Expert: Maria - 5/1/2008

Question
QUESTION: I am going to put an inscription on my future Fiancé's engagement ring and I really want it to mean something special. I also want it to sound good (thus wanting it in Latin). Could you please translate the following. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your help.

Translations:
-I love you forever
-I love you for eternity
-I love you for infinity
-My love, for eternity


Thank you so much! I really appreciate it.
-Mike

ANSWER: Hello,

Here are the translations you asked me:

-“Te in aeternum amabo”
This translation corresponds either to “I love you forever “ or “I love you for eternity”.

-“Te infinite amo” (I love you for infinity)

-“Amor es meus, in aeternum” (My love, for eternity).

Best wishes to you and your fiancée,
Maria
______________________________________
Note that in “I love you forever / I love you for eternity”:

-TE  =you
-IN AETERNUM = forever/ for eternity
-AMABO (literally, I’ll love) = I love. Note that here Latin uses the future instead of the present.
………………………………………………………
In “I love you for infinity”:

-TE = YOU
-INFINITE (adverb) = for infinity
-AMO = I love
……………………………………………………………..
In “My love, for eternity”:

-MEUS = my
-AMOR  = love. Note that Latin adds the verb ES, meaning “ you are “ as  in “You are my love”.
-IN AETERNUM = for eternity


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you so much! I just have one followup question:

I chose "Amor es meus, in aeternum"
It just flows perfectly and I know she'll love it

I first am wondering about the pronunciation of the phrase.

From what I have gathered, it goes like this:
Ah-mor es may-us, in eter-num

mor- as in more
es - as in yes
eter- as in meter
num- as in number

Also is the ae in aeternum supposed to be æ (the ae put together) or does it matter?

Answer
Hello,

Glad to have helped you.

So here are some remarks on the pronunciation.

Please note that the A of AMOR is pronounced like the A in ‘father’  rather than the A in the interjection ‘ah’,  while the syllable MOR is pronounced like ‘mor’ in ‘more’, as you say.
In AMOR the stress stands on the A, of course.

Secondly, I think that  when you say that the verb ES is pronounced as in ‘yes’, you want to mean that ES  is pronounced like ‘es’ in ‘yes’, without the Y, of course.


Thirdly,  the possessive MEUS, whose stress falls on the E, is not pronounced like ‘may-us’, but as follows: the M like in ‘may’; the E like the first E in ‘ever’; the U like the ‘oo’ in ‘good’ or the U in ‘sound’; the S like in ‘sound’.

Finally,  the diphthong AE and the vowel E  in AETERNUM are pronounced not like ‘eter’ in ‘meter’, but like the first E in ‘ever’, while the T is pronounced like the T in ‘tone’ and the last syllable NUM is not pronounced as  in ‘number’, but as ‘num’ in ‘numeral’.
The accent of AETERNUM falls on the vowel E.

To conclude, the diphthong AE in AETERNUM  is the same as ‘æ’ put together .


Hope all is clear enough.
Best,
Maria