Boromir, Fellowship of the Ring
When faced with the task of translating a classic quote such as this popular meme, you could just go literal with something along the lines of:
quidam non simpliciter in Mordorem ambulat.
It would seem that just adding 3rd declension endings to Mordor is best, along the lines of mercator, mercatorem.
But I always prefer, if possible, to translate a phrase into more authentic Latin by using the vocabulary of some similar quote.
There are two quotable quotes that come to mind here. First we have Vergil's:
sic itur ad astra.
Thus it is gone to the stars.
Aeneid 9.641
Using this idiom, one would then Latinize the meme as follows:
Non Itur Simplicter ad Mordorem.
Another quote along the lines of describing a very difficult journey is given to us by Seneca the Younger:
non est ad astra mollis e terris via.
There is no easy way from Earth to the stars.
Hercules Furens 437
If we choose this quote as our starting point, we would Latinize the meme into:
Non Est Ad Mordorem Mollis e Rivendellensi Via.
Since Rivendell is where Boromir was when he spoke the line, and from which the Fellowship of the Ring set out on their impossible journey, I used it in place of terris. the -ensis (ablative -ensi) suffix was commonly added to place names, especially settlements, when one needed to Latinize a foreign word. That's what we see, for instance, in the official seal of my Alma Mater:
Sigillum Universitatis Wisconsinensis.
More Latin renderings of memes to come. Stay tuned.
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