Expert: Maria - 10/31/2005

Question
Hi, a friend of mine has asked me to look into a piece of latin that she's come across from a friend of hers.  The phrase is "Allum siempa in memoria mia".  It seems to have something to do with the family (their surname is Allum), but they don't know what.  I have a very rudimentary understanding of latin, so think the latter parts essentially mean "in memory of my" or "in rememberance of my" but will admit I could be very wrong!  I'm at a loss, though, about 'siempa', and can't find anything on the web.  Could you help?  Thanks in advance for any suggestions you can make.  

Answer
Hi,
I think that the correct phrase is in Latin "Allum semper (not ‘ siempa' ) in memoria mea (not ‘mia')”, which means :
“Allum (as a surname)  remains fresh in my memory” or
“Allum is imprinted in my memory”.

Best,
Maria
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-First of all, both 'siempa' and 'mia' do not exist in Latin where we have SEMPER and MEA.
Therefore:
-ALLUM  is the family surname
-SEMPER = literally, ‘always', i.e. “is imprinted “ or “remains fresh”.
-IN MEMORIA = in memory
-MEA= my