Expert: Maria - 11/13/2011

Question
I'm designing (or trying to design) a classy-looking card to send so far-flung family members can RSVP for a reunion. What I'd like to include as the event's motto is "Family is Everything" in the Latin that Julius Caesar would have used. Might make it a banner too; we'll see.

Answer
Hello,

"Family is Everything” can be translated as follows:

1-”Omnia est familia”  (literally, “Family is all things/everything”)

Or:

2-“Totum est familia” (literally, “Family is all / the whole”)

Both the above-mentioned  sentences  that  even Julius Caesar or Cicero would have used are correct and then you can choose the one you like better.

See parsing below.

All the best to you and your far-flung family,
Maria
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Note that:

-Family = FAMILIA (subject in the nominative case, 1st.declension)

-is = EST (3rd.person singular, present indicative of  SUM, I am)

-everything = OMNIA ( nominative neuter plural of the adjective/ pronoun OMNIS) or TOTUM (nominative neuter of TOTUS used as a substantive)

As you can see, Latin word order is different from English because  Latin is an inflected language where syntactical relationships are indicated by the endings, not by the order of the words.