Expert: Maria - 3/20/2009

Question
Hi,

One of my dear friends is struggling with an illness as of late and I want to
give her a diary with a personalized text on the cover. The text has to be
personal to her, without instantly giving it away to everybody else. This is why
I would like to have the text translated to latin, but unfortunately I don't
speak latin. I really hope you can help me out?

I have been struggling with the exact translation from dutch (i'm dutch) to
english, so that you will hopefully be able to translate it to latin. It consists of
three little phrases:

"Eternal internal battle"
"Always struggling"
"Always hoping"

Thank you in advance for any help you can get,

Hanna  

Answer
Hello Hanna,

Glad to help you.

So, here are the translations you asked me:

-"Eternal internal battle" = “Intimum aeternum certamen”

-“Always struggling" = “Semper certans”, if “struggling” is used as a participle present. Otherwise “Certare semper”, if “struggling” is used as an infinitive (to struggle).

-"Always hoping" = Semper sperans”, if “hoping” is used as a participle present. Otherwise “Sperare semper”, if “hoping” is used as an infinitive (to hope).

All the best to you and your friend,
Maria
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Note that:

-Eternal = AETERNUM (nominative neuter of the adjective AETERNUS agreed with CERTAMEN)

-internal = INTIMUM (nominative neuter of INTIMUS  agreed with CERTAMEN)

-battle = CERTAMEN (neuter, 3rd.declension)

____________________________________________

-Always = SEMPER

-struggling = CERTANS (participle present of CERTO, I struggle) / CERTARE (infinitive)

-hoping = SPERANS (participle present of SPERO, I hope) / SPERARE (infinitive)