Words are a form of action, capable of change

[Anonymous]

This is a translation I did of an English motto, and I'm not sure 100% if it's correct. Any and all feedback will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

English: Words are a form of action, capable of change.
Latin: Verba modus actionis; capaces mutationis sunt.

 

[TheLatinPoet]

Perhaps not so simple :shock:

The difficulty with this motto is that at first glance "yes" it does look simple, but the more you look at it the more it conforms to its own ambiguity ... you see, if Words are a form of action, capable of change, then inherent in the character of the statement is where the challenge of interpretation/translation lies.

Before I continue, let me say that your interpretation was fun because Verba is a lashing or flogging, and I imagined "sure! Anyone will change with a beating" (why not have fun, that's what it's all about.)

Anyway, here's my translation:

Latin...: Verbum sunt instar of factum, semper volubilis.

It may need some fine-tuning, but the important thing to remember is that for the translation to remain as "true" as the original, we have to look at how we logically interpret the original in its own language.

admin edit: Signatures can only be added in your forum profile, after you've made 15 posts.

 

[Clodia]

Perhaps not so simple :shock:

The difficulty with this motto is that at first glance "yes" it does look simple, but the more you look at it the more it conforms to its own ambiguity ... you see, if Words are a form of action, capable of change, then inherent in the character of the statement is where the challenge of interpretation/translation lies.

Before I continue, let me say that your interpretation was fun because Verba is a lashing or flogging, and I imagined "sure! Anyone will change with a beating" (why not have fun, that's what it's all about.)

Anyway, here's my translation:

Latin...: Verbum sunt instar of factum, semper volubilis.

Verba is a lashing or flogging? I think you meant 'verbera'.
Verber, verberis, (plural: verbera) n - a lash or a whip, never takes form of 'verba'.

Verba is a plural of verbum - word. Even if you use 'verbum', which would work, you need to get 'esse' to agree with your singular subject - est, not sunt.

Semper volubilis says 'always changing', not 'capable of change'. It is of course up to Damasus whether he wants to move that far from his original motto's meaning.

'of' is an English word, not Latin

@Damasus
I think your translation is a pretty good literal one. You could omit 'sunt' at the end if you wanted to make it more laconic. TheLatinPoet used some good synonyms for your words - you could make use of them in a variation of your translation too.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you both for your help!

The way I understand the meaning of the motto is that it is basically restating itself:

Words are a mode of action, (therefore, as a restatement) they are capable of change.

When I decided to use "mutatio" as the word for change in the context, I thought of change inasmuch as political or ideological change, rather than self-change, though this is true as well.

I was mostly concerned with the grammar of the phrase over the choice of words, as I was pretty satisfied with that aspect. Now I see it might be nice to say

Verbum modus actionis, capax mutationis (est).

It flows nicer, and it looks nicer. So I thank you both. I'll be around if you have any more comments to make.

 

[Livia]

Verbum modus actionis, capax mutationis (est).

So you decided to switch to singular?

 

[Anonymous]

I think it captures the sense of "the spoken word," and flows nicely.