Expert: Maria - 12/4/2007

Question
hi ive tried translating the quote 'never lose hope' ive come up with 'numquam abscondo specula' but im almost certin it is wrong if you could give me the correct translation it would be very much appreciated
stacey

Answer
Hello,

The best translation of “Never lose hope” is a  quote from the ‘Distichs of Cato’, a Latin collection of proverbial wisdom, where we read :

“Spem retine ” just meaning “Retain hope” , i.e. “Never lose hope” whose literal translation would not sound so good in Latin, since Latin prefers the phrase in the affirmative instead of in the negative which however would be "Spem umquam perdere noli" or better "Noli umquam desperare"(see below for grammatical analysis).

If you want, you can add an adverb to "Spem retine" and then say "Spem retine semper" (Retain hope always").

As for “Numquam abscondo specula”, I’m sorry, but it is absolutely wrong as the only one correct word is “numquam”( never).

Best regards,
Maria
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1-GRAMMATICAL ANALYSIS

-SPEM (accusative of SPES, 5th.declension) = hope
-RETINE (imperative, 2nd.person singular, from RETINEO) = retain

-UMQUAM = Never. Note that NUMQUAM (never) becomes UMQUAM as in the phrase there is another negative term (NOLI from NOLO, I don't want)

-NOLI  PERDERE (negative  imperative)  = lose

-SPEM = hope

As for "Noli umquam desperare", note that:

-NOLI DESPERARE = lose spem. The verb DESPERARE means in fact "to lose hope"/ to despair".
-UMQUAM = never


2-See “The Distichs of Cato”, book II, 25:
"Rebus in adversis animum submittere noli.
Spem retine. Spes una hominem nec morte relinquit"