The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #63406 Message #1031113
Posted By: HuwG
07-Oct-03 - 06:17 AM
Thread Name: Help: Latin phrase?
Subject: RE: Help: Latin phrase?
How about,
"Caesar had some jam for tea Brutus 'ad a rat Caesar sick in omnibus Brutus sick in hat"
or, more properly
"Caesar adsum iam forte Brutus aderat Caesar sic in omnibus Brutus siccinat"
The closest translation I ever managed was :
"By chance, I, Caesar, have now arrived Brutus was here before I, Caesar, am thus concerned in all matters Brutus being exhausted".
I am not one hundred percent certain about the verb "siccinare". There is an on-line latin dictionary, Little Rome which gives it as "dry, drain, exhaust", but I suspect that it is transitive. (In which case, the last line should read, "Brutus se siccinat" = "Brutus exhausts himself". This spoils the rhyme and English meaning. I suppose we can take the reflexive meaning of the verb for granted if there is no direct object.)