Quintilis, making its Nones the 7th and hence its Ides the 15th. That makes July 14th:
pridie Id. Quint.
Adding in the year in question makes it:
pridie Id. Quint. MMDCCLX a.u.c.

Some of this data may not be quite correct (Andy's rulings on what months correspond to what Nones dates doesn't make a whole lot of logical sense), so wait for someone to check this.
 
I

Iynx

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"In March, July, October, May,
The Ides are on the fifteenth day,
The Nones the seventh; all besides
Have two days sooner Nones and Ides".

"To obtain the year AD,
Subtract 753;
But for a year before Our Lord,
Reckon 754".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think that "Jul" would be more conventional than "Quint" for a post-Julian date-- though as I'm not fond of military dictatorships, I'm all for using the older form.
 
scrabulista

scrabulista

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Re: Translating Dates

<snipped>

Replace tertio with quarto, and MCMLXX with MMVII to get July 14, 2007. Of course if you like the A.U.C. date then
QMF's suggestion (or Iynx's) is fine.

Yeah, I know it's way too late.
 
E

emiloo

New Member

hi there,

im looking to get a tattoo in memory of my dad who recently passed and i was wondering if anyone can help me to get the dates:
"24/04/1956"

or

"24 april"

I am in australia so our day comes first and month second :) any suggestion welcome im just looking for something nice.

thanks
 
Imber Ranae

Imber Ranae

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emiloo dixit:
hi there,

im looking to get a tattoo in memory of my dad who recently passed and i was wondering if anyone can help me to get the dates:
"24/04/1956"

or

"24 april"
Click to expand...
That would be ante diem octavum Kalendas Maias anno Domini MCMLVI (abbreviated: a.d. viii Kal. Mai. MCMLVI) according to traditional Roman reckoning, literally "the eighth day before the Kalends [i.e. the 1st] of May in the year of the Lord 1956". It actually means the seventh day before May, but the Romans counted inclusively with May 1st standing for the first day.

In modern reckoning I suppose it would be die xxiv [mensis] Aprilis...etc. or fully spelled out as die vicesima quarta mensis Aprilis...etc. "the 24th/twenty-fourth day of [the month of] April". You can also omit Domini "of the Lord" if you'd rather avoid any religious connotations.

I am in australia so our day comes first and month second :) any suggestion welcome im just looking for something nice.

thanks
Click to expand...
That's clear enough when the first number is greater than 12.
 
E

emiloo

New Member

thankyou for replying, just curious what is the significance of mensis??
also do you happen to know what "mentor" would translate to if anything??
 
scrabulista

scrabulista

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I do not believe there is any linguistic connection between Mentor and mensis.
 
Iohannes Aurum

Iohannes Aurum

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scrabulista dixit:
I do not believe there is any linguistic connection between Mentor and mensis.
Click to expand...
emiloo probably confused mensis with mentis (of which mentor is related to the latter, but definitely not the former)
 
Imber Ranae

Imber Ranae

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Iohannes Aurum dixit:
emiloo probably confused mensis with mentis (of which mentor is related to the latter, but definitely not the former)
Click to expand...
I'm not sure that the Greek name Μέντωρ is related to either the Latin word mens (stem ment-) or mensis. It very well could be from the same Indo-European root as the former, but it would need looking into.

The Latin words mensis "month" and messor "reaper" are related, however, both being derived from a root whose basic meaning was "measure".
 
Iohannes Aurum

Iohannes Aurum

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Imber Ranae dixit:
I'm not sure that the Greek name Μέντωρ is related to either the Latin word mens (stem ment-) or mensis. It very well could be from the same Indo-European root as the former, but it would need looking into.

The Latin words mensis "month" and messor "reaper" are related, however, both being derived from a root whose basic meaning was "measure".
Click to expand...
Read here: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=mentor&searchmode=term regarding the etymology of "mentor."
 
Imber Ranae

Imber Ranae

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Iohannes Aurum

Iohannes Aurum

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I have added a redirect in the English to Latin translation forum.
 
Imber Ranae

Imber Ranae

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Iohannes Aurum

Iohannes Aurum

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No.
 
F

Fred2016

New Member

How would September 12, 2004 be translated?

I know that 2004 would have been irrelevant to the Roman's since they didn't count the years from the birth of Christ.

Is this about right? Thank you!!!

pridie∙IdVs∙Septembris∙MMIV
 
Imber Ranae

Imber Ranae

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Ah. Maybe he found this thread and decided his request was superfluous and deleted it himself.
 
Iohannes Aurum

Iohannes Aurum

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Merged threads
 
Imber Ranae

Imber Ranae

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Yes, but Idus, not IdVs. You could use ab urbe condita (a.d. 2004 = a.u.c. 2757) and the proper abbreviations to make it look more authentically like a Roman inscription: PR·ID·SEP·A·V·C·MMDCCLVII
 
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