Can someone who knows Latin give me a hand?
What would be the Latin for “always look forward never look back.” Google translate gives me “semper eget neque respicere,” but I don’t trust the accuracy of translation software.
James Hanley
James Hanley is a two-bit college professor who'd rather be canoeing.
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Romani ite domum?Report
I still watch that scene with alarming frequency… thank goodness for you tube.Report
I considered posting it 100 times, but decided against it.Report
Wouldn’t posting it once have been sufficient? 😉Report
I don’t recall this as a specific Roman saying (though it easily could be). So, absent a traditional proverb, I’d try to keep the verbs paired. The first question would be, you say “look”… but what type of looking are you doing? Are you scouting? contemplating? searching? That could influence verb choice. But, keeping very simple, perhaps something like this.
specite numquam respicite
Look, never look back. (using the imperative plural for anonymity/generality).
If you want you could add “sempre” for emphasis as the first word or last (I’d put it last, for flair). Look ahead never back, always!
My composition was always very suspect (not to mention decades intervening), and I know there are some real Latinists who read this site… so quite likely they will have something more elegant. But the above should pass 21st century sensibilities. Unless, of course, you have invented a time machine and are going back to the 3rd century – but then, why would you look back? Ah, the mystery deepens… you must tell us more.Report
@marchmaine
Would “prospecite” and “retrospecite” work?Report
@gabriel-conroy absolutely, I think Prospicio is indeed probably much better.
But while retrospicio makes perfect sense, I didn’t recall it as an actual word – respicio is effectively retrospicio (at least according to my dictionary). Curious, I googled it and (if one can trust a random google link on Latin verbs) it seems that retrospicio came into usage in the 15th century. So I suppose Dr. H can choose his style: Cicero or Scholastic.
Still, a classicist with a much broader vocabulary could probably come up with a much cooler slogan (or would know the Roman saying).Report
“Semper” is correct for “always.”
I have never seen “eget” and cannot vouch that this word is an imperative for “look forward,” at least not without using a reference. Using a reference I am told “eget” means “development.” Perhaps “spera” is what you want (imperative for “sperare,” “anticipate” or “hope”).
“Never” is usually translated as “numquam.” But “nusquam” might be better here: “at no time” or “on no occasion.” Or maybe “noli,” for “do not.”
“Respice” seems like the present imperative conjugation of the infinitive “respicere,” which is indeed “to look back.”
Semper spera, noli respice.Report
Nota bene: ego sum autodidactum.Report
hic sum quoqueReport
I can give you the Java translation:
if (lookingForward)
return true;
else
return false;Report
I prefer
while(true) lookForward();Report
Or, in Haskell:
You’re looking lovely, Mrs. Cleaver.Report
Hey wait! You already made that joke (actually it seems twice):
https://ordinary-times.com/blog/2014/04/25/more-than-the-minimum
https://ordinary-times.com/blog/2014/02/13/thats-a-lotReport
And it just keeps getting funnier.Report
Well, yeah.Report
Actually, in Java:
ConstrainedAction action = ConstrainedActionFactory.newInstance(
ActionType.ALWAYS,
ActionSelectorFactory.newLookingAction(Direction.FORWARD));
action.setConstraint(
ActionType.NEVER,
ActionSelectorFactor.newLookingAction(Direction.BACKWARD));
executor.execute(action);Report
(It seems I should have included a angle-bracket-close tag.)Report
Overachiever…Report
Or you could use Spring, so it’s impossible to tell what it does without checking the XML configuration.Report
@mike-schilling — Funny you mention, I left behind at my old job a giant hairball of Java/Spring, and the other night at the (I’m not kidding) local Haskell meetup, one of my former coworkers was complaining quite loudly about having to teach the new person (not exactly my “replacement”) how to figure out Spring (plus the DSL we added and how it is all wired together with a bizarre combination of Spring, Java, and YAML files of the apocalypse). So, ha! Better him than me.
Then again, I’m now working on a giant old LISP/C++ hybrid, which is its own kind of madness.Report
Programmers are all crazy.Report
Hey Mike, you’ve seen Enterprise Fizzbuzz, yes?
https://github.com/EnterpriseQualityCoding/FizzBuzzEnterpriseEditionReport
I hadn’t. That’s hilarious. A little like the old “Hello World in different languages” posts where the C++ version uses a class with overloaded operators, a copy constructor, a template, etc. (pretty much every language feature you can think of) to output a string.Report
Heh. Do it with template metaprogramming and have separate versions for G++ and Clang++, which construct “Hello World” from the first letters of compiler warning messages.
(Today I was spelunking through some C++ that heavily used template metaprogramming tricks, which is what happens when you let LISPy folks use C++. It was delightfully awful.)Report
If it helps, this is part of my constitutional convention class. As I’m drafting descriptions of the new states that will be meeting to draft a constitution, I want to give one a motto that encourages them to forget about the past (past borders of their state in particular) but look forward to building a new society, a new future.Report
Prospicio might be a better verb, then.
prospicite numquam respiciteReport
The irony is that you want to say “never look backward” in a dead language. It sort of points out that any effort to move forward using reason requires an understanding of the past.Report
We’ve got a Latin teacher at my school I can bring such questions to in thr future, especially during the school year. Just email me.Report
That’s one fancy kindergarten you teach at.Report
“No, no, I said ‘Ms. Gonzalez is the Latina teacher’.”Report
We had Latin classes at the public high I went to, because one of the English teachers cared enough to push for them and was allowed to teach them so long as she could get enough students to sign up. (Her husband was a well-known classics professor at Berkeley.)Report
My Latin is pretty rusty (and was never too good to begin with), so I can’t really comment on whether anyone above is right, although I did ask Marchmaine about another possiblity. I suggest two strategies for finding an answer:
1. Consider what you really mean. Your later comment clarifies that a bit, but you might dig deeper: what can convey that meaning even if literally it means something else entirely?
2. Look at famous Roman sayings and try to find one that means close to what you’re looking for.Report
My Latin was 20+ years ago, so I could look up the words — but I can assure you my grammar would be wrong. Wrong tenses, that sort of thing.
You’re best bet is to find a similar Latin proverb, save tracking down someone who is fluent and asking. The RC’s don’t do mass in Latin anymore, but I suspect there are an awful lot of Jesuits who can read and write it fluently, and IIRC ecclesiastical Latin pronunciation has shifted a wee bit (at least, what I’ve heard in hymns and stuff wasn’t pronounce the way I was taught) the actual language is unchanged.Report