Expert: Maria - 1/14/2010

Question
I'm trying to use latin in the title of a paper i am writing.  I wanted the title to either say simply "pride" or to say "I am pride" or " I am prideful"  Using pride or prideful in the pejorative sense of a person having too much pride.  

Thank you for you're help.  

Answer
Hello,

The noun “pride" in the pejorative sense of a person having too much pride  translates as “ superbia” or “arrogantia”,  both in a bad sense of  “Pride, loftiness, haughtiness, as the proud, lordly bearing arising from a consciousness of supposed superiority”.

Anyway as a title of a paper I would  choose SUPERBIA (feminine nominative case, 1st,declension).

Note that in Latin a title of a paper or whatever can be translated either in the nominative case or in the ablative case plus the preposition DE.
For example: “De superbia” literally meaning “On pride” as you are talking about pride.

As for the sentence "I am pride/prideful", it translates as  follows:

-"Superbus sum”, if the adjective “pride/prideful” refers to a male subject.
-“Superba sum”, if the adjective “pride/prideful” refers to a female subject.

Note that “I am” corresponds to SUM, while “pride/prideful” is SUPERBUS in the nominative masculine/ SUPERBA in the nominative feminine.

Have a nice day,
Maria