Re: CHAT Latin sig? (was: Conlang Flags)

On Tuesday, September 7, 2004, at 01:48 , Shanthanu Bhardwaj wrote:

> Hi,
>        I am just starting to learn Latin from the net and found the
> phrase
Good luck. But be careful about sites. I have found some dreadful things
on the Net on various languages. But I would be happy to answer any
queries.

> ``Quidquid latine ... viditur'' on a site translated as
> ``Whatever has been said in Latin sounds profound''.
Fairly good translation, except "videtur" is more strictly 'seems'.

> I was not sure
> about the metaphorical sense of altus and assumed that it is always used
> in the sense of profound.
It has a few metaphorical uses - but 'profound' is certainly one of them.

>    So would it be grammatically correct to say : ``Quidquid latine
> dictum, altum videtur'' ?
It would in a short sentence meant to be used as a sort of motto. If you
want to put the 'has been said' in full it would be "dictum est".

> If one intends to mean only (b) then what
> should `altum' be substituted by?
To be honest, I wouldn't worry. The word is IMO suitably ambiguous; I mean
'lofty/noble' and 'profound' don't contradict in this context. Indeed,
they arguably enhance the meaning.

In English we also using 'profound' in a metaphorical sense. Metaphors
seldom map exactly from one language to another.

I've checked some other Latin possibilities for 'profound' in this sense &
all have other associations. I think on reflection, 'altus' is probably
the best. See John Cowan below.

> Thanks for the correction,
You're welcome. As I said above, if you want to check anything you can
mail me off-list.

> John Cowan wrote:
[snip]
> >Or to look at it less anglocentrically, "altus" means that something
> >is large in its vertical extension: the difference between "high"
> >and "deep" is simply whether you are standing at the bottom or the
> >top of the object respectively. Lojban "condi" has the same sense.
>
Yep, and the same applies to the metaphorical uses. I was being far too
anglocentric.

'altus' means that some thought/word/concept is large in its extension
beyond the ordinary & commonplace. Whether we consider the
thought/word/concept is 'lofty' (i.e. way above us) or 'profound' (i.e.
down there in [hidden] depths) depens upon our view point.

Ray
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"They are evidently confusing science with technology."
UMBERTO ECO				September, 2004