Tattoo Wild soul

Madalyn

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I’m looking for the right & grammatically correct translation of “Wild Soul/Spirit”

It’s for a tattoo in the sense on like a free spirit & traveler

I looked on google translate (I know it isn’t great for being correct) it said : Animus ferox

Is that right?
 

Callaina

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Hmmm, I'm not sure indomitus quite captures the meaning of "wild" here. I would suggest animus ferus or anima fera.

Madalyn, if you're female (as your name suggests) and you wish to identify yourself as the "wild soul/spirit" in question, you might prefer anima fera as it's feminine. You can also reverse the order of the words if you like it better that way: ferus animus or fera anima.

(For other posters here: yes, I know that there is no real connection between the feminine gender of anima and the feminine gender of the person identifying themselves as the "soul/spirit" in question, but I think that if I, being female, were getting the tattoo in question, I would prefer the feminine form of the word, "logical" or not.)
 

EstQuodFulmineIungo

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Ok. But ferus has still to do with wild beasts (cfr "fera", and the English word "feral").

Indomitus literally means "untamed", but even more literally "without a house", which would fit with his/her "travel issue".

Although, there's a chance we are discussing "de lana caprina"; to quote Horace.

You are right regarding the gender. So in case she is female:

"anima indomita"
 
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Callaina

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Ok. But ferus has still to do with wild beasts (cfr "fera", and the English word "feral").
It doesn't have to refer to a wild beast - it can refer to anything that's in a state of nature, i.e. untamed/uncultivated: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0059:entry=ferus

You're probably right that that connotation does come to mind a bit, but I don't personally see it as being a problematic one. I mean, "wild" is what the OP wrote, and it (the English word) also brings "wild beast" to mind. :p
 

EstQuodFulmineIungo

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Yes, thinking back to it, you are right. The fact is that when I think of "ferox" or "ferus" i connect them with "feral" (in English) and Dante's first canto's "tre fiere"-" The three wild beasts" on the hill (in Italian)
 

Michael Zwingli

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IMHO
animus indomitus
is better
Ferox means like "feral", for a beast.
Hmmm, I'm not sure indomitus quite captures the meaning of "wild" here. I would suggest animus ferus or anima fera...You can also reverse the order of the words if you like it better that way: ferus animus or fera anima.
I think that the sense @Madalyn is going for with the "wild" in "wild soul" is not "natural", "undomesticated", or "ferocious". Rather, I think that she means "free"/"unconstrained", as in the term "free spirit". If so, then I think that anima libera or libera anima might work better (I personally prefer the first of those). Whaddaya think?

Also, I think that anima is clearly better than animus here. Anima is not simply the feminine gender form of animus; there is a variously greater-or-lesser delineation between them. Animus means more like "the affective/emotional mind", or any of several individual emotions arising therefrom, such as "courage" and "vehemence". The ancients used animus for "soul" in the sense of "that inner part of a human which causes them to feel ...to have feelings/emotions". In contrast, anima means "soul" in the sense of "that inner part of a human which causes them to live": "spirit", or perhaps "ghost"; it is more a synonym to spiritus than is animus.

EDIT (a confession): When I initially thought of "unconstrained", I almost put forth the hastily concocted anima inconstricta, but I quickly slapped myself in the head and said to myself: "no...anima libera is the one for that"...
 
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Callaina

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Sure, anima libera/libera anima seems fine to me in this sense of "wild" = "unconstrained, free".
 

Callaina

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However, @Madalyn should be aware that libera doesn't have all the connotations that the English word "wild" does, in the sense of something being natural/undomesticated. It means simply "free/unconstrained".
 

Michael Zwingli

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However, @Madalyn should be aware that libera doesn't have all the connotations that the English word "wild" does, in the sense of something being natural/undomesticated. It means simply "free/unconstrained".
Let's ask her... @Madalyn, by the "wild" in "wild soul", do you mean to say (1) "fierce"/"ferocious" as in the term "fierce minded", or (2) "untamed"/"unbroken"/"undomesticated" as in "an untamed animal" and "bent but unbroken", or rather (3) "free"/"unrestricted" as in the term "free spirit", or yet further do you mean "wild" in the sense of (4) "uncontrolled"/"unbridled"/"unchained"/"set loose" (sort of like "running loose" or "running free"), which is the sense that "wild" gives in the noun phrase "wild child"? This makes a big difference in what Latin term you should use. (Hopefully she hasn't gotten inked yet.)
 
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Michael Zwingli

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The English lemma "wild" covers a very broad semantic field; it can mean several distinct things. @Madalyn must provide the exact sense that she is intending by using the word if she wants an adequate translation. If in saying "wild", she means "untamed"/"untamed"/"unbroken", as in the term "wild animal", then @EstQuodFulmineIungo's suggestion of anima indomita works well. If she means "fierce"/"ferocious"/"savage", as in "wild man", then anima ferox or anima fera do the job, and I think anima fera comes off the better of the two. If she means "free"/"unbound"/"unrestricted"/"unconstrained", then she probably wants anima libera, and if she means "uncontrolled"/"unchained"/"set loose"/"liberated"/"emancipated", as in "wild child", then anima effrenata or anima liberata might be just the thing. It all depends upon exactly what she is trying to say by saying "wild". I tend to think that by "wild soul", she means "free spirit", but I could be wrong...she just might mean "soul/spirit runnin' loose" or "soul/spirit set free"...
@Madalyn, please tell us, in your very own words, exactly what you mean by saying "wild" in "wild soul".
 
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Madalyn

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Let's ask her... @Madalyn, by the "wild" in "wild soul", do you mean to say (1) "fierce"/"ferocious" as in the term "fierce minded", or (2) "untamed"/"unbroken"/"undomesticated" as in "an untamed animal" and "bent but unbroken", or rather (3) "free"/"unrestricted" as in the term "free spirit", or yet further do you mean "wild" in the sense of (4) "uncontrolled"/"unbridled"/"unchained"/"set loose" (sort of like "running loose" or "running free"), which is the sense that "wild" gives in the noun phrase "wild child"? This makes a big difference in what Latin term you should use. (Hopefully she hasn't gotten inked yet.)
So sorry for the delay. I’m not inked yet. I am a female so thank you all for suggesting the feminine version!
The third example you gave is what I meant. Wild/Free in the sense of a Wanderer, gypsy, traveller. To act as one wishes.
The word free might have been a better choice in wording for what I’m saying.
 
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Michael Zwingli

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Perhaps one word suffices: vagabunda = "rover."
That's not too bad an idea, but I get from the etymological sense of vagabunda, that the subject is someone who is wandering aimlessly, rather than going on unrestrictedly as they wish. This is because the root word, vagus, in addition to carrying through to vagabundus the meaning "wandering"/"strolling about", carries also the sense of "uncertain". But, not all wanderers are uncertain, as J.R.R. Tolkien indicated in his fairly well known aphorism: ".. not all who wander are lost..."
The third example you gave is what I meant. Wild/Free in the sense of a Wanderer, gypsy, traveller. To act as one wishes.
The word free might have been a better choice in wording for what I’m saying.
I kind of thought that you meant "free spirit" in saying "wild soul". Since that is the case, my opinion is that anima libera would come closest to that meaning. The Latin adjective liber(m)/libera(f) means "free, unchecked, unrestricted". Another suggestion: a nice, floridly cursive script always adds an air of femininity to such things...
 

Callaina

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Yes, anima libera sounds right to me as well given Madalyn's answer. Note that libera anima would work as well, if Madalyn prefers that order for any reason.
 
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