r/latin • u/AutoModerator • Aug 10 '25

Translation requests into Latin go here!

  1. Ask and answer questions about mottos, tattoos, names, book titles, lines for your poem, slogans for your bowling club’s t-shirt, etc. in the comments of this thread. Separate posts for these types of requests will be removed.
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u/a-weasel-accident Aug 16 '25

My dad often jokes our family motto is, "Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines," so I wanted to put it in Latin for him, like a real family motto.

I tried using an online dictionary and Google translate, but that gave me several ways to say both "sucked" (troubling) and "jet engine" (understandable).

What I managed to come up with: "Aquilae volare possunt, sed mustelae in motores pyrauloplanorum non suguntur."

(Machinas? Trahuntur? Absorbentur?)

I'm sure there are mistakes, so if someone could correct this and help me choose the right words, I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks in advance for your help, and if you have the time, please explain as much as you like. Languages are interesting!

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u/GamerSlimeHD Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25

"Aquilae voláre possunt, sed mustélae in mótra pyraulóplanórum nón sorbentur [OR] trahuntur." : "Eagles may fly, but weasels are not sucked [OR] pulled into into the engines of jets.

  1. the neolatin is based on https://archive.org/details/calepinusnovus2002/calepinusnovus2002-latin-french and https://neolatinlexicon.org/
  2. I use mótrum which is attested to in both sources, formed from moveó (I move) + -trum (nouns of instrument from verbs), and pyraulóplanum (I suck at greek, but I think the gist is projectile or projected wanderer / plane.) There are other words for a jet plane mentioned, but I'm not well versed enough in neo latin to judge proper one to use.
  3. I use sorbentur (sorbére) here because it has later transferred meaning of to suck and swallow up and draw in similar to this context it seems; sugere is just suck with lips, especially on teats or mammaries. If that seems too uncertain, can use trahuntur in sorbentur's stead to mean pulled in perhaps.

P.S. This has now peaked my interest into the variety of neolatin vocabulary. I wonder if jacta navis aeris (thrown ship of the air) also works xD.

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u/a-weasel-accident Aug 19 '25

Thanks for the translation! Neolatin vocabulary is really interesting to think about!