Expert: Maria - 4/27/2008

Question
Hello Maria.  I'm making a walking stick for my wife on our 30th wedding anniversary.  I'd like to engrave the ferrule with,  "A walking stick for Dolly; the only known use for a Pissard's Plum. April 2008"  The tree is Prunus Pissardii and Dolly is her nickname.  I am most grateful for any help you can offer.

Answer
Hello,

The only one possible translation of your dedication is the following:

“Pruniceum hoc baculum tibi dono,Dolly. Mense Aprili, Anno Domini  MMVIII “[ literally “I give you, Dolly, this walking stick made of plum wood’. April 2008”.]

No other translation would be correct, first because the nickname  “Dolly” cannot be translated, unless we use the Latin noun “pupa” just meaning ‘doll’; second because the name “Prunus Pissardii “ does not belong to classical Latin, but was coined much later, and then I used the adjective ‘pruniceus’ (neuter, ‘pruniceum’) just meaning ‘made of plum wood’ in general.

See below for grammatical analysis.

Congratulations on your 30th wedding anniversary and best wishes to you and your wife,
Maria
______________________________________________________
-PRUNICEUM (accusative neuter  of the adjective PRUNICEUS agreed with BACULUM) = made of plum wood’

-HOC (accusative neuter  of HIC, agreed with BACULUM)  = this

-BACULUM (accusative neuter, 2nd.declension) = walking stick  

-TIBI  (dative) = you

-DONO = I give

-MENSE APRILI ( ablative of time)= April

-ANNO (ablative of time) = in the year

-DOMINI (genitive of DOMINUS) = of the Lord

-MMVIII (Roman numeral) = 2008

As you can see, Latin word order is different from English.