Expert: Maria - 1/19/2011

Question
Could you please translate this phrase (motto) into Latin:  "To live and die for truth".  Thank you :-)

Answer
Hello,

Here’s the translation you asked me:

“Veritati vivere ac mori”

Best regards,
Maria
______________________________________
Note that:

-To live = VIVERE (present infinitive of VIVO, I live)

-and = AC

-die = MORI (present infinitive of the deponent verb MORIOR, I die)

-for truth = VERITATI (dative of the purpose of the noun VERITAS, 3rd.declension)

As you can see, Latin word order can be variable, since Latin is an inflected language where syntactical relationships are indicated by the endings of each term, not by the order of the words.