Expert: Maria - 9/29/2006

Question
Maria,

thanks so much for your time. I heard that there is a latin phrase engraved on the floor of the main building at princeton Seminary when translated means
"Don't let the bastards get you down"

Would you be able to tell me exactly what it says and if you don't know could you translate this phrase for me?

Thank you.

-dan

Answer
Hello,

First of all in classical Latin there are two ways to translate the phrase “Don't let the bastards get you down“.
Here they are:

1-“Noli sinere te ab improbis  opprimi “.

2-“Noli   arrogantium  iniurias  pati “


There is however a well-known dog Latin phrase(i.e. not true Latin) which is perhaps the inscription you refer to.  It reads:

“Illegitimis non  carborundum”.

This sentence however  is nothing but a hodgepodge of two Latin terms ( ILLEGITIMIS, literally meaning ‘the bastards’ as ‘illegitimate children’, and NON meaning ‘not’) +  a  nonexistent word, i.e. CARBORUNDUM , which  does not exist at all  in Latin and therefore has no meaning.

It seems that  such a  phrase, though absolutely wrong in Latin,  was popularized when U.S. general Joseph W. "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell (1883-1946) adopted it as his motto.

Best,
Maria
___________________________________________________________
NOTA BENE
* Don't let the bastards get you down.

-Don't let  = NOLI  SINERE /  NOLI PATI

-the bastards = AB IMPROBIS / ARROGANTIUM  INIURIAS

-get you down = TE OPPRIMI


**As for DOG LATIN, it  refers to “ the creation of a phrase or jargon in imitation of Latin, often by directly translating English words (or those of other European languages) into Latin without conjugation or declension”.