Expert: Maria - 9/9/2011

Question
my family does not have a motto or crest, and i thought it would b great to start one and give my descendants direction. My family comes from a portugese speaking country so i have an admiration for the latin language
The motto i was trying for is
To perfect oneself against all odds
How would i translate that to latin?

Answer
Hello,

“To perfect oneself against all odds” can be translated as follows:

1-“Se nihilominus perfectum reddere” (literal)

2-“Ad perfecta nihilominus pervenire” (meaning “To come to perfection against all odds)

3-“Perfectionem nihilominus assequi” (meaning “To reach perfection against all odds).

All the above mentioned sentences are correct, of course.

So, you can choose as a  family motto the one you like best.

Kind regards,
Maria
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Note that:

-To perfect = PERFECTUM (accusative of PERFECTUS agreed with SE) REDDERE (infinitive of REDDO)
-oneself = SE (reflexive pronoun in the accusative case)
-against all odds = NIHILOMINUS (adverb)


-To come= PERVENIRE (infinitive of PERVENIO, I come)
-to perfection = AD (preposition which takes the accusative) PERFECTA (accusative neuter plural of PERFECTUM)
-against all odds= NIHILOMINUS (adverb)



-To reach = ASSEQUI (infinitive of ASSEQUOR, I reach)
-perfection = PERFECTIONEM (direct object, accusative singular of PERFECTIO, 3rd.declension)
-against all odds = NIHILOMINUS (adverb)


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