Expert: Maria - 7/5/2011

Question
QUESTION: Hi I was just wondering if you could translate the following phrase into Latin

"may the angels walk with me"

Thank you heaps

ANSWER: Hello,

Here’s the translation you asked me:

“Mecum deambulent angeli!”

Best regards,
Maria
_______________________________________________________________
Note that:

-May...walk = DEAMBULENT (3rd.person plural, hortatory subjunctive of DEAMBULO, I walk)

-the angels = ANGELI (nominative plural of ANGELUS, 2nd.declension)

-with me = MECUM (composed of the personal pronoun ME in the ablative case + the preposition CUM, meaning “with”).

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


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for your help.

I have been trying over translator programs and keep getting

Angeli maii ambulabunt mecum

What does this mean compared to your translation?

Thanks

ANSWER: Hello,

“Angeli ambulabunt mecum“ does not correspond to "May the angels walk with me" as it means exactly :“The angels will walk with me” where there is the future “will walk”,i.e. “ambulabunt”, instead of  “May…walk” that translates correctly as “deambulent” in the hortatory subjunctive.

“May the angels walk” expresses in fact a desire or fervent wish that in Latin needs a hortatory subjunctive, i.e. DEAMBULENT or AMBULENT which is the same thing.

As for the word “maii” which appears in “Angeli maii ambulabunt mecum”,  I have to point out that “maii” would mean “of May”/ “of the month of May” as it is the genitive of Maius (May).

Therefore “maii” is absolutely wrong in the phrase “Angeli maii ambulabunt mecum” which should be translated as “The angels of May will walk with me” that sounds absolutely strange, of course!

Lastly, I can suppose that you wanted to write “mei” (nominative plural of the possessive “meus” meaning “my” agreed with "angeli").
In this case “Angeli mei ambulabunt mecum” would mean “My angels will walk with me” that does not correspond to "May the angels walk with me" expressing a desire or fervent wish, not a future.

In short, it is obvious that online translators are not reliable.

Best regards,
Maria


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Ok just to clarify

In Latin        Angeli mei ambulabunt mecum

Means in English. My angels will walk with me

Is this correct?

Thanks again

Answer

Yes, "Angeli mei ambulabunt mecum” means “My angels will walk with me” that however does not correspond to "May the angels walk with me" expressing a desire or fervent wish, not a future, as I've already said.

In short, if you want to say: “My angels will walk with me”, you can translate it as "Angeli mei ambulabunt mecum” or simply "Angeli ambulabunt mecum” where the possessive "mei" has been omitted as it is not necessary in Latin.

Regards,
Maria