English to latin translation needed.?

Question

I need an accurate translation of the phrase 'Heroes Die'. It is important that it's accurate as it is for a tattoo that I have thought long and hard about getting. The two translations I have come up with are:

Vir Intereo
and
Indigis Intereo.

I believe the latter of these two to be the most accurate as from what I understand 'vir' means man rather than hero, however, I'm not sure of the intricacies of latin and so I'm not sure if tenses apply. I would be most grateful to anyone who would be able to verify whether one of the above translations is accurate or offer a better translation. Many thanks.

Answer 1

First of all you should forget the 2 translations you've in yr hands since they are not at all correct. Aside the arguments brought by Caicos here above (with which I fully agree) the nouns Vir and Indigis are posted at the singular while heroes is plural. Also the verb intereo is not correct both for the meaning and also because is used at the indicative present 1st person sing. while 'dye' is the 3rd plural...!!

This said, instead of 'cadere' (that basically means 'to fall in battle'), I would rather use "perire" that has a wider meanig for "to die" and that has also originated the corresponding English verb 'to perish".
Hence my suggestion is "heroes pereunt".

Answer 2

The Romans lifted the word "heros" straight from the Greek. They did, in fact, admire things Greek exceedingly. "Vir" means an adult man worthy of the term, with manly attributes, and "indigis" appears to mean "tutelary god". I would stick to "heros", which has the meaning of demi-god.

"Die" presents a problem, as the normal verb mori is deponent, i.e. passive in form while active in meaning, with the result that "die" in this context would emerge as "are dead". Heroes are dead seems rather inane. I would therefore go for "cadere", "to fall", which is used for falling in battle.

My suggestion therefore is "heroes cadunt". I look forward to other suggestions.

Answer 3

try this free site

http://www.translation-guide.com/free_online_translators.php?from=English&to=Latin

but you will still need to work with the text