Dear BillTheEditor;

Nuts.

Well, that is too bad that the translator programs do not 'translate' properly.

Thank you for the effort!

I had wanted to translate: "Be respectful, these grounds are where heros walked."

Only other thought, is having someone in the Catholic Church, see if they could translate it properly.

Again, many thanks!

Respectfully,
Maria

Sorry, typo! My worst was saying "Groentjes"!

Mars

I had wanted to translate: "Be respectful, these grounds are where heros walked."

Respectfully,
Maria
[/quote]

Perhaps one of theses catches the spirit:

Veneratio is locus , hic vir ingredior: Respect this place, here heroes walked

Exsisto reverens , hic vir ingredior: Be reverent, here heroes walked

Vir ingredior hic , exsisto reverens: Heroes walked here, be reverent

Exsisto etiam , vir ingredior hic: Be still, heroes walked here

Exsisto etiam , in is terra vir ingredior: Be still, on this earth heroes walked

Exsisto etiam , hic vir ingredior: Be still, here heroes walked

hardyb has given you some good choices. There might be more eloquent ways to say it, but his are perfectly good.

You would need to find an old priest if you went to a church, and even that might not work. Seminaries haven't taught Latin since the 70's, and even back in the day, not all priests were adept at translating English into Latin (the usual problem was translating the Latin into English, which isn't as difficult). Some priests were (and are) brilliant Latin scholars, but most only got as good at Latin as they had to be. You may have heard the old student doggerel: "Latin is a dead language/it's plain enough to see/First it killed all the Romans/and now it's killing me." Not an easy language.

You could also find a Latin teacher in your local schools -- they do still teach Latin in the larger school districts, and the teachers are pretty good because they get lots of practice. Also they love the language, which is important.

I wish that were more the norm. Where I work it has become commonplace to end emails with the ending "Please advise. . .", especially from a superior to and inferior, or in any case where there is an expectation of an answer, complaint, etc. It seems rude to me, and at odds with what is normally a more respectful corporate culture.

I remember running across an article about letter ettiquite from the 1880s or some such, during a google search, and being surprised at how little our (American, at least) style of letter closings have changed. The generally approved closings were "Sincerly", "Yours Truly," "Very Truly Yours," etc. with "Respectfully Yours" only considered appropriate if it was too someone you wished to convey particular respect.

This book - The hand-book of letter-writing from 1861 (with apologies to those outside of the US who may be restricted from access to Google Books) - has some interesting closings. It is a selection of actual letters from actual people at the time, some of them very interesting (Dickens and a few other literary figures show up here). I like the professional closing of "Yours Faithfully" and the informal one "Ever Yours, en amitie (from a woman to her close friend).

I also like the correspondence between Queen Victoria and US President James Buchanan, particularly Victoria's response to the invitation for the Prince of Wales to visit the President at the White House during his visit to Canada and the US. The Queen begins the letter simply "My Good friend" and ends it "I remain ever, your good friend". It seemed so refreshingly cordial and without pretense, especially for a letter from a Royal.

John

Dear HardyB;

Thank you so very much!

Much appreciated!

Respectfully,
Maria

Dear BillTheEditor,

Good advice. Thank you very much!

Respectfully,
Maria

[/quote]

Perhaps one of theses catches the spirit:

Veneratio is locus , hic vir ingredior: Respect this place, here heroes walked

Exsisto reverens , hic vir ingredior: Be reverent, here heroes walked

Vir ingredior hic , exsisto reverens: Heroes walked here, be reverent

Exsisto etiam , vir ingredior hic: Be still, heroes walked here

Exsisto etiam , in is terra vir ingredior: Be still, on this earth heroes walked

Exsisto etiam , hic vir ingredior: Be still, here heroes walked
[/quote]

Begging to differ but the initial sense the seeker was looking for was a jussive subjunctive, wasn't it? And ingredior means 'to go into' rather than to walk (Ingredients 'go into' food--they don't walk!). And is still in the infinitive. Dagnabbit! These 'translation' sites really screw people up!

I don't have my grammar book with me, but noodling for a moment or two, here's what I came up with:

Reverens sit, viri hic incessi sunt. (You, be reverent--a subjunctive command if I remember aright--men here have walked.)

It's probably not in the spirit of perfect Latin to use the verb 'to be' twice, but the word order is suitably Latinate, from what I can remember from when I actually studied the dang language. In fact, looking at it, it might be better to have the second clause as pluperfect: "viri hic incessi fuerunt," though I don't think anyone would really quibble about the simple past instead, which I think sounds a bit better.

Am going to save you the trouble of beating me up for my oppressive dorkitude and will go pound my own head into doorframe. Sorry. I just think of poor Franz, my freshman year Latin TA and how he'd blotch up and get weepy if someone used the wrong verb tense..... You don't want to make Franz cry, do you!?

HK, who hates herself for being such a geek sometimes.

Dear hellkitty,

Thank you for your observations and comments.

My nephew's Japanese wife said the same thing as far as online translations. A person could get into real trouble. So, it seems with Latin also.

Respectfully,
Maria

Begging to differ but the initial sense the seeker was looking for was a jussive subjunctive, wasn't it? And ingredior means 'to go into' rather than to walk (Ingredients 'go into' food--they don't walk!). And is still in the infinitive. I don't have my grammar book with me, but noodling for a moment or two, here's what I came up with:

Reverens sit, viri hic incessi sunt. (You, be reverent--a subjunctive command if I remember aright--men here have walked.)

It's probably not in the spirit of perfect Latin to use the verb 'to be' twice, but the word order is suitably Latinate, from what I can remember from when I actually studied the dang language. In fact, looking at it, it might be better to have the second clause as pluperfect: "viri hic incessi fuerunt," though I don't think anyone would really quibble about the simple past instead, which I think sounds a bit better.

Don't let it bother you at all. I am just a barbarian and still washing the wode off.

Roma locuta est. Causa finita est - Rome has spoken. The cause is finished

I just received an email which closed, "me ka ha'a ha'a" which is Hawaiian for "yours with humility" (or "humbly yours").

Doug

That link is fantastic!

This the best one so far!! I may well use it.

I personally don't like religious ones as I find them offensive.

How about " Best wishes and Darwin for ever!!"

You make a good point about the poor translations. My screen name (Prodigo is totus), does not clearly translate from Latin to English. My intentions were to translate "spend it all", from English to Latin, but it seems the program used some items that could have several different meanings......

Scott

I just got a letter from another FPN snail-mailer that uses a closing I haven't seen before:

"See you at the mailbox."

Love it! I'll be using that myself, too.

My last "closing" to a friend who was marshalling at a 3-day (horse-riding) event in our "summer" was

"And may the length of your wellies exceed the depth of the puddles,"

Chris

I tend to put regards on business mail, other than that it's only letters to my fiancee... So it's usually something involving love.

Much love,

Much love and hugs

etc...

I liked one mentioned earlier, and came up with my own variation :

From my pen to your eyes...

But a great thread, and given me many ideas for the next batch of letters

Rich

Thanks for this link! What a dandy little book! I love old books like this.

Ever your faithful nib fellow,
Judybug

"Cheers big ears" to mates.

I look forward to hearing from you and I remain meanwhile,

Yours sincerely

ME! to business contacts