Expert: Maria - 11/18/2009

Question
Maria, how would the famous phrase from Don Quixote, "There is more evil in the world than is dreamt of", translate into medieval Latin?

Answer
Hello,

Here’s the translation of “There is more evil in the world than is dreamt of":

-“Plus  est in terris mali quam mente conceptum est “

Regards,
Maria
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GRAMMATICAL ANALYSIS

-There is = EST (from SUM)
-more = PLUS(this neuter governs  the genitive MALI)
-evil = MALI (genitive of MALUM, 2nd.declension)
-in the world =  IN TERRIS (ablative plural of TERRA, 1st.declension)
-than= QUAM
-is dreamt of = MENTE CONCEPTUM EST

Note that Latin word order can be different from English. In Latin in fact  syntactical relationships are indicated by the inflexional endings, not by the order of the words.
Therefore it is not necessary to adhere to a strictly defined order.