Can someone please translate a Latin phrase?

[Catherine]

It's: nec gemino bellum trojanum orditur ab ovo

 

Thanks!

[Violet Crown]

Never mind. I refuse to parade my ignorance to that extent. Good luck!

Edited August 20, 2010 by Sharon in Austin
humility

[Ester Maria]

It's: nec gemino bellum trojanum orditur ab ovo

 

Thanks!

Horace, Ars Poetica, 147.

 

"Nor does he begin the Troian War ab ovo"

(ETA: Literal translation here would be "from the double egg")

Ab ovo vs. in medias res are the terms introduced for different ways of beginning things - from the very beginning and from the "midst" of things. It's part in which Horace describes an ideal poet.

 

By the way, if you're going to ask for help this way, PLEASE include the full passage/sentence. I happen to know this piece fairly well, but if you don't do it, then it might be confusing due to the lack of context since we don't recall all things we ever read, obviously. NEVER write ONLY the verse you need help with - or at least write where it's from, so that others can have an easier time helping. :)

Edited August 20, 2010 by Ester Maria

[Catherine]

I did include it. It's a line from the Robert Louis Stevenson novel Kidnapped. Mr. Rankeillor is quizzing David, the main character to assess his knowledge of Latin and takes this out of context quote and asks him what it means. So it's already out of context. I say this not to excuse my inability to translate it (believe me, even in context I'd have no idea) but to explain why it was "just hanging there". Thanks again!

[Ester Maria]

I did include it. It's a line from the Robert Louis Stevenson novel Kidnapped. Mr. Rankeillor is quizzing David, the main character to assess his knowledge of Latin and takes this out of context quote and asks him what it means. So it's already out of context. I say this not to excuse my inability to translate it (believe me, even in context I'd have no idea) but to explain why it was "just hanging there". Thanks again!

That's okay. :)

I realized that you probably got it somehow out of context anyway, I'm just saying it generally, since it's quite difficult to help when you get an isolated line. :)

[unsinkable]

It's: nec gemino bellum trojanum orditur ab ovo

 

Thanks!

 

Twins eat necco wafers while ordering eggs in Troy after the war.

 

Ask any time!

Edited August 20, 2010 by unsinkable
forgot the bellum

[Sophia]

Twins eat necco wafers while ordering eggs in Troy after the war.

 

Ask any time!

 

:lol::lol:

 

I thought twins were involved,too. :leaving:

[Ester Maria]

I thought twins were involved,too. :leaving:

Always read the whole thing and see what matches with what:

 

If we were to "anglicize" the syntax there a bit, it would be something like nec orditur bellum Troianum ab gemino ovo. The "twin" thing is actually eggs, but the things which go together are often separated by other things in the Latin text (esp. poetry), so that's why the confusion. ;)