Expert: Maria - 11/19/2009

Question
I don't know if this will seem disrespectful to the Latin language, since it's for a joke-y phrase, but I thought I'd try.  My husband is deploying for the third time to Afghanistan soon and his soldiers are all VERY young this time.  At an informal poll at our holiday party we were discussing why most of them enlisted and the most common answer was "student loan repayment".  So my husband wants their motto to be along the lines of "God, Country, Student Loans" in Latin.  As you could imagine, it's difficult to find a suitable phrase online that translates into what a student loan payment actually *is* and it's only going to be funny if it's accurate.

(Full disclosure, I can't guarantee it wouldn't eventually be used as a tattoo but that's not the intention here - the guys routinely assign themselves their own mottos and phrases and even make informal patches or logos for stationary out of it.)

I appreciate your feedback and service!

Thanks,
Natalie Yates


Answer
Hello,

The phrase "God, Country, Student Loans", used as a joke-y phrase/motto, translates as follows into Latin:

-“Deus, Patria,  Mutua Alumnorum Pecunia”.

See below for grammatical analysis.

All the best to you, your husband and his soldiers,
Maria
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Note that:

-God = DEUS (nominative case, 2nd.declension)

-Country = PATRIA (nominative case, 1st.declension)

-Student = ALUMNORUM (genitive case of ALUMNUS, student). ALUMNORUM literally means “of the students”.

-Loans = MUTUA PECUNIA.
Note that MUTUA (feminine adjective agreed with PECUNIA) means  “borrowed/ lent”. PECUNIA (feminine noun, 1st.declension) means “money”. In Latin it’s better to use the singular instead of the plural “loans”.