Sol omnia regit - I was right! (for a change) · 6:05am Jan 10th, 2014
Now just to be specific, I am an employee, a husband, and a father, so therefore by default I am wrong much more often than I am right (or at least it seems that way). However, on rare occasions, I’m right. Today is one such occasion.
First, a little background.
On Chapter 14 of the story Letters From a Little Princess Monster, I wrote the following paragraph:
“Sol omnia regit,” he sighed. “You can put your cloak back on and go play with your friends. You’re as healthy as a horse, other than a few issues what I’m assured your friend will be helping—” Doctor Stable glanced over at where Trixie was nudging the counterweights around on the scale with her magic while standing on tip-hooves.
I thought I had the Latin phrase right. After all, the internet said it was inscribed on the wall of the Copernicus museum in Frombork, Poland. How could the internet ever be wrong? Then I got a comment:
I think you may have messed up on this phrase as according to Google translate it means "The sun all the rules" but what I believe you were going for was "Sun rules all" yes? If so then shouldn't it be "Sol regit omnia" at least that what Google translate says.
and
Been 20 years since Latin classes but that looks right. Google translate must be getting better.
So I was worried. Then I got this one:
With regards to the Latin phrase, word order doesn't matter in Latin. "Sol omnia regit" and "Sol regit omnia" mean the same thing; one is just more similar to English sentence structure.
Well, that was educational. But there still was a question there. And since this is the 21st Century, the answer had to be chiseled in stone somewhere. So I wrote this email to the Nicolaus Copernicus Museum in Frombork, Poland:
A friend and I disagree on a latin phrase that is supposedly inscribed near the entrance of the Frombork museum. I believe it says:
Sol omnia regit
And he says it is properly written:
Sol regit omnia
Since I'm half a world away, I really can't drop by to take a look for myself (although I would love to), could you help resolve this by sending me a picture or telling me what it really says?
I appreciate your help very much.
-Georg
Lo and behold, the next day, I got this very polite response:
Hello Georg,
Attached is the image. As you can see, you are right.
It would be nice to see you here but I understand it is too far for a quick trip.
Have a nice day,
Andrzej
Andrzej S. Pilski
Planetarium of the Nicolaus Copernicus Museum in Frombork, Poland
I wrote him a thank you, but if any of you happen to be in the vicinity of the Nicolaus Copernicus Museum in Frombork, Poland in the near future, I would appreciate it if you could drop by and thank Mr. Pilski in person. The wonders of the internet never cease to amaze me.
Particularly on the rare occasion when I’m right :)
P.S. At least I didn't have to write a correction a hundred times on the wall.
OOO
First: how cool is it that someone from the Copernicus Museum wrote back to you?!
Second: my mother took Latin in high school. She's told me once or twice that word order doesn't matter much, and that all of the grammar and structure comes from the suffixes on the words themselves.
P.S. Thank you, sir! Hail Caesar, sir!
Hah! That is awesome!
The solar guard looked very cross, glaring from under the rim of his golden helmet.
"Sun which is all rules? Sun which is all rules?"
Word order is a complete non issue in Latin. It is entirely based on the endings, which denote which case (nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative and locative), declension (5 of them), and conjugation(4 of these, which are further sub-dived into various tenses) and gender (Masculine, Feminine and Neuter.) the word is; and that in turn tells you who is doing what where and when to whom. Also if it's a boy or a girl. Unless it's inanimate object (which are not automatically neuter, as one would think), at which point it just tells you if the Romans considered it a masculine, feminine or neutral object because reasons.
Also, you sent an email to Poland asking about a Latin phrase because of My Little Pony. And that is why this fandom is awesome.
What's really sad, is that I just remembered as I was reading this blog, that once conjugated properly, written Latin words can be placed in any order that seems pleasing to the eye (or ear I suppose)
It made translating Julius Caesar's journal of his Gaul campaigns a nightmare back in High School. By comparison, college Japanese classes were a breeze.
First, latin, always cool, second, python.
Romanes Ite Domum, huh?
Always nice to be vindicated.
1701610
"...well, she does make the laws, doesn't she?"
1701610 Running the risk of being wrong here, the rough translation would be:
The Sun, Which is all-powerful (from Omni, which is the base of Omnipotent, and Omniscent), Rules over All Things. From what I understand, the reason it's associated with Copernicus is his influence in shifting then-modern astronomy from earth-centered (all planets and the sun revolve around the earth) to a helio-centric view of the solar system. See the Wiki entry here. See, Ponies are Educational.
1702155
Close, but not quite right. Omnia is simply the accusative case of omni (that is, it is the direct object of the sentence), and simply means everything, it has nothing to do with power. So, "The Sun everything rules"would be a pretty litteral translation. "The Sun reigns over all things" sounds a bit better, though.