Auxilium Interpretibus

Latin Specific Issues

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.

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. 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:

• Drācŭlus
• Vesnŏtĭensis
• Tÿpărius