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Latin translation

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maplestar | 01:46 Fri 21st Nov 2008 | Phrases & Sayings
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How do you say 'Never Forget' and 'Freedom' in Latin? I've used an online translation site but don't know how reliable it is! Thanks.
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Hi maplestar - if this is for something important, please don't take these as gospel! I've come up with...

"Never forget" =
Noli umquam oblivisci (to 1 person)
Nolite umquam oblivisci (to more than 1 person)

"Freedom" = Libertas (liberty) or Liber (free)

HTH, but there are many people on AB with better Latin than I can conjure, so you might like to wait for more answers! :-)
'Nunquam obliviscere' would be my offering. However, my advice to you, along with Lie-in King's above - based on past experience of questions involving Latin on AnswerBank - is to check with an 'expert' whatever answer(s) you get here...including mine!
For example, if your local secondary school has a Classics Department or even just a solitary Latin teacher, try to get a response from him/her. An alternative is to approach a local Catholic priest. They are generally familiar with Latin.
Libertas is, without doubt, 'freedom' in the sense of liberty(liber is the adjective 'free', 'not a slave' etc)

Obliviscor (I forget) is a, sadly, the normal verb for 'forget'. Addressing more than one person we, strictly, need the the imperative plural which is:

obliviscimini

So our 'Never forget' is the ugly " numquam obliviscimini!" [or 'nunquam': nunquam and nunquam are both correct, nunquam being an earlier form of numquam]

However, QM has it better:

obliviscere is the imperative singular ,so 'nunquam/ numquam obliviscere' is spot on . Now, the Romans would surely have preferred the singular and written 'nunquam obliviscere' on monuments, because a) the plural is so ugly and b) they'd allow themselves the conceit that they were addressing one person, the reader, and not lots of people at one time.


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