To me Latin is a very solemn language, in part no doubt because I would prefer to read ancient Roman authors like Virgil or Marcus Aurelius over someone like Ovid. But the language itself is emotional!
There are two Latin phrases I just learned that are... rather histrionic.
In Latin, please is "amabo te". That's literally translated as "I will love you". So when you ask your acquaintance to "please pass the salt" in Latin. You are really saying, "I will love you if you pass the salt".
And then, there's a common commencement of a letter, "Si vales, valeo"--- "If you are well I am well".
Clearly, the Romans were in need of some austere influence on their language!
2 comments:
That is so cool...I always thought Latin was a little...well, dead sounding.
Oh! Someone commented! :)
Well, it is a mostly dead language. ;)
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