Expert: Maria - 9/16/2008

Question
I'm getting the phrase 'courage to follow any direction' inscribed on a bracelet for my sister, but my rough translation doesn't seem to flow. What are your thoughts and critiques of 'Virtus ad quocumque contendum'

Answer
Hello,

The correct translation of “Courage to follow any direction” is the following:

-“Audacia quocumque eundi“(literally, “courage to go anywhere“).

See below for grammatical analysis.

Best,
Maria
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GRAMMATICAL ANALYSIS

-Courage = AUDACIA (nominative case, 1st. declension).
Note that AUDACIA indicates the courage which  induces us to try to follow any direction,i.e. to go anywhere,  while VIRTUS means mostly “valour”, “bravery”.

-to follow = EUNDI (genitive gerund of the verb EO, I go)

-any direction = QUOCUMQUE (adverb of motion).

As for your translation 'Virtus ad quocumque contendum', I’m sorry, but it is wrong.

Note in fact that:

-“Virtus” is grammatically correct, but lexically unfit.

- “contendum”  does not exist in Latin.
Maybe you wanted to say “ad contendendum” which is the accusative gerund of the verb CONTENDO, but in this context you should have used the genitive gerund, i.e. “contendendi” which however is less good than “eundi”.