"Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur."Lat. "Anything said in Latin seems profound". Much more literally: Whatever it would be that has been said in Latin is seen highly. Or, in Troper, Everything Sounds Awesome in Latin.
Latin is a mysterious language. It's been effectively dead for one thousand years (or more), nobody is born speaking Latin as the primary language, yet somehow, it is still being utilized, even omnipresent in culture. Maybe it's that distinct, laconic sound of it unlike anything else. Maybe it's the language of one of the greatest Vestigial Empires of the Western world, the Imperium Romanum. Maybe it's the fact that it is still the official ecclesiastical language of the Roman Catholic Church. Or it's just because Latin makes you feel intelligent and badass, with all the scientific terminologies and Ominous Latin Chanting. Whatever the reason, Latin sounds awesome to most people. And that's a satiable reason to introduce it gratuitously onto any work of fiction out there.
It could also be that most people, in the United States at least, understand one language solely, and the ability to be bilingual seems, well, awesome. But remember, if someone does know more than two languages, only one language to them will remain primus inter paresLat.
"first among equals" More literally: The first between equals.
to them.
There's also a significant inclination to combine simultaneously both Latin andGratuitous Greek. Someone who is unfamiliar with one or both could easily confuse one for the other fundamentally on sound, which probably has to do with a significant portion of Latin vocabulary being derived from Greek in the first place. Real Life science's obsession for this, especially in the field of Taxonomy (exempli gratia: Tyrannosaurus rex, both Greek Tyrannos and Latin Rexmean "King"note Well, sort of. Tyrannos implies a recently-established monarchy, while the Greek word Basileos, the usual Greek word for "King", implies a throne that existed since time immemorial.) doesn't help (Science is also Latin for "knowledge").
More charitably, inventing a new word in Canis Latinicus (or CynosHellenika) permits the creation of a legitimate-sounding new word with a subconscious link to its meaning, since new words motivate our minds to think about similar-sounding words we recognize already. Latin is also an origin of etymologies for multiple words in the English vocabulary, and English itself imitated from the Latin vocabulary (mostly through French and science), giving Latinesque terms an air of familiarity for English speakers. "Wingardium Leviosa" might be delirious in any language, but the similarity to the words "wing" and "Levitation" connects it to flight rather well, without being as obviously ridiculous as "Wingyup Airyfly".
Compare Everything Sounds Sexier in French for the alternative version of this in other languages (French itself is Latin-derived). See also Canis Latinicus for when Latin-sounding language is used instead of legitimate Latin. Only a rare part of the population get their complete Latin accurately anyway, especially if they use an online translation service, or they only have a partial knowledge of the grammar. "Blind Idiot" Translation, Translation Train Wreck and As Long as It Sounds Foreign are very common results.
See also Gratuitous Foreign Language and Latin Pronunciation Guide.
Astérix has lots of gratuitous Latin phrases, mostly in the form of classical proverbs. Canis Latinicus is averted except in names.
Watchmen uses "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes," which means "who will watch the watchmen themselves?" and is generally translated as "Who watches the watchmen?"
In Carl Barks' classic The Golden Helmet, Donald Duck runs afowl of a dubious lawyer who goes around spouting mock Latin phrases like "Flickus flackus fumlidium" (allegedly meaning "Can you prove that [my client] isn't who he claims to be?") At the end of the story Huey declares that they have had enough nonsense, to which Dewey answer with the obvious affirmative "Yeppus yappus youbettus!"
Later Don Rosa wrote a sequel, "The Lost Charts of Columbus", where Donald finally got the chance to tell the lawyer and his client "Aqua concus dipporum" ("Go soak your head").
In Grant Morrison's JLAEarth Two when the Flash asks about the Crime Syndicate's motto "Cui Bono," the good Lex Luthor from the evil universe naturally knows its means "Who profits?" which prompts him to begin wondering who could profit from their current predicament his train of thought is cut short by an attack the not-so-enslaved-as-we-thought Brainiac who realizes that Lex is about to figure out what he's up to.
Top Secret!!. While Nick Rivers is in prison, he's taken out of his cell and led to an execution room by a priest speaking common Latin phrases such as "corpus delicti" and "quid pro quo". It eventually derails into Pig Latin, and translates as "You're going to get fried in the chair". It's the priest who gets fried, which makes sense, given that East Germany was a Communist state.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail. As a group of Catholic monks are walking along, they repeatedly chant the phrase "Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem" Lat
"Kind Lord Jesus, grant them rest.
and hit themselves on the head with boards. Watch it here.
Monty Pythons Life Of Brian - Some rather doggy Latin is used for graffiti, and the Roman soldier who stumbles on it takes the time to correct the graffiti's grammar.
The Running Man. While Richards is being led to the arena, a lawyer reads his contract to him. It includes a Latin phrase in its legalese, "Ad hoc de facto"Lat
It's "for this, in fact"; but in legal use, both are standard terms and it means "for this purpose; in practice, but not by law"
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The captain of the Event Horizon signed off his logs with Latin phrases. We learn this after we learn that the only transmission from the ship since it reappeared appears to be garbletrash, but with "save me" spoken in Latin amid the static, and the reasonable assumption is that the captain spoke this as well. He did. But the static distorted the message, so we only later learn that he was actually saying "Save yourself, from Hell."
Edward Rutledge in 1776 likes to speak Latin, much to Colonel McKean's annoyance.
The dog funerals in A Fish Called Wanda all feature a choir singing "Miserere dominus, canis mortus est."Lat.
Lord have mercy, the dog is dead.
In Tombstone, there is a dialog between gunfighters Johnny Ringo and Doc Holliday with common latin quotations that takes place after Holliday directly insults Ringo to his face.
Wyatt Earp: (to Ringo, trying to defuse the situation) "He's drunk."
Doc Holliday: "In vino, veritas."Lat.
"In wine is truth." Holliday is saying, "When I'm drinking, I speak my mind."
Johnny Ringo: "Age quod agis."Lat.
"Do what you do." Meaning, "Do what you do best", referring to Holliday's near-constant state of drunkenness.
Doc Holliday: "Credat judaeus Apella, non ego."Lat.
"The Jew Apella may believe it, but not I." Meaning, "I don't believe drinking is what I do best."
Johnny Ringo: (running a thumb across his revolver's chamber) "Eventus stultorum magister."Lat.
"Events are the teachers of fools." Meaning "fools have to learn by experience."
Doc Holliday: "In pace requiescat."Lat.
"Rest in peace." Meaning "It's your funeral!" Holliday is directly threatening to kill Ringo if the two ever get into a gunfight.
Johnny Dangerously has the eponymous protagonist being led down death row by a phony priest, who begins his "last rites" by muttering common Latin phrases, then rapidly degenerates into Canis Latinicus.
Magna Cum Laude, Summa Cum Laude, The Radio's Too Loud-y. Dominus, Festivus, Missed the bus.
As people in the Imperium are wont to do, various characters in Damnatus utter a few phrases of Latin High Gothic during situations of appropriate gravitas.
In Leviathan, the Doc is thoughtful enough to give an English version of his commentary on radical genetic engineering: "Natura non confundenda est. Loosely translated: don'tfuckwithMotherNature."
In Priest, after Father Greg's Crisis of Faith escalates (and his arrest for having gay sex in a car ends up in the newspaper), he flees to a remote parish, headed by a priest who dresses him down in Latin.
Also, The Dresden Files mostly has Canis Latinicus in the form of spells and Harry's butchering of the language, but occasionally, there will be a bit of real Latin. Mostly when Michael Carpenter is wielding one of the holy swords. The White Council of wizards uses Latin during formal Council meetings, which mostly serves the purpose of indicating to the reader that it's run by a bunch of very old-fashioned and hidebound people; Harry, as already mentioned, speaks it only poorly.
The Canis Latinicus is justified in the text by the fact that picking a magic word to go with a spell forges a link between the two in the caster's mind, so they try to use dead or fake languages that they won't use in normal life (which could lead to an accidental discharge). Harry uses dog-Latin and some dog-Spanish; other wizards are shown using dog-Sumerian, dog-Egyptian, and dog-Japanese.
Discworld often has Latin sprinkled about, usually in situations where people are trying to sound pretentious. Examples include the City Watch's motto (Fabricati Diem, Pvnc) to a joke played by the Unseen University's wizards on a foreign diplomat by awarding him an honorary doctorate in "Adamus cum Flabello Dulci" Lat
Sweet Fanny Adams
.
Bugarup U's motto "Nullus Anxietas" isn't even trying. Also, written over the secret students' entrance is "Nulli Sheilae Sanguinae" Lat
There's also the school motto "Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus" (Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon), which appears on the Hogwarts seal and is never translated in the books.
Older Than Steam: Don Quixote: This trope is lampshaded and defined by Cervantes, a Spanish writer in the seventeenth century. At the time, Latin and Greek were languages that must be known by government bureaucrats and any people with literacy pretenses, but certainly there were a lot of books where this trope was not justified.
Another example is lampshaded in Part II, chapter LI. Sancho has been made governor of the "Island of Barataria". In the seventeenth century, it was expected that members of the government and the aristocracy would be well educated, and this education included Latin. Don Quixote never uses Latin in his sentences with Sancho because he is not interested in impressing him with his superior knowledge, but he expects that Sancho will learn Latin now that he is a governor:
"... amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritasLat
Plato is my friend, but truth is more my friend
. I quote this Latin to thee because I conclude that since thou hast been a governor thou wilt have learned it."
In "Laura Gay," another novel of the same school, the heroine seems less at home in Greek and Hebrew, but she makes up for the deficiency by a quite playful familiarity with the Latin classics–with the "dear old Virgil," "the graceful Horace, the humane Cicero, and the pleasant Livy;" indeed, it is such a matter of course with her to quote Latin. . . It is as little the custom of well-bred men as of well-bred women to quote Latin in mixed parties; they can contain their familiarity with "the humane Cicero" without allowing it to boil over in ordinary conversation, and even references to "the pleasant Livy" are not absolutely irrepressible
In The Space Trilogy of C. S. Lewis, the character of Merlin speaks only in Latin. Because Lewis was a brilliant Latinist, it's all correct. It also makes sense, since Merlin has been in suspended animation since the Low Middle Ages, and has had no opportunity to learn English (which he'd probably associate with the hated Saxon invaders, anyway.)
All the spells in Rivers of London are in Gratuitous Latin, but only because they were all codified and written down by Sir Isaac Newton during the time Latin was the language of choice for Gentlemen Scientists. Just no one ever got around to updating them into English.
Henry Beard's Latin for All Occasions runs on this trope. It's a Latin phrasebook for when you need to know how to say things like "Look! Cheese Whiz!" in Latin.
Random Latin phrases appear in the mouths of clergy (and people pretending to be clerics) in Ivanhoe. A brawl between Friar Tuck and Prior Aymer is particularly memorable for loud threats delivered in bad Latin.
Friar Tuck: Ossa ejus perfringam, I shall break your bones, as the Vulgate hath it. (Referring to the Vulgate Bible, the translation used by the Church in those days).
In addition to the title, the web-novel DominaLat.
"the lady," as in the mistress of a house or city
uses Latin in a number of other places. Every chapter title is a Latin word, and one of the major gangs is Necessarius Lat.
The Hunger Games has a Latin motif for the central Capitol of Panem. All the characters associated with the main city have Latin first names, usually appropriate to their role, including Coriolanus Snow and Seneca Crane. "Panem" itself is explicitly from the motto "Panem et Circenses", "Bread and Circuses", the central theme of the trilogy. (Although literally it just means "[doing something] to the bread." "Panem et Circenses" should be "Panis et Circenses" if it's on its own. The -em ending is accusative.)
In The Mark Of The Lion trilogy, lots of Latin is dropped in as ordinary vocabulary, since the setting is Ancient Rome and it’s the everyday language. There’s a glossary of terms in the back.
A.D. Godley, a professor of Classics at Oxford in the 1900s, commemorated the arrival of buses in Oxford with his poem "Motor Bus". The poem achieves mock-gravitas by apostrophizing the eponymous vehicle in Latin, complete with declension of the titular phrase as though it were itself in Latin ("Yes, the smell and hideous hum / Indicat Motorem Bum!"), which overlaps a bit with Canis Latinicus.
Bartlet: Twenty-seven lawyers in the room, anyone know post hoc, ergo propter hoc? Josh? Josh: Uh... post, "after," after hoc; ergo, "therefore"; "after hoc, therefore something else hoc." Bartlet: Thank you. Next. Leo? Leo: "After it, therefore because of it." Bartlet: After it, therefore because of it. It means one thing follows the other, therefore it was caused by the other, but it's not always true. In fact, it's hardly ever true. We did not lose Texas because of the hat joke. Do you know when we lost Texas? C.J.: When you learned to speak Latin?
In LOST there's "Ille qui nos omnes servabit" which is the answer to the coded phrase "What lies in the shadow of the statue?". It means "He who will preserve/save/keep us all" when correctly translated, or "He who will serve us all" if a common translation error is made.
In The Big Bang Theory, where Howard and Sheldon argue over the type of the cricket they found:
Howard:(shows a page in a book) See it? The common field cricket, AKA Gryllus assimilis which is Latin for "suck it, you lose."
Sheldon: Hang on! (searches in the book) Voilà! The snowy tree cricket, AKA Oecanthus fultoni, which is Latin for "I will suck nothing." I'm joking, of course, because the Latin for that is "Nihil exsorbebo."
On Better Off Ted, Veronica claims that the company motto, which is engraved on the lobby floor, translates to "Money Before People", but it sounds much more heroic in Latin.
Parodied in the Doctor Who episode "The Shakespeare Code," when Martha, realizing that for once William Shakespeare is at a loss for words on how to finish the speech that will banish the Carrionites, dredges up "Expelliarmus" from Harry Potter, which she, Shakespeare and The Doctor all shout with gusto.
"Lupus Deus Est" from "Tooth and Claw"
The Ood's songs in the episodes "Planet of the Ood" (which turned into a full choir for a reprise "Journey's End") and The End of Time are in Classical Ood, but translated by the TARDIS into ridiculously bad Latin for human ears.
Any time a Star Trek episode from any series uses a Latin title, you can be assured that the title, when translated, carries significant meaning to the plot of the episode.
is concerning the usage of underhanded methods to change the political structure of the Romulan empire in the Federation's favor (with a war going on, no less). One of the characters even does a Title Drop during the episode.
, concerning a race that extracts memory engrams from murder victims and uses that as evidence against a Voyager crew member. The term is an actual legal term, referring to laws that are retroactively binding to cases before the law was enacted.
The title of the famous episode "Arena" literally means "sand" or "powder" in Latin, and gained its present meaning because of the sand sprinkled on the floor before a gladiator fight to give them traction. But apparently the title wasn't intended to be taken this way, even though it works, and just referred to...an arena.
In Babylon 5, there was an episode titled "Sic Transit Vir Lat "Thus passes Vir" or "Thus passes man", since "vir" can mean "man" (a Latin pun on a character's name, no less).
Mr. Bean has an opening theme tune consisting of a choir intoning, "Ecce homo qui est faba."Lat
"Behold the man who is a bean."
The same choir closes each episode with, "Vale homo qui est faba."Lat
"Farewell, man who is a bean."
Even the show's commercial breaks are denoted with Latin singing: "Finis partis primae"Lat
"End of part one"
and "Pars secunda"Lat
"Part two"
Many of the magic spells used on Buffy the Vampire Slayer happen to be in Latin. Evidently one of the more challenging things for Alyson Hannigan was memorizing all of the Latin that the writers kept flinging at her. In the final season, a minor Crowning Moment of Awesome happens when Willow stops halfway through a spell and shouts "Screw it! I suck at Latin, OK?! and proceeds to make the spell work in English by pure force of will.
In Kaamelott, King Loth is fond of meaningless Latin quotes. The Latin language (in the quotes) is mostly legitimate, but Loth's translations are always inaccurate.
House did this in a conversation with Amber-slash-Cutthroat Bitch: (episode is "Don't Ever Change")
Amber: Hello, Greg. And I call you Greg because we're now social equals.
House: And I call you Cutthroat Bitch because, well, quod erat demonstratumLat.
A M*A*S*H episode has Major Winchester defending Klinger at a court-martial for allegedly stealing a camera. At one point during the proceedings he objects on the grounds of "unum piliolae, acidus salicilicus tres in diem, post sabel"...which the presiding officer points out translates to "aspirin three times a day".
Mangae Et Picturae Animatae Iaponenses
= Manga and Anime
Simoun features a small dictionary worth of Latin and Latin-sounding terms to designate various technologies and concepts: from the deity Tempus Spatium ("Time Space"); through country names Simulacrum ("likeness, similarity"), Argentum ("silver"), and Plumbum ("lead"); to pilot roles auriga ("charioteer", the primary pilot) and sagitta ("arrow", the navigator and gun controller). These last two terms are also constellations, for additional Theme Naming fun.
In Mahou Sensei Negima!, the spells and attack names that aren't in Japanese are generally in Latin, sometimes Greek (and once or twice Sanskrit). They're pretty good, too.
As an example, the incantation for one of Negi's favorite attack spells:
Negi: "Veniant Spiritus Aeriales Fulgurientes! Cum Fulguratione Flet Tempestas Austrina! Jovis Tempestas Fulguriens!" Lat
"Come, Spirits of Air and Lightning! Southern Storm Which Blows with Lightning! Jupiter’s Storm of Thunder!"
The series title is sometimes translated into Latin as "Magister Negi Magi," with magister magi having a rather convenient double meaning as either "magic teacher" or "master of magic" — both of which describe him quite well *
Amusingly, it is also exactly the double meaning implicit in the original Japanese word "Sensei".
.
In Gundam 00, they bring us the "Memento Mori" "Remember you will die" It's a Kill Sat that royally messes up the Middle East before it is destroyed, along with its commander. The Innovators have another, just in case.
, the terms "Magical Girl" and "Puella Magi" are used interchangeably, for good reason. PuellaLat.
"a young girl"
also may additionally mean "a young slave" due to it being derived from Puerulus. MagiLat.
"Magician", or, more accurately, as it's a genitive form of the word Magus, "of the magician".
can also mean derogatorily, "charlatan", which means "one who deceives". Applying this terminology, the Latin title actually avertsDepartment of Redundancy Department: the real English title to the anime is actually Slave to the Deceiver: Magician Madoka. The Japanese title, however, averts the Latin title altogether*
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, which is elaborated in the anime. See the Main page for that description — the Japanese title offers the similar possibility of interpretation.
The titles of the series' music are all in Latin as well, although they did screw up one title: "Nux Walpurgis" was probably meant to be "Nox Walpurgis". That one letter is the difference between "Walpurgis Night" (the name of the final and most powerful Witch) and "Walpurgis Nut" (which doesn't make any sense).
Actually Latin was heavy on simplifications, the Romans elided everything they could from their sentences, perhaps in an effort to sound more laconic and no-nonsense, perhaps they had more pressing things to do (like building an empire) than wasting time uttering too many words. They often elided the subject of a phrase when it was apparent who was taking the described action and they hadn't a fixed word for "yes" but made "hoc" ("this") double for it, other examples could take several pages.note The other two big ones were "hoc ille" ("this is it") and "sic" ("thus"). These evolved into the words for "yes" in the modern Romance languages: "hoc" became "oc", the word used in Occitan (the traditional language of southern France), "hoc ille" became "oil" and then "oui". "Sic" became several variations on "si", used in pretty much all the other Romance languages. This tendency was not merely a quirk of spoken tongue, but had literary dignity and was taken to extremes by people like Julius Caesar, who famously sent the Roman Senate an iconic three words message about his Gallic Campaign: "Veni, Vidi, Vici" (I came, I saw, I conquered); hence Corvus Corax motto could be better rendered as: "Omnia dicta fortiora, si latina".
Latin, as the historical language of the Roman Catholic Church and the Academia, has a vast repertoire of both secular and religious music set to it. For a singer, it may seem difficult to learn the pronounciations at first - especially if you've been singing it wrong before. "Veh-night-ee" for Venite, indeed! Of course, any talk about pronunciation leads right into the huge argument between the "Ecclesiastical" or "Medieval" pronunciation versus the "Classical" or "Restored" pronunciation. "Ven-ee-tay" vs. "Wen-ee-tay", for starters. Most written music was written for Ecclesiastical Pronunciation, though.
One section of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" is titled "Con mortuis in lingua mortua," meaning "with the dead in a dead language" (though the first word should be "cum", rather than "con" as it would be in Italian).
Carmina Burana has a lot of Latin songs in it, mingling with courtly French and mediaeval German.
The word "Primarch" from Warhammer 40000 is an example of Latin/Greek mixture: "primus" ("first") is a Latin word root, whereas "archon" ("ruler") is Greek (άρχον ). Still 40K offers a great deal of proper Gratuitous Latin. According to Word Of God this is simply a Translation Convention meant to evoke the way "High Gothic" would sound to the common folk of .M41.
Vampire The Requiem has a lot of terminology either directly imported from, or inspired by Latin, presumably related to the fact that vampire society is static, at best. Although justified, it is still amusing that Ancilla, a word used to refer to "middle-aged" vampires, translates quite readily as "slave woman."
Subverted in FATAL, which was kind enough to provide a translation for its pretentious Latin. Usually, this was some kind of crude sexual doggerel. The Latin is also often wrong. On the other hand, at least one part seems to be quoting (or paraphrasing) the crude sexual doggerel of Catullus (a real Roman poet) - see Catullus 16 on The Other Wiki for info on that (NSFW text there though).
The Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook Libris Mortis is a double subversion: it looks fine to the layman. But the community calls it the "Book of Bad Latin" because they assume it's supposed to mean Book of the Dead (which should be Liber Mortis). But it's not: the book's introduction makes it clear that it's intended to mean From the Books of the Dead, which is exactly what it does mean.
In Humperdinck's opera Hansel and Gretel, the witch chants, "Hocus pocus, bonus jocus, malus locus, hocus pocus." Though "hocus pocus" is meaningless, the rest translates as "good joke, bad place."
Ironically, "Hocus Pocus" does have a Latin root; It's a corruption of "Hoc est corpus meum." Lat
This is my body
To a medieval Englishman, the Latin mass must have seemed more like a mystical incantation than a prayer.
After Jodelet notices that Mountfleury has fallen from grace with the Burgundy's theater public, Bellerose cites the first two words of "Sic transit gloria mundi"Lat
Thus passes the glory of the world
(Cries are heard outside.) Jodelet(who has looked out): They hoot Montfleury! Bellerose(solemnly): Sic transit!...
Act II Scene VII, when a cadet shows the hats of the thugs Cyrano defeated, Captain Carbon says: Spolia opima!Lat
rich spoils/trophies, refers to the armor, arms, and other effects that an ancient Roman general had stripped from the body of an opposing commander slain in single, hand-to-hand combat.
A running gag in Love's Labour's Lost is that a couple of blowhard characters are full of this, and love to correct each other for using grammar incorrectly and such. This annoys Moth, the local Servile Snarker, who remarks, "They have been at a great feast of languages, and stolen the scraps."
Eternal Darkness: "Hanc mitte ad dominum et imperatorem nostrum, Carolum Magnum Francum." ("Deliver this to our lord and emperor, Charles the Great the Frank." Charles the Great is more widely referred to by his French name, Charlemagne).
The character Doctus from Xenosaga Episode III tends to use Latin sayings for no apparent reason, such as "errare humanum est" (to err is human).
In The Elder Scrolls, natives of Cyrodiil, the capital province of The Empire, all have Latin-sounding names. The actual amount of Roman influence on their culture varies from game to game.
Final Fantasy VII: "One-Winged Angel", Sephiroth's theme lyrics are mostly lifted from Carmina Burana, which is a good source of this sort of thing:
Estuans interius, ira vemehenti. (Burning inside with vehement anger.) Sors immanis, et inanis (Fate - empty, and cruel.) Veni veni venias, ne me mori facias. (Come, come, O come, do not let me die.)
The opening theme of Final Fantasy VIII, "Liberi Fatali" ("Fated Children," though more properly it should be "Liberi Fatales"). Additionally, all of the paintings in the art gallery in Ultimecia's castle have Latin titles which are part of a minor sidequest.
Dissidia: Final Fantasy uses the trope multiple times. Dissidia itself is derived from the Latin word for discord. The prequel is called Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy, where in 012 is officially pronounced "Duodecim", which is Latin for twelve. The prequel's final secret character, Feral Chaos has Latin names for his HP attacks, such as Deus Iratus*
Angered God
, Ventus Irae*
Wind of Wrath
, and Lux Magnus*
Great Light, should be "Lux Magna," as "lux" is feminine
Caesar's Legion from Fallout New Vegas uses a lot of Latin. Latin names, ranks, currency, uniforms, punishments, etc. They also pronounce Latin the way most scholars believe it was actually pronounced, using no soft Cs (so that "See-zer" becomes "Kai-zar") and pronouncing Vs as Ws. Arcade Gannon also speaks some Latin, but he's quick to assure you that he didn't learn it from the Legion.
Makes for a sort of Bilingual Bonus when all of the New Californa Republic troops pointedly use the Anglified pronounciation of Caesar's name. At least one bit of dialogue indicates that they're aware of how he wants his name said, they just don't care, given that the Legion and the Republic are at war.
Actually, "requiescat" is the active subjunctive third-person singular present tense (of "requiesco") that means "he/she/it may/must/should rest". "May you rest in peace" would be Requiescas in pace.
). And some Ominous Latin Chanting on the soundtrack as well (but moreso in the sequel, Assassins Creed Brotherhood). It also appears in speech at times, such as Rodrigo Borgia holding mass in the Sistine Chapel right before Ezio attempts to assassinate him.
Which appears to simply be a heavily-fortified ICBM base.
Ace Combat 5 The Unsung War's final mission theme, fittingly named The Unsung War, is also in Latin. This time the lyrics are a vulgate translation of the Razgriz poem that recurrently appears through the game, with a lot of repetitions.
In the background of Sword of the Stars, Latin has become one of humanity's main languages.
This is mostly due to the Catholic Church becoming the dominant religion on Earth and its colonies (but not the only one). In The Deacon's Tale novel (which features a lot of gratuitous Latin and few translations), the Pope has enough power to threaten the Director of SolForce, the most powerful man in human space. The protagonist of the novel is a Chinese man who is in charge of one of [~Sol Force~]'s intelligence branches but who is secretly a Catholic deacon (it's kinda frowned upon to serve 2 masters).
Durandal of Marathon has some fun with this: after killing his greatest enemy, he carves the following epitaph into a moon: "Fatum Iustum Stultorum" ("The Just Fate of Fools"; in other words, "These idiots got what was coming to them.")
Kingdom Of Loathing parodies this trope. The IOTM Loathing Legion Knife has a tattoo needle, and when used, it will give you a tattoo inscribed with the Loathing Legion's unofficial motto: "Tardis Pro Cena", which you should never call a Loathing Legionnaire. Apparently, you should never call them "late for dinner".
In Super Robot Wars Z 2: Saisei-Hen, During Uther's final attack, he chants a spell to cast a curse on his opponent. The translated version of the spell chant Uther recites during the attack is Latin for: As the sun shines upon all creation. a king's love is for his subjects. You who tread the path of the Fool. By the light of Salvation. Thou shalt be saved.
Age Of Mythology averts Canis Latinicus creating scientific names for myth units - any Half-Human Hybrid is Homo x (centaur = equus, minotaur = bull, valkyrie = valkyria), any giant is Atlas x, others take the genus of the animal it's inspired in and add a sufix (the Nemean Lion is Leo biaxomus, the Fenris Wolf is Canis fenrir).
Rhea of Dark Souls will say "Vereor Nox" as a farewell to the player. It means "fearfully respect the night/dark."
When Tsubaki Yayoi of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift finally got around to becoming a playable character, her Englishbattle cries were all of this form, owing to her Adorkable love of historical dramas and Lawful Good self-image. Her moves include "Lux Aeterna" ("Eternal Light") and "Benedictus Rex" ("Blessed King").
She's joined by the mad scientist Relius Clover, who not only names his moves in Latin but also yells out various Latin phrases while executing them. Also an example of Smart People Know Latin.
In Portal 2, there's a song on the soundtrack (which only appears on the main menu when you're on a certain chapter in the game) called "PotatOS Lament" which is in Latin.
Quentyn: Well, you know why Latin is called the "Scholars'" tongue...? It's a dead language. Never changes, very specific and all that stuff... So scholars can use it to write to one another, and no matter what language they speak they can understand one another, exactly. ...So the Fey are always pulling tricks, right? Getting out of agreements by playing dumb, deliberately misunderstanding words or using double-meanings... But Latin is one of the only languages that they can't do that. In fact, they say that you should only make deals with Fey in Latin for that reason.
Breakfast of the Gods: Jarvis's final spell is in decent Latin, except for one word in English. Saying what the spell is would be a huge spoiler for the whole work.
This trope is probably why message board posters wrongly use "Ad Hominem" synonymously with "personal attack".
In his list of top 11 Anime openings, the Banjo Kid (when talking about Elfen Lied) remarks on how anything can be made to sound elegent and beautiful in Latin, then begins singing a Latin explanation of why he's not wearing any pants. Later, he also does a Gregorian Chant version of Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady".
The Gungan Council featured several factions with Latin names, such as Regnum In Potestas and Sine Occasu, for no better reason than it was cool.
In Gargoyles, all the mortal spells were in Latin. Because anything said in Latin sounds profound and Ominous.Word Of God says that the book containing most of those spells was written by a magus working for Emperor Augustus; naturally, Latin was his first language.*
Word Of God also adds that any language can be used for magic, provided the spell is composed by a magus and pronounced correctly. Indeed, in the show some are in Hebrew and at least one is cast in English.
In The Venture Brothers, 21 tries to be intimidating by yelling "Semper Fidelis, Tyrannosaurus Rex!" when trying to say "Sic semper tyrannis". Upon which he is informed he just said "Always faithful, terrible lizard king", which he still thinks is pretty cool.
In the episode of South Park where Damien (Satan's son) visits the Earth, all of his evil spells are accompanied by some Ominous Latin Chanting that goes "Rectus! Dominus!" before shifting abruptly to "CheesyPoofs!" (The first two words, by the way, translate to "Ass Master.")
VERITAS
= Real Life
Vicipaedia Lat. Latin language Wikipedia.
All Roman Catholic Church records are in Latin, so this leads to them creating Latin words for things that just weren't around when the Romans were, such as "Interrēte", which means "Internet" as seen in the folder headings on this page.
Nova Roma, an international organization "dedicated to the study and restoration of ancient Roman culture". Including the Cultus Deorum Romanorum.
Nuntii Latini, the Latin news report of the Finnish Radio.
Many Badass Creeds are Pretentious Latin Mottoes, such as Semper FidelisLat. Always Faithful (USMC), Semper ParatusLat. Always Prepared (USCG), Per Mare, Per TerramLat. By Sea, By Land (Royal Marines), Ad Astra Per Aspera (NASA, the RAF),Lat. Through Adversity to the Stars, Qualitas Potentia NostraLat. Quality is Our Might (Finnish Air Force), Citius, Altius, Fortius (The Olympics),Lat. Faster, Higher, Stronger and so on.
The "Audi" car brand was named after a direct translation from the German "Horch" (Listen) to its Latin counterpart. One has to wonder if a person ever exclaimed "Hey!Audi!"
Volvo, Latin for I roll
There is a little town in northeast Georgia (the one in the US) named Subligna. A certain Dr. Underwood suggested the name when it was founded. Subligna meaning "Under wood."
In Bavaria, Austria, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary, "Servus!" is a colloquial greeting. The fact that it means "[I am your] servant" is practically never thought of.
From an old high school Latin class: O sibili der dego fortibus es enero. O nobili demis trux. Vatis inem cowsen dux. Oh see Billy, there they go, forty busses in a row. Oh no Billy, them is trucks. What is in them? Cows and ducks.
A whole Japanese ninja clan was discovered and destroyed because of Latin language. They were about to infiltrate a Christian daimyo's castle at night. Too bad the password of the guards was Pax vobiscumLat. "Peace upon you" (containing three phonems which are very difficult for the Japanese to pronounce, namely ks, v and sk). The guards got suspicious and found 132 ninja at the dry moat...
If you find it useful in conversation use this Universal Translatorhere, apply a little inventiveness and you will have a Latin saying for whenever you want it.
While French was thelingua franca in most European countries around 17th century, the nobility of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth would still use Latin in that capacity. Even the most uncultured, backwater nobleman knew at least a few words and some basics of Latin grammar; Latin macaronisms were often used for emphasis in everyday conversations, and the more Latin you used, the more important you sounded...
