A Place of Brightness: one does not simply walk into Mordor

Thursday, February 25, 2016

One Does Not Simply Walk Into Mordor: Latin Translations

"One does not simply walk into Mordor!"
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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In Saecula Saeculorum, the 4th Novel in the Valquist Series

In this fourth novel of the Valquist Series, Andrew Valquist is retired (?) from the National Security Agency and teaching Latin at a Classical Academy in the Washington DC area. But in the world of espionage, looks can be deceiving. He's not necessarily happy with the role he has played in all this, but the school was actually a joint NSA/MI-6 Project in which four young people have been unwittingly prepared for a mission to travel back in time to ancient Rome to retrieve information from a library that may save the modern world from certain destruction. They know they have to at least try to save humanity, but can they also save each other?

Next Stop: Spanish, the 3rd Novel in the Valquist Series

This third novel in the Valquist Series can be read as an espionage action-adventure in its own right, but also you can use it as a way to either brush up on your Spanish or learn functional Spanish for the first time! John Valquist needs to learn Spanish. But he's in luck, since his uncle Andrew is a language expert and a former (?) spy who is taking him on a vacation to Spain so he can study the language. In Next Stop: Spanish, you have the chance to see and study the words John studies, and then watch him add more and more Spanish into his dialogue as the story progresses. During this vacation, they get pulled into espionage intrigue (why do these things always happen to the Valquist family?). In the dramatic conclusion, John will need to put together everything he has learned to save his uncle!

Amor Vincit Omnia: the 2nd Novel in the Valquist Series

In this second novel of the Valquist Series, Keith Massey takes you into the halls of the National Security Agency, where he himself worked for four years after 9/11 and an Arabic linguist. You follow our hero Andrew Valquist, as he starts work as a new recruit at the NSA. Little does he know that on his first on the job, he's about to fly off on an unexpected overseas assignment. He'll be even more surprised when he learns that his background in ancient Latin will be crucial to the mission!