Expert: Maria - 11/10/2008

Question
Would you be able to help me, I am looking to translate this phrase.   

Save me from myself my love and I will save you!

any help would be appreciated!

Thank you in advance
michael

Answer
Hello,

Here’s the translation you need:

-“Me a me ipso serva, amor ac deliciae meae, ac te ego ipse servabo!”, if this phrase is uttered by a male person.

-“Me a me ipsa serva, amor ac deliciae meae, ac te ego ipsa servabo!", if this phrase is uttered by a female person.

See below for grammatical analysis.

Best regards,
Maria
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-Save = SERVA (2nd.person singular, imperative of SERVO, I save)

-me = ME (1st. person pronoun in the accusative case)

-from = A (preposition which takes the ablative case)

-myself = ME (1st.person pronoun in the ablative ) IPSO (ablative masculine of the pronoun IPSE, myself)or IPSA (ablative feminine). Note that ME can be either an accusative or an ablative, according to the context.

-my = MEAE (feminine plural,  vocative case of the possessive MEUS agreed with DELICIAE)

-love = AMOR (vocative, 3rd.declension)AC DELICIAE (vocative plural feminine, 1st.declension). Latin uses both these nouns to express 'love'.

-and = AC

-I = EGO IPSE (nominative masculine)or  IPSA (nominative feminine)

-will save = SERVABO (future tense of SERVO)

-you = TE (2nd.person singular pronoun, accusative case).

Latin word order can be variable, since  Latin  is an inflected language where syntactical relationships are indicated by the endings of each term, not by the order of the words.