Latin speaker needed!

[Feodor Augustus]

I want to make sure that I have the right Latin translation for the phrase 'No Gods, No Masters'. I have googled it, and found this (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100915215119AAqe7wI), which suggests the translation is 'nulli dei, nulli domini' - however I do not wish to take this on face value, nor do I really want to take the other advice given and pay a professional translator to check it. And google does not offer up much else, although the translation I found is confirmed here (http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100103013809AAVFgaG), alongside the suggestion of another quite interesting variation: 'neque dei neque domini' ('neither gods nor masters'). And there is also the chiastic structure 'nulli di, domini nulli', which (apparently) creates the assumption 'si dei nulli sunt, sunt nulli domini', meaning 'if there are no gods, there are no masters.'

The translation nevertheless makes sense to me: in the singular, 'god' is 'deus', so the plural is 'dei'; and likewise, 'master' is 'dominus', and thus the plural is 'domini'. Yet I'm not to sure whether nullus (sing.) is the right no, although independent checking (in a friends textbook) suggests it likely is, and therefore the plural would be 'nulli'.

Moreover, I assume that none of the first letters of the words need to be capitalised? (Particular dei - god.)

I'm really lost when it comes to working out stuff like this, and I want to make sure I have the absolutely correct translation, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Feodor.

[ellipsis]

Moved to Mutual Aid.

Also nobody "speaks" latin, its a dead language, haven't you seen iron man 2?

[graymouser]

You could go with "Nulli dei nulli domini" - that works for the English phrase, it's fine Latin. You could also pick "Nulli di nulli domini" which would use the shorter form "di" instead of "dei." Same meaning.

I would suggest though that a better translation would be from the French. The original phrase is "ni dieu ni maître," neither god nor master. This would be the simpler "nec deus nec dominus" - which appears to be fairly well attested. The word maître comes from the Latin magister, which I've seen used in "nulli dei nulli magistri" but the sense of maître is closer to dominus in classical Latin.

Any of those would be fine. There is no official translation, since the phrase came about long after Latin was no longer widely spoken, and the people who do aren't generally running about talking about "no gods no masters".

If your main thing is to do it in a foreign language, I think "ni dieu ni maître" would be better, as it's authentic and not a retranslation.

[Libertador]

It's ironic that you're using the language of imperialism and theocracies to speak of liberty and truth.

[bricolage]

It's ironic that you're using the language of imperialism and theocracies to speak of liberty and truth.
Couldn't you say the same of you speaking in English?

[The Douche]

I took latin in high school, and while its been a while, from what I remember, nulli dei, nulli domini, would be the literal translation to english, and still make sense in latin.

[Feodor Augustus]

Also nobody "speaks" latin, its a dead language, haven't you seen iron man 2?

A pedant after my own heart! ;)

@graymouser: you've just thrown a spanner in the works! Although I do like the French as well, so it's a nice conundrum. Thanks for your help, and the same goes for cmoney too.


It's ironic that you're using the language of imperialism and theocracies to speak of liberty and truth.

If the world wasn't so contradictory, then irony wouldn't exist...

[Feodor Augustus]

Additionally Libertador, there is the very pompous classic retort: quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum videtur ('everything said in Latin sounds profound'). And also the slightly less pompous but equally good: res ipsa loquitur ('the thing speaks for itself').

Although the first time I heard the latter, was from the mouth of one Boris Johnson (the Conservative Mayor of London). Which kinda' makes your point for you! ;)

[danyboy27]

comarademan speak latin i think, but he is restricted.