Never Give Up

A

Anonymous

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Hello,

I have been searching a while for the translation "Never Give Up" or even something close to that. I found one that said it was Nil desperandum but from what I googled that means never dispair.

If someone would be kind enough to translate this I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks,
Adam B.
 

Andy

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This has been greatly discussed before and if I remember appropriately, one of the solutions was:

Nunquam cede.

I would wait till other members respond with more suggestions or someone finds the original thread.
 
A

Anonymous

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Thanks, I did search the boards before posting as I figured it would be a common phrase, however I guess i'm not using the right keywords.

I am using it for a tattoo in the future so if anyone else could confirm this that would be so helpfull.

Also pardon my ignorance...How do you pronounce Nunquam cede?

Thank you greatly,
Adam B.
 

QMF

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NOON-kwahm KAY-day.
An alternative spelling of the first is numquam, pronounced NOOM-kwahm.
 
A

Anonymous

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Thanks guys (and gals)

Is there any phrases that mean the same thing that would use the letters F or P ? I am working on some black-letter typography and the N C would work but i'm not really crazy about the Capitol C letterform. Not a big deal at all, just wondering if I have any other options.

I really admire anyone who can study the latin language...very challenging.

Thanks again,
Adam B
 

QMF

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I don't know of anything with f or p, but you can get rid of the c by replacing cede with desiste. I imagine part of the problem is the curvature however so I guess that doesn't help much.
 

Andy

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Well, there's a verb, pareo, which means: to obey/submit/yield/comply. I think you could stretch it to mean give up.

Numquam pare!
 
A

Anonymous

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I was looking in a thesaurus for different words and tried "stop" in a latin translator and found: "peractio, and finis", would either of these work for "Never Stop"?

Also found "reddo" for surrender...would that make sense for never surrender?

Thanks again,
Adam
 

Andy

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Hmm, reddo is not literally surrender as it is 'to return'. Cf. re + dare --> reddere (I may be making this up :D)

But you could stretch the meaning to surrender, I guess.

Peractio and finis are not verbs, but nouns, the former meaning particularly the last act of a play and the latter a boundary, a goal or the very end.
 
 

cinefactus

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As Andy says, I think that reddo means surrender, as in, "I surrended the letter to him". ie, something like return, or deliver...
 

bojev

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Hi Everyone
I need some help for a tattoo.I would be really grateful, if you can translate me, with correct latin spelling, the following thought:
"Never Give Up"
 
 

Matthaeus

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If you're addressing one person, then: Numquam spem depone.
If more than one, then: Numquam spem deponite.
This literally means 'never give up hope'.
 
B

Bitmap

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I'm afraid that's not right. You need a prohibitive subjunctive here (e.g. ne umquam desperaveris) ... hasn't that been discussed in some recent thread?
 

bojev

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I have recently found some examples,but I'm not sure which one is correct.
"Numquam Dede"
"Numquam Cede"
"Numquam Desiste"
 

Zombye

New Member

Bitmap dixit:
I'm afraid that's not right. You need a prohibitive subjunctive here (e.g. ne umquam desperaveris) ... hasn't that been discussed in some recent thread?
I think it was: POST: #26138
But I think it was before Mattheus joined the forum.
Also, I think there I asked you "how Romans thought of such negatives". I was trying to say that there is nothing wrong grammatically with the construction suggested by Mattheus (which I'd actually translate as 'never despair'). But you seem to suggest that Romans simply don't speak this way. So I wonder how do you know that.

Now, to the topic:
'Never Give Up' - 'Ne umquam succumbas' for singular 'you',
- 'Ne umquam succumbatis' for pl.

or I think besides subjunctive you can use 'noli' or 'nolite'.
'Never Give Up' - 'Noli umquam succumbere', sing.,
- 'Nolite umquam succumbere', pl.,
 
 

Matthaeus

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Yes yes me stultum I knew this appeared on some previous thread, I just don't remember and couldn't retrieve it. :oops:
Bitmap's right, the prohibitive subjunctive, which is the perfect subj.:
Numquam desperaveris, or Ne umquam desperaveris.
 
B

Bitmap

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Zombye dixit:
Also, I think there I asked you "how Romans thought of such negatives". I was trying to say that there is nothing wrong grammatically with the construction suggested by Mattheus (which I'd actually translate as 'never despair'). But you seem to suggest that Romans simply don't speak this way. So I wonder how do you know that.
Because there is no classical evidence that I know of (not even in letters or other informal texts) which would make it likely. Saying such a construction like this was part of Roman everyday language would require much more hypotheses to be true than believing the sources we have. But even if it existed in vulgar Latin or came into being in some post-classical version of Latin a couple of centuries later, I see no reason not to prefer the classical expression.

Now, to the topic:
'Never Give Up' - 'Ne umquam succumbas' for singular 'you',
- 'Ne umquam succumbatis' for pl.

or I think besides subjunctive you can use 'noli' or 'nolite'.
'Never Give Up' - 'Noli umquam succumbere', sing.,
- 'Nolite umquam succumbere', pl.,
Constructions with nolle work as well of course. They're a bit more polite

bojev dixit:
So if "numquam desperaveris" means "never give up",tnen what does mean "numquam desiste"?
"Numquam desiste" is ungrammatical (at least in classical Latin)
 

bojev

New Member

So the grammatically correct translation of "Never Give Up" in roman latin language is "Ne Umcuam Succumbas".I really need to know which one is correct. Because "Nu Umcuam Succumbas" is the fourth version i have found.

Nu umcuam succumbas
Numquam dede
Numquam cede
Numquam desiste
Which one does mean "Never give up" ?
 
 

Matthaeus

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After all these discussions, it seems proper to use, as Bitmap said, the prohibitive subjunctive, which is in accordance with Classical usage:

Ne umquam desperaveris (singular)
Ne umquam desperaveritis (plural)

or

Ne umquam succubueris
Ne umquam succubueritis

Forget dede, cede, and desiste.
 
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