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You are here: Experts > Homework Help > Latin Language > Latin > Motto
Expert: Maria - 9/6/2008
Question
Hi
The motto of the California Maritime Academy is ‘laborare pugnare parati sumus’ – ‘to work, (or) to fight; we are ready’. However, I was wondering what the translation would be for ‘to work, (or) to fight; I am ready’? Would it simply be ‘laborare pugnare parati sum’?
Many thanks
Answer
Hello,
Your slight variation of the motto of the California Maritime Academy ‘Laborare pugnare parati sumus’ contains only one mistake, that is “parati” in “parati sum”.
You in fact should have written “paratus” in the nominative masculine singular and thus the phrase should have been as follows:
“Laborare pugnare paratus sum”, just meaning “To work (or) to fight I am ready’, where "ready" refers to a male person.
This because in Latin -differently from English- the adjectives change case, number and gender, as they must agree with the noun/ pronoun they refer to (see below).
Best,
Maria
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Note that in Latin the adjective “ready” translates as:
-PARATUS, if it refers to a nominative masculine singular;
-PARATA , if it refers to a nominative feminine singular;
-PARATI, if it refers to a nominative masculine plural;
-PARATAE, if it refers to a nominative feminine plural.
Finally note that in "Laborare pugnare parati sumus":
-LABORARE (infinitive of LABORO) = to work
-PUGNARE (infinitive of PUGNO) = to fight
-PARATI (nominative masculine plural of PARATUS) = ready
-SUMUS (from SUM, I am) = we are.
In "Laborare pugnare paratus sum’ :
-LABORARE (infinitive of LABORO) = to work
-PUGNARE (infinitive of PUGNO) = to fight
-PARATUS (nominative masculine plural of PARATUS) = ready
-SUM(from SUM) = I am
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