Trekster's Latin Circle

[Trekstr]

It lacks a beginning and an end... or at least dreams do (have you ever noticed that )

I must caution you before you read this one... because that was your hint

cave quid dicis, quando, et cui

As always, Good Luck to all and have fun !

[jim360]

Cave - beware.
Quid - this (or that).
et - and.

Other than this, I don't know - but "quando" might be related to the French quand - "when".
Is "dicis" related to the French dire - "to say"?

So that would be something like "watch what you say, when, and to whom"? [cui = french qui or que = "who" or "whom"]

[Anubis]

Dicis can also be realetd to "Dice" in spanish which means "to say" too.

"Quando" =>"cuando","quand", "when". I agree.

Fun. I never studied Latin before 

[BFM_Fénix]

I have no other choice but to agree with them.

Fun. I never studied Latin before 

Do we have to???

[Bowser]

cave quid dicis, quando, et cui.

*cracks knuckles*

First thing is first: Identify the main verb and the subject. The main verb is "Dicis" which is the second person singular, present active indicative form of (dico, dicere - to say, tell, speak.) That's a bunch of gibberish to sort through, but it all means it is translated as: You say/You are saying. Since there is no "subject" word in this sentence, or at least none of the ending indicate one, the second person pronoun "you" which is used when translating the "second person" verbs becomes the subject.

Next, let's work through this sentence left to right, starting with "cave." It's either an Ablative Singular form of the noun (cavus, cavi - hole) or it's the infinitive form of verb (caveo, cavere; to beware, avoid. ) The noun would be translated "By/with/from the hole" and the verb would be translated "To beware." We'll translated the rest of the sentence and then plug whichever translation makes the most sentence into its slot.

Moving on to "quid." If I remember correctly it is an indefinite pronoun that is translated as simply "what/why."

Next up is "Quando." Quando is an interrogative that is translated as "when."

Finally, we have "cui." This is an irregular dative form of the relative prounon (Qui, quae, quod - who, which, that). As it is dative, it is translated "To who/which/that.


Right, now we've got all the individual parts, or at least options for them, lets plug them all in.

You say/(To beware/with hole)/what,/when,/ to who.

Now it's just up to me to make my choices. The closest technical translation I get is "You say to beware what, when, to who."

If you toy around for a bit you can make a more idiomatic translation like "You say to beware what, and when to beware, to whomever," but the technical translation as I got it was:

"You say to beware what, when, to who."

Am I close? My Latin teacher would murder me for how I explained what I got, but hopefully I made a little bit of sense. XD

[BFM_Fénix]

I still go for dicis as an auxiliary verb and cave as the main verb.

Also, it is an impersonal sentence, so the "you" at the beginning shouldn't be there, from my point of view.

We should as well consider the location and influence of quid to the verb dicis. Even though I agree with what you posted as the particular meanings, one word can change the use of a verb.

Now, considering 2 approximations of the actual meaning to Spanish and French, it simply makes more sense "Beware what you say, when and to whom" than "You say to beware what, when, to who".

[Bowser]

D'oh, I'm sorry, "cave" isn't an infinitive. The infinitive *IS* the second principal part, "cavere." When you drop the -re ending off the second principal part you get the imperative form of the verb, (cave - Beware!)  Makes much more sense that way, and also agrees with the translation "Beware what you say, when, (and) to whom." which does make a good deal more sense.

[TUR80]

This has just got way too complicated for me

[Trekstr]

Watch what you say, when, and to whom. It's pretty good advice, if you ask me

Here's one that doesn't really make too much sense to me, but...

de fumo in flammam

As always, have fun and good luck all

[jim360]

No smoke without fire?

[Anubis]

Smoke in flame ?

 

[BFM_Fénix]

Hmmmm...

I would say the smoke in flame, but the de can be interpreted as denoting location so...

Maybe:

De fumo in flammam -> Del humo a la flama -> From smoke (in)to (?) the flame

[BFM_Kiwi]

de = out or from
in = in or into?

fumo = fumes/smoke?
flammam = flame/flammable?

So it appears to be literally "out of the smoke, into the fire/flames"

Which sounds like the English: Out of the frying pan and into the fire  (otherwise in other words, going from bad to worse)

There is also the saying "where there is smoke, there is fire"  Which could fit if the translation was "out of smoke comes fire", but I don't think that's right.

[jim360]

I've jumped on "no smoke without fire" because I saw the words "fumo" and "flammam" - which could be translated as "smoke" and "fire" - and just picked the simplest phrase I could think of combining them.  However it's true that "de" and "in" have nothing to do with the concept of negation and suggest motion.

I think Kiwi's translation, and Fenix's, is correct. The "from smoke to flames" thing would relate to the idea of running away from the choking smoke, to its source. Which wouldn't be very good.

[Marty]

The "from smoke to flames" thing would relate to the idea of running away from the choking smoke, to its source. Which wouldn't be very good.

It could certainly ruin your day.