Auxilium Interpretibus

Latin Specific Issues

Grammar Issues

• All islands are considered small, and therefore all use the locative case. This extends to towns and cities as well.

Style

We follow as much as possible 'Golden Age' Latin, that is the Latin of Caesar, Virgil, Horace, Cicero etc. This is in terms of grammar, since post-Classical Latin — Erasmus, Carmina Burana etc — is known by fewer people. In terms of style, we have no fixed rules, but there are some general consistencies that should be followed.

That does not include vocabulary, which must understandably be extended to words, if necessary, from all writing periods. For instead, because of its unit description, the Blood Bat is translated as Vespertilio Sanguineus, even though sanguineus is a poetic word and a favourite of post-Augustan poets (L&S).

Some pre-classical and post-classical touches will not be amiss in campaigns such as UtBS, TRoW and LoW where applicable. At the moment I (Deusite) and trying to translate LoW with some pre-classical words, particularly in story sections.

In the future Plautus/Terence might be used for colloquial or pre-classical language, perhaps for some humans, orcs and maybe dwarves.

Tone

Remember they are speaking Latin, not writing it...

• Elves: High and noble creatures, and therefore I (Deusite) try to make them use high-flown diction, supines, gerundives of purpose, somewhat poetical words — their usage is somewhat akin to Silver Age Latin, but less obscure.
• Orcs, Trolls, etc: I do not like to make them use bad Latin or incorrect grammar, since in the case of Latin it tends to look like a mistake, and in any case, I do not see how sentient beings would use incorrect Latin unless it is a foreign language. However, I keep the usage of the third-person in place of the first-person, and generally try to simplify their language. Short, common words, some redundant usage, and in the case of Orcs especially, a very rich military vocabulary.
• Humans: Humans should be the base-mark of our Latin, and it is the most similar to Golden Latin. Mage, the elite, and the educated however should use more refined language.
• Dwarves and similar: It is inadvisable to try to restore dwarvish accents (or any accents for that matter) into Latin for now. Instead, dwarves simply follow humans in their usage. This may change as we progress.

Prose

Prose, i.e. story text and narration, should use the most refined Latin in the game, with the possible exception of Elves. Remember that Latin prose wants to use connecting words at the start of every new sentence, which is possibly why sentences tend to be so long in Latin. Also feel free to use historical infinitives, historic presents, emphatic word order (which should of course be used in dialogue as well), alliteration, assonance and rhetorical devices when appropriate.

Technical Words

There is no general standard for such unknown technical words like server or debug. Do not accept our usage or coinage as set in stone, since we have to accommodate for concepts unknown in Classical Latin. However, we have been using Wikipedia in Latin as a helpful starting point.

Whenever a command such as "Exit" or "Save Game" appears, we translate it as a simple present infinitive, following other languages and Wikipedia in Latin. The idea is that the infinitive is used as a verbal noun, much like a gerund, but since the gerund has no nominative form, the present infinitive is used in its place, as it is in Classical Latin.

Verse

The poetry has recently all been translated by Deusite, as they stand in Sceptrum Ignis, and in the multiplayer map Caves of the Basilisk. Should anything else turn up, he is most likely the best person to translate them. They have been translated according to the rules of Classical poetry, that is they are scanned according to syllable length, elide, and use various metres. The metre for each poem is noted on GitHub, being Dactylic Hexameter, Hendecasyllables and an Alcaic Stanza. If there are any mistakes, do tell.

Scansion of coined words used:

• Drācŭlus

Using Old Latin

We are insane, and have therefore decided to use varying degrees of archaisms in Wesnoth, (for flavour!), including the use of Old Latin.

There are three campaigns which are dated to a period when everything should speak some kind of archaic speech: TroW, AoI and LoW. There are also certain races which should maybe speak an old dialect, Elves, especially the South Elves, and Dwarves (due to being perhaps the oldest races), Trolls (maybe even older still) and the human Clans (due to isolation). The language of Orcs, considering their lifespan, should be uncultivated and change with the times.

Phonetic changes that may be awesomesaucimagical follow the guiding rule: 'What sounds more -ish?':

Elves

• Use the PIE -os and -om endings.
• Intervocalic s (later r)
• ae -> ai
• u -> ou
• e -> ei

puellā, –āi girl, maiden f. Singular Plural Nominative puellā puellāī Accusative puellam puellās Genitive puell-āi puellāsōm Dative puellāi puellabos Ablative puellā puellabos Vocative puella puellai

campos, –ī field, plain m. saxom, –ā rock, stone n. Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative campos campī saxom saxă Accusative campom campōs saxom saxă Genitive campī campōsum saxī saxōsum Dative campō campoīs saxō saxois Ablative campō campoīs saxō saxois Vocative campe campī saxom saxă

Rēx –ēs king m. Ignis -ēs fire m. Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative rēx rēgeīs ignes igneīs Accusative rēgem rēgeīs ignim igneīs Genitive rēgis rēgesum ignis igniom Dative rēgī rēgibos igni ignibos Ablative rēgī rēgibos ignī ignibos Vocative rēx rēgeīs ignes igneīs

senātus, –ūs senate m. Singular Plural Nominative senātus senātūs Accusative senātum senātūs Genitive senātuos senātuom Dative senātuī senātibus Ablative senātū senātibus Vocative senātus senātūs

res, rei thing f. Singular Plural Nominative res res Accusative rem res Genitive rei resom Dative rei rebos Ablative re rebos Vocative res res

Dwarves

• Use the PIE -os and -om endings.
• use final ablative in -d.
• ae -> ai
• i, u -> oi
• o -> au
• b -> du

puellā, –ās girl, maiden f. Singular Plural Nominative puellā puellāī Accusative puellam puellās Genitive puellās puellōm Dative puellāi puelleis Ablative puellā puelleis Vocative puella puellai Locative Romai Syracuseis

campos, –ī field, plain m. saxom, –ā rock, stone n. Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative campos campoe saxom saxă Accusative campom campōs saxom saxă Genitive campei campōm saxī saxōm Dative campō campoīs saxō saxois Ablative campōd campoīs saxōd saxois Vocative campe campoe saxom saxă Locative campoi campois saxoi saxois

Rēx –ēs king m. Ignis -ēs fire m. Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative rēx rēges ignes ignes Accusative rēgem rēges ignim ignes Genitive rēgis rēgom ignis igniom Dative rēge rēgebos igne ignibos Ablative rēgīd rēgebos ignīd ignebos Vocative rēx rēges ignis ignes Locative regi rēgebos igni ignibos

senātus, –ūs senate m. Singular Plural Nominative senātus senātūs Accusative senātum senātūs Genitive senātous senātum Dative senātuī senātubus Ablative senātūd senātubus Vocative senātus senātūs Locative senāti

res, rei thing f. Singular Plural Nominative res res Accusative rem res Genitive rei resom Dative rei rebos Ablative re rebos Vocative res res

Trolls

• ablative and third person in secondary verbs in -d
• ae -> ai
• e, i, oe, -> oi
• o -> au
• u -> ou
• unsyncopated consonant clusters
• locative case
• b -> du
• intervocalic s (later r)

puellā, –ās girl, maiden f. Singular Plural Nominative puellā puellāī Accusative puellam puellās Genitive puellās puellōm Dative puellāi puelleis Ablative puellā puelleis Vocative puella puellai Locative Romai Syracuseis

campos, –ī field, plain m. saxom, –ā rock, stone n. Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative campos campoe saxom saxă Accusative campom campōs saxom saxă Genitive campei campōm saxī saxōm Dative campō campoīs saxō saxois Ablative campōd campoīs saxōd saxois Vocative campe campoe saxom saxă Locative campoi campois saxoi saxois

Rēx –ēs king m. Ignis -ēs fire m. Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative rēx rēgeis ignes igneis Accusative rēgem rēgeis ignim igneis Genitive rēgis rēgom ignis igniom Dative rēge rēgebos igne ignibos Ablative rēgīd rēgebos ignīd ignebos Vocative rēx rēgeis ignis igneis Locative regi rēgebos igni ignibos

senātus, –ūs senate m. Singular Plural Nominative senātus senātūs Accusative senātum senātūs Genitive senātuos senātuom Dative senātuī senātubus Ablative senātūd senātubus Vocative senātus senātūs Locative senāti

res, rei thing f. Singular Plural Nominative res res Accusative rem res Genitive rei resom Dative rei rebos Ablative re rebos Vocative res res

See Also

• Versus Vesnotei