Latin course for the Virtual School of Languages

The structured approach at translating a sentence

This second page will show you how to use the structured approach
at translating a sentence when dealing with original texts or similarly
complex ones.

Ovid
Since Ovid wrote most of his epics in Hexameter or Pentameter,
the rhythm didn't allow him to place the words where they should 
logically appear. A classical case for the structured approach.

Example: the Proömium(introduction) of his metamorphoses, 
with the stressed parts in bold, in case you want to see the rhythm.
"In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas
corpora. Di, coeptis - nam vos mutastis et illas -
aspirate meis primaqu' ab origine mundi
ad mea perpetuum deducite tempora carmen!"
These are actually two sentences and we'll deal with them one by
one.

1st sentence: "In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas corpora"
1. The verb is "fert", which means "he/she/it
    carries/brings/tells" and many other things, depending on the context.
2. The subject is "animus", the soul or spirit. "Animus me fert" is an
    often-used expression, which means "My heart makes me (do sth)"
    or, for the less poetic, "I feel compelled (to do sth)".
    In this case, Ovid omitted the "me" in order to be able to maintain
    his rhythm.
3. What does Ovid feel compelled to do? "dicere"(say, tell). He feels 
    compelled to say or tell what? "Mutatas formas" and "In nova 
    corpora" belong together because they have the same genders,
    cases and numbers. "Mutatas formas" means "mutated/changed forms"
    and "in nova corpora" means "into new figures/shapes".
    Possible first translation: "My heart makes me tell of forms that have
    been changed into new shapes."
4. No untranslated words
5. Now you can put the sentence together and try to make it sound
    poetic but not incomprehensible, while conveying all things Ovid
    expressed. A difficult task. 

2nd sentence: "Di, coeptis - nam vos mutastis et illas - aspirate meis
primaque ab origine mundi ad mea perpetuum deducite tempora carmen!"
In such a long and chaotic sentence, it is better to rearrange the words 
that fit together, in order to make sure that none is forgot. The word that
belong together are: coeptis meis; ad mea tempora; perpetuum carmen.
Now the rearranged sentence: "Di - nam vos mutastis et illas - aspirate
meis coeptis primaque ab origine mundi ad mea tempora deducite
perpetuum carmen!"
We'll leave out the clause between the dashes for now, because it is 
likely some additional information that doesn't help us with the main clause.
1st main clause
The first verb of the main clause is "aspirate", which means "favour! Be
beneficial!". "Di" (= dei) is the addressed person here, it means "Gods". 
Ovid is asking the Gods to favour something or to be beneficial to something, 
but to what? "meis coeptis", "my undertakings".
Now the first main clause is finished, because "-que" means "and". Let's deal
with the part between dashes now, before moving on to the second main
clause:
Clause between dashes
Here, the verb is "mutastis", which is a short form of "mutavistis", meaning
"you have mutated/changed". The subject "you" is included in the verb and 
also in the form of "vos", in order to stress it. The object(s), which the Gods
have mutated/changed, is "illas". This pronoun refers to "formas", which was
mentioned in the last sentence. In order to avoid confusion, we'll add "formas"
to the translation. There are two words left: "nam"(because) and "et"(and, also).
Put together, the clause between dashes means "because you have also
changed those forms".
2nd main clause
The verb of the 2nd main clause is "deducite", "lead!". Obviously the
imperative is still directed at the Gods whom Ovid asked to look benevolently
on his undertakings before. The object is "perpetuum carmen", a continuous
song, an unbroken song. This refers to the stories that Ovid will tell in the
next part of the book. He put them together in such a way that there is no
break between them, every story being somehow related to the previous one.
There are two blocks left, which specify where the Gods should lead Ovid's
continous song: "ab origine mundi" -> "from the beginning of the world", 
"ad mea tempora" -> "to my time". 
Now, we have to compose a sentence with all of this information. There are
hundreds of more or less poetic translations of this sentence possible. One
translation is "Gods, because it was you who mutated those forms, please 
favour my undertakings and lead my continuous song from the beginning
of the world to my time!"