Expert: Maria - 6/9/2006

Question
A couple quick Latin translation questions for you:

First, how does one say "Attention!" or "Attention, please!" in Latin?

Second, how does one say "After 3 pm..." or simply "3 pm" in Latin?

Thanks a lot.  

Answer
Hello,

“Attention!” and “Attention, please!” can be translated as follows:

1-“Attendite!” and “Attendite, quaeso!”, if you want to say that people must pay attention, i.e. listen to someone or something.

2- “Cavete!” and “Cavete, quaeso!”, if you want to point out that people must  be on guard,  be cautious, exert caution,  beware of someone or something.

Both ATTENDITE and CAVETE are in the imperative, 2nd.person plural, if  this warning  / exhortation is addressed to many persons.
If on the contrary you are talking to only one person, you must say: ATTENDE (2nd.person singular) and CAVE (2nd. person singular).
Finally ATTENDE/ ATTENDITE or CAVE/ CAVETE mean “attention”, while QUAESO means ‘please’.

As for “After 3 pm..." , you must say :“ Post horam nonam “, while  "3 pm “ is  “Hora nona”.
This in classical Latin since the day was divided into 12 hours from dawn to sunset and 12 hours from sunset to dawn.
Therefore “3 pm” is ‘Hora nona” as we must start from ‘6 am’ and compute the first hour from ‘6 am’ to ‘7 am’, the second hour from 7 am’ to ‘8 am’, etc.
This is the reason why ’3 pm’ is the ninth hour or sometimes the tenth hour (Hora decima), as daylight is shorter at certain times of the year and longer at others.  Therefore for the Romans, the length of an hour varied by the season.

Hope all is clear enough.
Best,
Maria