Curat iustus iumentorum suorum animas

[Suecius]

Hi,

Long time reader, first time poster... as one might say. I have been thinking about a motto for quite some time and I found a biblical passage that fits me really well as I work on a daily basis with animal welfare. However, I would like to explore the possibility of capturing the essence of the sentence and abbreviate it. In part to express it in fewer words (which works better for a motto) and partly to avoid any obvious religious connotations.

The original phrase is Curat iustus iumentorum suorum animas. Often translated as The righteous cares for (or know the needs of) their animals.

However, this is seemingly not the full and literal translation of the sentence if one looks at the possible meanings of each individual word.
CURAT: arrange, see to, attend, take care of, look after, tend to, heal, cure, govern, command, refresh
IUSTUS: just, righteous, lawful, justified
IUMENTORUM: a draft animal, a beast of burden, large domestic animal for carts/carriages
SUORUM: his/her/its/their
ANIMAS: soul, spirit, life, air breeze, breath

With this in mind, would it work to shorten/revise the motto to something like Iustus curat iumentorum or would that be incorrect or too ambiguous? And should I want to change iumentorum to something more or less specific, like animalium or canum, would that work just as well from a grammatical point of view?

Thank you all in advance. I would really appreciate any feedback you could offer me.

 

[Pacifica]

With this in mind, would it work to shorten/revise the motto to something like Iustus curat iumentorum or would that be incorrect or too ambiguous?

It would have to be iustus curat iumenta.

And should I want to change iumentorum to something more or less specific, like animalium or canum, would that work just as well from a grammatical point of view?

If you're still talking about the shortened sentence (with animas removed) the correct forms would be animalia and canes.

 

[Laurentius]

Canes is not more or less specific, I think it has nothing to do with iumenta.

 

[Suecius]

Canes is not more or less specific, I think it has nothing to do with iumenta.

With specific I meant in terms of meaning. If iumenta specifically refers to a draft animal, one option would refer to all animals whereas the other would refer to a single species.

 

[Suecius]

It would have to be iustus curat iumenta.

If you're still talking about the shortened sentence (with animas removed) the correct forms would be animalia and canes.

Thank you for your reply, Pacifica. Very helpful. If I might add, would the order of the words matter in latin or does it have to be in the order as written in your quote above?

 

[Pacifica]

Latin word order is rather flexible. In this case, any order would be grammatically correct, but it could change the emphasis. Is there a particular order that you'd like to use?