Thanks so much for your help. Can you give me the literal translation of those two ablative phrases and explain what you mean by the classical expressions? I just want to ensure that I know what the literal translation, even if figuratively-- the phrase means whatever it takes to get the job done....
Hope that makes sense. Thanks again for your help.
Maura
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Followup To
Question -
Hi Maria,
My name is Maura and I am Marine officer deployed in Iraq. Took Latin 8 years ago and loved it-- but I am a little rusty... I'm trying to translate our battalion's motto: "Whatever it takes" into Latin.. the meaning behind this is that our battalion will do "whatever it takes" to accomplish the mission.
Thanks so much for your help. Much appreciated.
Sincerely, Maura
Answer -
Hi Maura,
Glad to help you.
So, the literal translation of your battalion's motto "Whatever it takes" is:
“Quidquid necesse est”.
where QUIDQUID is ‘whatever' and NECESSE EST is ‘it takes'.
Anyway you could also use the following classical expressions in the ablative case as they both mean exactly that your battalion will do ‘whatever it takes' to accomplish the mission”.
1-“Summa ope”.
or:
2-“Omni ope atque opera”.
Hope all is clear enough.
Feel free however to ask me again.
All the best
Maria
Answer Hello again Maura,
Here's the literal translation of “Summa ope” and “Omni ope atque opera” :
-“With utmost might and ability”.
-“With the utmost efforts”.
-“With the greatest exertion”.
-“To the utmost of our power and ability “.
In short, both “Summa ope” and “Omni ope atque opera” mean exactly “whatever it takes to get the job done....”.
Please note that:
-SUMMA( or OMNI ) is ‘with utmost”/ “with greatest'
-OPE ( or OPE ATQUE OPERA) is “might and ability”/ efforts/ exertion/power and ability.
I must add that both “Summa ope” and “Omni ope atque opera” have the same meaning, as well as other classical expressions like “Summo studio” and “Summa contentione” we read in Cicero, where SUMMO/SUMMA is ‘with utmost”/ “with greatest', while STUDIO/ CONTENTIONE is “might and ability”/ efforts/ exertion/power and ability.
The variant SUMMO/ SUMMA is due to the nouns STUDIO which is neuter, and CONTENTIONE which is feminine, as in Latin the adjectives must agree in case, gender and number with the noun to which they refer.
So, besides “Summa ope” and “Omni ope atque opera”, you can use also "Summo studio" or "Summa contentione", if you
want, as they too mean “whatever it takes to get the job done....”.
As for what I mean by the classical expressions, I have to point out that classical Latin is the Latin language of the Golden Age (broadly the 1st century BC), i.e. a polished written literary language used by the principal exponents of that language in what is usually regarded as 'classical' Latin literature (see Cicero, Caesar, etc.)
