areteus (areteus) wrote in little_details,
areteus
areteus
little_details

Latin translations

I have a typical scientist's knowledge of Latin. Which basically amounts to knowing a bit of vocabulary because they happen to be the name for something biological. Now, there are online translators and real world dictionaries I can use to get what I want but I cannot guarantee that these will give me *exactly* what I want. i.e. a translator or a dictionary will give me the right words but not the right grammar and, in some cases, even the right phrase (I am thinking here of situations where the culture of the place where the language comes from does not have a direct translation of certain phrases such as the french who have a different way of saying 'it is raining cats and dogs' so a direct, literal translation of 'it is raining cats and dogs' is completely wrong).

So, I am looking for appropriate phrases in Latin for a character to use. I am not bothered what the exact phrases are (for the reasons above) as I want it to be reasonably authentic for an early AD Roman soldier. There are some examples of the sort of things he may say in this context, however...

"You are my love, my life, we are destined to be together." sort of sums up what he wants to say. BUt

As an additional thing, anyone out there know anything about ancient Roman courting rituals? How would they Romance or seduce someone? Would they do this? I have found some examples of Latin love poetry which is from around the right period (which has already been used in a previous scene) but what *would* a Roman say to a woman he wanted to make his?

Thanks in advance for any help...
Tags: roman republic & empire, ~languages: latin
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