Can you translate this into Latin?
Asked by
metadog (
381)
June 8th, 2012
“I lift things up and put them down.”
This is the phrase from the Planet Fitness commercial. I want to put it on a shirt for my bodybuilder friend. Please be nice.
Thanks!
-M
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16 Answers
Response moderated (Unhelpful)
Ego levo res sursum quod loco res down.
I lift things up & put things down
@Trillian
I don’t understand that sentence at all. “To give”, “weight”, “sufficient”, “I smoke”?
@SpatzieLover
Bit too literal. And “down” isn’t Latin. :P But a good start.
I’d make it: “Res levo et repono.” (I lift up and put back things.)
I’m still looking for a better verb to express “to put down”.
“Res levo et in solum pono”? I lift things up and put them on the floor? Bit clumsier, but somewhat more precise.
Ego elevat et demittere eos.
Ego levo quae et demittere eos.
I elevate and lower things.
I lift things up and lower them.
@gailcalled
That verb agreement ain’t right. It would have to be elevo and demitto.
Quae is a pronoun, not a noun. It can apparently mean “something” after certain conjunctions, but not here, I think. I’d really recommend res. Or some noun, at least.
Also, in Latin, subject pronouns are normally dropped. You wouldn’t say “ego” unless you want to stress “I (and not someone else)”.
Combining these ideas, I’d say: “Res elevo et demitto” (I lift up and put down things).
Or maybe “Res elevo et eas demitto” (I lift things up and put them down). The second seems more literal, but again, this is a language where pronouns are usually left out, so I think the first would sound more natural to… um… an actual ancient Roman.
Am I taking this too seriously?
No, (and you are not cheating by using Google, which turns out to be a very bad idea.)
MIlo declares that you get the trophy.
I’m going to call it a team effort.
But you got the agreement right, which I should have remembered after two years of Latin.
I was going to say “tollo et depono”.
Lots of different ways to say things in Latin. “Elevo” might be better than “tollo”, though, because “tollo” often has the connotation of “remove”, rather just “lift up”.
I’ll let you know as soon as I can find my latin books from high school. Veni vedi vici mates!
Thanks, guys! This is awesome!
Response moderated (Spam)
“And I will lift of the things to put?” Seems you’ve got the right words, but the grammar is wonky.
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