Translation question- English to Latin.?

Question

I've been doing Geneology for my mother's family and have recently discovered that our family crest has the phrase "One must live." I'm intrested in getting this translated into Latin for a tattoo.

So, what is "One must live" in Latin?

Please, only answer if you're completely certain. I'm planning on getting this inked on my body, and I want to make sure it is correct.

Answer 1

Oportet vivere. ("It is necessary to live." "It behooves one to live.")

I wouldn't translate the "one" literally because using "one" to represent an impersonal/generic subject is something that is done in English but not in Latin or in Romance languages. It's much more common to use an impersonal verb conjugation (such as "oportet" meaning "it is necessary") than to try to translate "one" as a generic subject using a universal pronoun such as "unus" or "aliquis". Likewise in French, you can say "on doit vivre" ("one must live:), but it sounds much more authentic and more polished to say "il faut vivre" (" it is necessary to live").

In short, opt for a translation that sounds more authentic rather than a literal translation. If you're still not sure which one to choose, pick the top three and email them to a Latin professor at a local university to ask him to select the best translation (i.e. not necessarily the most literal translation). Just be sure to be polite when you ask, and you might consider offering him a small fee in exchange for his services. After all, professional translators get paid for their translations, and university professors have better things to do than sit around all day translating tattoos for for people. I mean, I don't blame you at all for seeking professional advice, but language professors get those kinds of requests all the time and resent being expected to translate things on the fly for no compensation. It's always wiser (and more polite) to treat a request for a translation as a business deal, even if it will only take him two minutes.

Best of luck!

Answer 2

You'd better just post the passage you want translated. I've seen some website translations from English into Latin, and the Latin they produce is really mangled!

Answer 3

Try e-mailing a Latin Language professor from a university.

Answer 4

I think it's Unus Sunt!


BUT ask the experts! http://experts.about.com/q/Ancient-Languages-2210/English-latin-translator.htm

Answer 5

Unus aversabilis vivo

Answer 6

There are so many different ways to say this

There is the hortatory subjunctive which would translate to let him live, he ought to live, would that he only live etc.

Unus viviat

One ought to live
one must live
one should live
one could live
let one live

Uni vivire necesse est.

It is necessary for one to live.

Another way of showing obilgation or necessity is through the supine, but that only works with verbs of motion and so we have no form viviu

vivium would be the supine meaning "with respect to the action of living"

Unus vivere debet.

One owes to live/ One is indebted to live/ One ought to live

Unus vivere optet

One should desire/wish/hope/choose to live

But quite possibly you are referring to the famous Latin inscription from Seneca the Younger in his Epistle # 48 (XLVIII):

"alteri vivas oportet, si vis tibi vivere."

"One must live for another if he is to live for himself"

If you don't know what your family's inscription is specifically, I would put this. Anything else is just making it up. Seneca has been quoted for centuries and we get such saying as "avoid the crowd" and "practice what you preach" from him (I'm serious).

******************
aliquis does not mean "one"; it means "somebody" or "someone" (literally some+who)
aliquid means "something" as in this quote by Terrance:

aliquid facerem, ut hoc ne facerem
"I would do anything that I might not do this"

also the Romans never used macrons.

The person above who put oportet vivere confirms my suspicions that it was taken from Seneca.

Oportet vivere translates litterally to mean: "One must to live"
vivere is the infinitive form

So now you have the full quote and the abbreviation!

Answer 7

It depends. If you want "one" as in someone or anyone, the word is "aliquis" (masc. or fem., you wouldn't use the neuter form as an in general b/c it means someTHING, i.e., not a person). If you mean "one" as in the number, i.e. an individual, it would be "unum" in general, "unus" (masc.) or "una" (fem.). As for "must live", well, first off, there is more than one word for "to live": vivo, vivere... or vitam ago, vitam agere... . The latter more means "to live one's life", but the former is more common in classical Latin. Since "must" makes it obligatory, the one way I can think to translate it would be to use the passive periphrastic, in which case literally it would mean "life must be done by one", but since that's awkward in English we would say "one must live". Because of this, we would want to use "vitam ago" as our verb, since 'ago, agere..." means to do, act, or live and "vitam" provides us a subject. All and all, "Vita agenda est ab aliquo" is about the best translation. Note: word order doesn't mean much in Latin, so the other reasonable way of phrasing it would be: "Vita ab aliquo agenda est". Also, the "ab", like many Latin prepositions, is optional. If you would rather use "unus, -a, -um" (as in 1) instead, the word would be "uno" (masc. and neut.) or "una" with a macron (line over the "a")(fem.). Lastly, as far as pronunciation is concerned, for my first translation it would be "weeta ahb ahlickquo agenda St", with the 'g" in "agenda" pronounced as the one in "guess", not "giraffe". I hope this helps!