Re: Translation Question For Latin

At 11:41 pm -0600 3/1/99, Tom Wier wrote:
>Arek Bellagio wrote:
>
>> I'm starting a story/novel, and its premise is probably going to be pretty
>> dark and secretive.
>> I need some help from those of you out there who are fluent in Latin (or can
>> easily translate) to give me help with the following titles I've been
>> considering:
>
>Sounds like something the resident former Latin teacher, Raymond
>Brown,could help with
>this.
OK.

>> By Plan and By Weapons
>> (I think this one is Consilio Et Armis.. am I right?)
>
>Perhaps better:  Consilio Armisque
Yep - just what I was going to suggest  ;-)

And at 11:11 pm -0500 3/1/99, Sam Bryant wrote:
>
>>Conspiracy Of Attack
>Coniuratio impetus. (with a long /u:s/
'coniuratio' certainly is "conspiracy".  Latin has several synonyms for
attack (common occupation of the legions :-)   'impetus' is good, one could
also have:
coniuratio aggressus  [again with long /u:s/ ]
coniuratio oppugnationis

All three have, perhaps, a late Latin or medieval ring as classical Latin
was less fond of abstract nouns.  It might be more classical to use the
genitive of the gerund of a verb "to attack", e.g.
coniuratio aggrediendi
coniuration oppugnandi    [my preference FWIW]

>
>>Accomplises Of Conspiracy
>Socii Coniurationis.
Yep.

> >Behind Closed Doors
>Pone ianuas clausas.
'pone' surprised me - the preposition is both anteclassical and
postclassical; in the classical period 'post' was almost invariably the
preposition used and, of course, continued throughout subsequent periods,
so:

'Post ianuas clausas' would be more usual, but if a less usual phrase is
wanted then 'pone ianuas clausas' is fine.  One can also have the typical
Latinate word order where the prep. comes between adjective & noun: clausas
post ianuas/ clausas pone ianuas.

>>Multi-Faceted Plan
>Plan is <consilium>, but I'm not sure about multifaceted. Cassell's gives
><multiplex> and <varius> (they would be multiplex and varium respectively
>to agree with consilium) "multifarious" and <multiformis> (multiforme to
>agree) "multiform". None of these seem very ominous-sounding.
'varium' seems weak to me for "multifaceted".  I guess some word compounded
with multi- is propbably what is wanted.
consilium multiplex - having many folds (literal), many windings, having
many parts, fickle, inconstant [Cicero writes 'multiplex et tortuosum
ingenium' "a 'multiplex' and twisting character"]

consilium multiforme - having many shapes, diverse, fickle.
consilium multifarium - manifold, various [not so good, I think]

Why not use the Ciceonian phrase as a model and have: multuplex et
tortuosum consilium?
'tortuosus' literally means "winding, full of turns" and then comes to be
used also metaphorically to mean: "involved, complicated, confused".  But
since 'winding' or 'twisting' was used as a method of torture, the word
also developed the meaning "painful, torturing" at an earlier date.

>
>>Multi-Faceted Lie
>Lie is <mendacium>, agreement would be the same.
Yep - 'medacium' is indeed lie - and the same considerations apply for
multifaceted.

Ray.