Need help before 1911s get engraved!

[BadMitten]

So I'm taking my set of 1911's to get engraved, finally. They should be quite the pair once they are completed. Anyways, I'm engraving " Frateri Ad Infinitum" along the slide which is Latin for "Brothers to Infinity" since one of the weapons is for my best friend/best man.

Anyone here have a decent grasp on Latin? I need to make sure the translation is correct.

Thanks! Here is a pic of the guns pre engraving.

 

[Rail Driver]

frater ut infinitio is what the translator I use came back with.

 

[1KPerDay]

Call your local college professor and get it right.

 

[rcmodel]

Or speak english so most everyone can know what it says!

rc

 

[Blackstone]

You can reasonably guess what 'frater' and 'infinitum' mean though

 

[Nushif]

I'd actually say "ad" in this case is correct.

"Per Aspera ad Astra" is two infinitives coupled with an ad, right, in both cases the second term being an abstract. Ut from my shady memory implies either a location,a specific one such as "THIS infinity" like "THIS hill" ala German "Dieser Huegel" or "DIESE Ewigkeit" (which may technically be correct but not speech) as opposed to "Der Huegel" and "Die Ewigkeit" (where there is a strong implication that you mean you know .... this one) and can also mean some other things if I remember right, such as "towards" or "into" depending on context.

Translation program unless you're using a very, very, very high speed ones are nigh useless, I would not ever trust one, seeing as I've seen way too many bad translations that have gotten an F from me, for being blatant electronic translations. Think translation vs. transliteration. Even though most engines fail even at translation.

And this, Ladies and Gentlemen is what you do with a language degree. 8)

 

[Spats McGee]

. . . .And this, Ladies and Gentlemen is what you do with a language degree. 8)

This is off-topic, but you can also go to law school with a language degree.

 

[Ehtereon11B]

My wife has a degree in Latin from MWU so I asked her on this one. She says there is no Latin word for Infinity but Infinitum is the closest you are going to get.

You could also go with "Semper fratres" or "Sempiternum fratres" if you want "Forever Brothers" instead of using a guess for Infinity.

 

[wojownik]

Do you (the OP) want to say "brother to infinity" or "brother forever".

"Frater pro infinitio" would mean "brother for ever". "Frater ut infinitio" would mean "brother to infinity" (or "brothers to the infinite"). The converse would be "Frater Ut Terminus" (or "Frater ad finem) "brother to the end".

Or, consider "fratres aeternum" ... also "brothers forever" or "brothers everlasting"

Frater = brother
Fratres = brothers


My goodness, my Latin from school is coming back while drinking single malts and watching the election returns

 

[Nushif]

My goodness, my Latin from school is coming back while drinking single malts and watching the election returns

In the spirit of academicity(tm) I will say:
You Barbarian. Use Port, instead.

But yes, I will agree.

 

[BadMitten]

Thanks All,

Talked to a couple of Latin professors and ending up going with "fratres in aeternum".

The 1911s are being cut as we speak. I will post pictures of the final products. The engraving is coming a long nicely, no text yet.

 

[brnmw]

This is what I found:

Semper Frateri transliterates to "Always Brothers." Frateri Ad Infinitum" would be "Brothers to infinity"

Good luck.

 

[SaxonPig]

I can ask my wife. She has a Ph.D. in classics and has taught Latin.

 

[230RN]

Sounds like a great idea. Hope it turns out OK for you. Were they sequentially serial-numbered, too?

Re electronic translators:

I had to translate a long letter into Spanish once and went back and forth with an electronic translator to Spanish and then back to English, touched it up a little, then repeated those steps a couple of times until the English came back almost exactly like my original letter. Tedious, but seemed to work.

Terry, 230RN

 

[oneounceload]

Or you could go the modern text version - "BFF".....

 

[230RN]

Personally, I'd have done the engraving in English anyhow. Had enough Latin in Altar Boy School to last a while --65 years at least, so far.

 

[parsimonious_instead]

The headline of your post had me rollin, badMitten. I had an image of your 1911 tied to train tracks with a steam-powered locomotive powered bearing down on it, like some early 1900s serial. And there you are, helpless to intervene as the "engraving train" is about to do... something to your gun you don't want it to.