Pronunciation and forms of Balnearia Speculum

[Anonymous]

hi all

i'm new to the latin forums (and new to the language as well!) and had a question i was hoping someone could help me out with. i am trying to use the phrase "bathroom mirror" in something i am writing, and the best i can figure out is either Balneāria Speculum or Balneāria Reddere (though i think Reddere is less accurate, as i believe it is the verb "to mirror" as opposed to the noun form of "mirror"). i am not even totally sure i am using these translations accurately, and any help anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated. additionally, i am having a little trouble in the pronunciation of either of these three words; though i know latin and english pronunciations greatly differ in some aspects, i suppose i am looking for the most common pronunciation. again, any help that anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,
-david

 

[Polla]

"Balnearium speculum" is probably best fitting. I am dying of curiousity, what will you use this for? This reminds me of the time I wrote names of all household items on them in spanish - to learn the terms...

 

[Iynx]

Speculum balneareum isn't bad (speculum is neuter, and the adjective has to agree). But balneareum (at least to me) emphasizes the bath, that is the tub, rather than the room. I would suggest "speculum in lavatrina", literally, the mirror in the washroom.

 

[Iynx]

Sorry, I forgot about the pronunciation question. I hesitate to advise anyone on Latin pronunciation. There are dialects, and my own is a rather sloppy version of the (currently unfashionable) ecclesiastical or "Italian" Latin. But "speculum" is just like the english word, except that you need to lose the little "y" sound that's there in English, and that the central "u" is short (SPEK-uh-lum, not SPEK-you-lum). "Balnearium" is Bahl-nay-AH-ree-um, with a weak secondary accent on the first syllable. "Lavatrina" is more debatable. My respected classical colleages will probably insist on Lah-wah-TREE-nah, which frankly makes my skin crawl. I say Lah-vah-TREE-nah.

If you're trying to represent actual historical Latin speech, it would of course depend on who was talking, and when, and where. And remember that Latin words change their form ( mainly their endings) depending on their syntactic role. So, for example, "through the mirror" might be "per speculum", but "in the mirror" might be "in speculo".
Everything depends on context.

Hope this helps.

 

[Iynx]

On re-reading, I think I was a little obscure about the endings. More specific examples in clarification:

"A crack in the mirror" might be "fractura in speculo".

But the famous phrase in 1 Corinthians (xiii: 12) is in the Vulgate "per speculum in aenigmate", usually rendered in English as "through a glass, darkly".

Sorry to run on so.