I'm mulling over many different tattoo ideas of something in latin, either pertaining to friendship or love. How would "love above all" translate with "love" being a verb vs. "love" being a noun. Would it be different if it were to say, "above all, love?" Thanks in advance for any help with this!
love above all
- Thread starter Courtney L.
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Well from what I can see, Love seems to be a noun. Thus
Amor supra omnia.
Literally "Love above/beyond all things".
But as a verb, to me it would mean something like, "Above all, love" as you said. It would be translated into Latin as a command. So it would take the imperative.
Supra omnia, ama/amate. (Ama if you are taking to a single person, amate if you are talking to many. Since it is a tatoo, go with amate.)
Literally "Above all, love"
While in English it may be hard to make the distinction between the phrase using a noun vs a verb, in Latin there is no mistaking.
One could also translate "Above all, love" into "Above all, you must love". In Latin that would be
Supra omnia, vobis amandum est.
Which ever one you pick is up to your own preference of what you are trying to say.
And yes it would be different to use the noun vs the verb. If you use the noun it shows that
love is above all things. But to use the verb is to tell someone to love as the utmost importance.
Amor supra omnia.
Literally "Love above/beyond all things".
But as a verb, to me it would mean something like, "Above all, love" as you said. It would be translated into Latin as a command. So it would take the imperative.
Supra omnia, ama/amate. (Ama if you are taking to a single person, amate if you are talking to many. Since it is a tatoo, go with amate.)
Literally "Above all, love"
While in English it may be hard to make the distinction between the phrase using a noun vs a verb, in Latin there is no mistaking.
One could also translate "Above all, love" into "Above all, you must love". In Latin that would be
Supra omnia, vobis amandum est.
Which ever one you pick is up to your own preference of what you are trying to say.
And yes it would be different to use the noun vs the verb. If you use the noun it shows that
love is above all things. But to use the verb is to tell someone to love as the utmost importance.
amandum est = "it must be loved" - vobis = "by you (pl.)" but it's really dative (indirect object). tibi would be the singular.
The same construction is in Carthago delenda est = "Carthage must be destroyed", but there is no indirect object. I suppose you could put nobis = "for us."
But if it's a feminine something or someone that must be loved, it's amanda est, and amandus est for a masculine something or someone.
The same construction is in Carthago delenda est = "Carthage must be destroyed", but there is no indirect object. I suppose you could put nobis = "for us."
But if it's a feminine something or someone that must be loved, it's amanda est, and amandus est for a masculine something or someone.
I figured that it is unspecified exactly what you are loving, so I used the neuter. But if Courtney likes that one, she can specify what is being loved, and we can change it accordingly.
