In "Bread and Circuses", we see a building with columns. Above the columns, there are words. They are: Honneur et Patrie .
What is this language? What do these words say in our language?
Posted by CaptainMike (Member # 709) on :
well since 892IV was supposed to be an alternate universe version of Rome, i assume that the language is Latin.
I speak a smattering of several Latinate languages, not the least of which is English (which used to be a good Germanic-Celtic language before those helmeted idiots watered it down with Latin), so i think i can figure it out
honneur looks like honor
is et 'and'?
patri- as a prefix mean father
ok, any real scholars want to take over at this point?
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
I think you'll find it's French. Probably recycled the set from something else, likely Mission Impossible. It's certainly not Latin.
Posted by Grokca (Member # 722) on :
Patrie is home or country in french but the honneur word is not french are you sure of the spelling?
Posted by Grokca (Member # 722) on :
You can try yourself.
Posted by OnToMars (Member # 621) on :
Honor and country.
That's a guess though. As 'honor' is spelled all funkily and 'country' is patria, not patrie.
Well, not really a guess as I'm fairly positive that's what the producers intended to put up there. However, if it's meant to be actual Earth Latin, then it's wrong.
[ December 25, 2001: Message edited by: OnToMars ]
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
dulce et decorum est pro patria mori ...for all you Lit-heads out there
En francais, honneur etait "honor" et patrie etait "fatherland." Cette mots n'est pas latines. La th�orie que cette immeuble �tait de "Mission: Impossible" c'est int�ressant.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
So in Alternate Rome, Latin evolves into French? Curious.
[ December 25, 2001: Message edited by: Sol System ]
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Didn't the planet just have a predominant Roman culture... maybe the place where the episode took place was in the equivalent Gallicia?
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
Gallicia being the area of Eastern Europe next to Ruthenia, I don't quite think so If you mean Gaul, well, didn't they speak Latin there until long after the fall of the Empire? While I imagine French did have its roots as a provincial dialect of Latin, I doubt it would naturally have arisen while under Roman hegemony.
Still waiting to establish what "honour" is in Latin. If it's indeed "honneur" the question of patria vs. patrie may well have been a production goof.
[ December 26, 2001: Message edited by: The_Tom ]
Posted by OnToMars (Member # 621) on :
It most likely is. I doubt the producers put in that much effort into it, so far to say: "Hey, lets alter the spelling just a little bit to demonstrate that it's not exactly the same world, even though all the more obvious sets, costumes, and characters are identical." I just don't see it happening
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
The Latin word for "honor" is... you'd better sit down for this one... "honor".
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
Actually, Tim, it would probably be "honour."
Anyway, um, so, that means that column was very much French, and correct French, at that.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I'm not sure whether you're joking or not, but it really is "honor". And the Latin for "color" is "color". I don't know where the Brits picked up that 'u', but it wasn't from Latin. Probably the French did it, actually. Fortunately, we of the US had enough sense to revert back to the correct form. :-)
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
Well, I guess "HONOVR" would look somewhat silly, yes.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Does the diphthong "ou" even exist in Latin? I wouldn't think anytime it occured, the 'u' would be a consonant.
Posted by OnToMars (Member # 621) on :
No it doesn't. Anything dealing with a U was just U, though it was shaped like the V. I can't ever recall seing an 'ou' in Latin.
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
If you mean Gaul, well, didn't they speak Latin there until long after the fall of the Empire? While I imagine French did have its roots as a provincial dialect of Latin, I doubt it would naturally have arisen while under Roman hegemony.![[Smile]](smile.gif)