With God, I have no fear

I

Iynx

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I don't think that's wrong, but I think we could do better. As it stands it seems a little clumsy and un-idiomatic to me. We migh simplify it to

Cum Deo Non Timeo

That is literally, "With God I Do Not Fear".

But this, like your original version, runs into what one might call a "cultural" problem. To someone brought up in ecclesiastical Latin, you must understand, fear of the Lord was presented as a Very Good Thing; it is mentioned positively over and over in Scripture, and it was in fact one of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost (the others being wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, and piety). Both the original and the emended phrase above thus run (it seems to me) some risk of ambiguity.

Why not borrow the words of Psalm CXVIII: 6:

Dominus mihi adjutor: non timebo.

The King James has here "the Lord is on my side: I will not fear..."

The verse continues in the Latin quid faciat mihi homo, literally "what man might do to me"; the KJV finishes the verse "what can man do to me?"
 
 
cinefactus

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If you are happy translating the sentiment, there are other biblical passages with similar meaning, eg Rom 8:31 si Deus pro nobis quis contra nos, or the obvious Psalm 23:4 si ambulavero in valle mortis non timebo malum quoniam tu mecum es

Looking at the wording of the latter, if you want a litteral translation, how about, "Dominus mecum nihil timebo"
 
Akela

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stcinder dixit:
Looking at the wording of the latter, if you want a litteral translation, how about, "Dominus mecum nihil timebo"
Click to expand...
timebo is future tense - or did you mean to say 'will fear'? Also, dominus should be in ablative, if I am not mistaken.
Therefore: domino mecum, nihil timeo
 
 
cinefactus

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Thanks for the feedback :)

I must admit the model I was thinking of was along the lines of the Hail Mary /Luke 1:38, "Ave Maria gratia plena Dominus tecum"

Why would you use the ablative? Is this one of these special rules that I can never remember ;) or is it the ablative absolute? I had in mind something like, "Si Dominus fuerit mecum nihil timebo", however you are quite right in that the tense is slightly wrong...

I guess this also changes the meaning slightly—God with me, rather than me with God...

JD
 
Akela

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Cum requires ablative, so I assumed mecum did too. Perhaps I am wrong - my dictionary is not of any help here.


Edit: don't forget that Dominus = Lord, and Deus = God
 
I

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Another precinct heard from:

I am no expert, but I think everyone is right here; either nominative or ablative would do, though the meaning is a little different between the two.

The former makes sense if one considers what is omitted:

Dominus mecum (est, et ) nihil timebo= "The Lord (is) with me, (and) nothing shall I fear.

Dominus is not the object of cum here, but the subject of the first clause, as in the Ave Maria (Dominus tecum = "the Lord is with thee").

But Akela's version would indeed be a sort of ablative absolute, I think:

Domino mecum, nihil timebo = "The Lord (being) with me, nothing shall I fear".

The former is (to my ear) more definite, and I prefer it; the latter is more "conditional".

I think also that either the present or the future would do; the Vulgate uses the future in the psalm I cited a little above.
 
Pacifica

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You can use Deus or Dominus as you like. As stated earlier, Deus = God, Dominus = the Lord. One isn't intrinsically better than the other.

But rather than Deus/Dominus mecum est et nihil timebo it would be better to say Deus/Dominus mecum est nec quicquam timebo; or else just drop the et: Deus/Dominus mecum est; nihil timebo.


Iynx dixit:
Domino mecum, nihil timebo = "The Lord (being) with me, nothing shall I fear".
Click to expand...
That doesn't work well. An abaltive absolute usually requires some participle, adjective or noun in the predicate part; a prepositional phrase alone doesn't quite do the trick. I suppose that instead of Domino mecum you could say Domino praesente.
 
Pacifica

Pacifica

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It conveys the same general idea. It can be translated as "With God's help/with God as my helper, I have no fear."
 
Pacifica

Pacifica

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Belgium
Note that if this is for a tattoo or an engraving or some such, you don't particularly need the diacritics (unless you like them). They're an aid to pronunciation, mostly just used in dictionaries and teaching material, and some people nowadays like to use them elsewhere too but most Latin writing throughout history has been done without them. So you can just write Deo adjutore (or, alternatively, adiutore) non timeo.
 
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