memento mori

[johnny123]

Hi Guys,

I've used the search and saw a thread about this already however had a further question to ask.

I understand that literally it is translated as "remember to die" but understood as "remember you have to die"

I want to get a tattoo and was wondering what would be the way to say the latter. "Remember you have to die".

Could someone please help me figure out if there's a difference.

Thanks for all your help in advance. I truly appreciate any input.

 

[Bitmap]

I understand that literally it is translated as "remember to die" but understood as "remember you have to die"

I want to get a tattoo and was wondering what would be the way to say the latter. "Remember you have to die".

"Remember you have to die" would more literally be memento tibi moriendum esse

For a tattoo, I'd stick with the known phrase memento mori, though.
Well, personally, I wouldn't get one at all, but that's another story.

 

[johnny123]

"Remember you have to die" would more literally be memento tibi moriendum esse

For a tattoo, I'd stick with the known phrase memento mori, though.
Well, personally, I wouldn't get one at all, but that's another story.

Okay. Thanks.
But generally, memento mori does mean Remember you have to(must?) die, its just an interpretation not a direct literal translation?

 

[Bitmap]

I don't know where the phrase originally comes from - maybe that was discussed in the other thread you mentioned?
It sounds a bit like it could be the end of a pentametre or part of a poem, where you have a certain degree of liberty.
Quite literally, memento mori can either mean "remember to die" or "keep dying in mind"/"do not forget about dying" -- I suppose it is not a big leap from there to arrive at "remember that you have to die"

 

[Iacobinus]

Okay. Thanks.
But generally, memento mori does mean Remember you have to(must?) die, its just an interpretation not a direct literal translation?

Memento is the 2nd person singular imperative future of meminisse: "to put in own mind". It is usually translated, in the ulterior tense, as "to remember":
memini, "I have put in my mind", hence "I remember".
memineram, "I did put in my mind", hence "I was remembering".

Mori is the deponent present infinitive for "to die".

I don't know how to render an imperative future in English..., but literally, it might perhaps mean something like "[I say that] thou shouldst put in thy mind ([that] thou shalt remember) that thou art dying".

I believe the idea isn't that one have to die, nor that he must die, but that every living being is, at every moment, in the senescent process of dying.
You are less alive than yesterday, yet more than you'll be tomorrow. You are more dead than yesterday, yet still less than you'll be tomorrow. Death isn't for the far future, you are currently dying, know it!

I, hence, believe that "remember that you'll die" fail to catch the meaning of the original sentence.

 

[Gregorius Textor]

I don't know how to render an imperative future in English...,

It's simple enough: "Remember." We don't distinguish between future and present imperatives. Hence we can say "Remember now" and "Remember tomorrow", "Die now" and "Die tomorrow." But it's true that we lose the nuance of the Latin expression.

Mori is the deponent present infinitive for "to die".

of which the dictionary form is "morior" -- surprisingly hard to find, since there are a few other options about what "mori" could mean (in other contexts, as a form of other words).