Analysis of 'Apartment Life' spells and Latin.

[Obsidian]

I was reading the discussion about the 'bad Latin' on the 'List of Spells' thread, and while the comments made sense, I still wanted to see if there was validity to them.

While I neither read nor speak Latin, and am not an expert, I do work with several old languages a lot, including Latin. (I'm a writer trying to publish a fantasy comic book, but that's a point for another time).

So, I dug out my Latin-to-English dictionary and websources, and translated them. Yes, I know. I have too much time on my hands.

I'll take it spell by spell here, divided up by alignment.

Dark Spells:

Spiritus Poultria - Spirtus is real Latin. It means 'breath', 'life' and 'spirit'. Poultria is NOT Latin, however, being a made-up word.

Mellifera Attackum - As Pescado mentioned on the other thread, Mellifera is the scientific (and by extension, Latin) word for Honeybee. Attackum, on the other hand, has no Latin basis.

Corruptus Locus - Locus is real Latin. It means 'location' and 'place', amongst others. Corruptus is a made up word.

Inflammo - I didn't think it would be, but this is in fact REALLY a Latin word, meaning 'to set on fire'

Heavus Ho - Not a single word of real Latin in the spell. Not surprisingly.

Compello Discrepo - BOTH words are genuine Latin. In this case, the entire phrase means roughly 'force to disagree'

Serventus Attackum - No real Latin here.

Tabula Rasa - As mentioned elsewhere, this is indeed genuine Latin, meaning 'blank slate'.

Extractum Amorus - This one is tricky. Extractum is real Latin, surprisingly. It means 'extract' or 'remove'. Amorus, while not real Latin, IS actually close to the real Latin word for love, which is Amor. Very close to being real Latin, actually.

Vivificus Zombiae -  Vivificus is a real Latin word which means 'life-giving' or 'life-restoring'. Zombiae, of course, is NOT Latin. Unsurprisingly, as the word zombie is of Caribbean origin.

Neutral Spells:

Aqua Deletus - Aqua means 'water' in Latin, so this word is real. Deletus, on the other hand, is NOT Latin.

Cleanius Corpus  - While Cleanius is a fake word, Corpus is a genuine Latin word that means 'body'.

Folium Deletus - Folium is a real Latin word meaning 'leaf'. As said, Deletus is made up

Corpus Athleticus & Corpus Fleshicas - As mentioned, the only real Latin word here is Corpus.

Magivestigium - This one is interesting. Vestigium is a real Latin word meaning 'footstep', 'trace' and 'mark'. The Magi prefix... well, we will get to that later.

Creatum Nutrimens - This phrase sounds fake, but in fact, while creatum is a made up word, nutrimens is actually a real Latin word meaning 'food' or 'nourishment'.

Expello Simae - Expello is a genuine Latin word, meaning 'banish' or 'expell'. Simae, of course, is not a real Latin word, but I like it and think it a creative word for a Sim.

Appello Cattus Amicus - All real Latin words, meaning roughly 'Appear', 'Cat', and 'Friend', respectively.

Purgomagus - I'll tackle this in two halves. First half, Purgo. This is a real Latin word meaning 'cleanse'. 'purify', 'clear away' and 'wash off'. So far, so good. The second half, magus... Well, stay tuned.

Appello Simae - As established, Simae is fake. But, appello is a real Latin word meaning 'to call' or 'to summon'

Magus Mutatio - Finally, we tackle Magus, which is the genuine Latin word for 'magic'. Mutatio is also a real Latin word, meaning 'change' or 'transform'. So, 'Magical Change'.

Tempus Interruptus - As most of you probably know, tempus is the Latin word for 'time'. Interruptus, on the other hand, has no Latin basis.

Good Spells:

Benemoodus Simae - This one is purely made up...

Creatum Insecto Volucris - As is this one. None of these words are real Latin.

Beautificus Locus - As established above, Locus means 'Location'. Beautificus, on the other hand, is made up.

Exflammo - Unlike Inflammo, this is purely made up.

Remedis Simae - Purely made up.

Compello Acceptus - As with it's dark counterpoint, both words are real Latin. Compello meaning 'compell' or 'force', and Acceptus meaning 'welcome' or 'agreeable' So, basically, 'compel to agree.'

Appello Servantus - Appello, as established, means 'to summon'. Servantus is, however, not Latin

Benemoodus Populus - While benemoodus is purely made up, Populus is, of course, genuine Latin, meaning 'the people'

Mactoamicus - Once again, in two halves. First, macto. This is a genuine Latin word meaning 'to magnify', 'glorify', among others. Amicus is, as established, Latin for 'friend'.

Expello Mortis - Both genuine Latin. Expello meaning 'banish' or 'expel', and Mortis meaning 'death'. So, 'expel death'


All in all, most of the spells actually use genuine Latin. EAxis didn't do as bad as I originally thought in this department. Almost every spell contained at least one genuine Latin word, who's meaning roughly corresponds to the spell. Far more than I originally though. I'm actually mildly impressed with something they did for once. Still, it would have been nice to have ALL Latin words.

So, there you go. My analysis, culled from me being bored and having nothing better to do with my time.

[Tsarina]

Thank you for taking the time to do this. It was very interesting to read.

[VacantBlue]

Very interesting.

I, too, am no expert.  I took 1 semester of Latin a long, long time ago.  I believe that "bene" is a latin prefix meaning "well" or "favorable".  So, Benemoodus is only partially made up.

Edit to add from dictionary definitions:
"delet-" is Latin - past participle of  delere "blot out, efface"
"Remedium" is Latin for medicine which is close to the "Remedis"
"Corruptus" is Latin - past participle of  corrumpere "break completely" & rumpere "to break"
"Interrupt" is Latin - past participle of  interrumpere "break apart" & rumpere "to break"
"Ex" is a Latin prefix meaning "out"

[talysman]

I'm pretty sure "tempus interruptus" is modeled after "coitus interruptus".

[Obsidian]

I believe that "bene" is a latin prefix meaning "well" or "favorable".  So, Benemoodus is only partially made up.

You're correct, it is. Strange that I didn't even think of that. Ah well.

Edit to add from dictionary definitions:
"delet-" is Latin - past participle of  delere "blot out, efface"
"Remedium" is Latin for medicine which is close to the "Remedis"
"Interrupt" is Latin - past participle of  interrumpere "break apart" & rumpere "to break"
"Ex" is a Latin prefix meaning "out"

I didn't count those as I was focusing primarily on whole words, not so much prefixes, or words that had been changed slightly from the Latin. But, you are right.

"Corruptus" is Latin - past participle of corrumpere "break completely" & rumpere "to break"

That's odd. None of my Latin sources mention corruptus at all. And I have several.

I believe you, I just can't find it at all. Strange.

I'm pretty sure "tempus interruptus" is modeled after "coitus interruptus".

It probably is, but interruptus is not a Latin word, so it doesn't count.   

[breyerii]

My slapdash list of corrections:

Dark Spells:

Spiritus Poultria - Spirtus is real Latin. It means 'breath', 'life' and 'spirit'. Poultria refers to Latin "pullus", which means chicken.

Corruptus Locus - Locus is real Latin. It means 'location' and 'place', amongst others. Corruptus is the past participle of "corrumpere", to corrupt.

Inflammo - I didn't think it would be, but this is in fact REALLY a Latin word, meaning 'I set on fire'

Compello Discrepo - BOTH words are genuine Latin. In this case, the entire phrase means roughly 'I force to disagree'

Serventus Attackum - No real Latin here, unless one takes into consideration "servus", which means slave.

Tabula Rasa - As mentioned elsewhere, this is indeed genuine Latin, meaning 'blank tablet'.

Extractum Amorus - This one is tricky. Extractum is real Latin, surprisingly. It means 'extracted' or 'removed'. Amorus, while not real Latin, IS actually close to the real Latin word for love, which is Amor. Very close to being real Latin, actually. If it were "extractum amoris" it would in fact mean, love potion.

Neutral Spells:

Aqua Deletus - Aqua means 'water' in Latin, so this word is real. Deletus, on the other hand, is a form of "delere", to destroy. Remember "delenda Carthago"?

Folium Deletus - Folium is a real Latin word meaning 'leaf'. As said, Deletus is participle to "delere", and translates to "destroyed".

Corpus Athleticus & Corpus Fleshicas - As mentioned, the only real Latin word here is Corpus. Although the Romans took their "athleta" from the Greeks.

Creatum Nutrimens - This phrase sounds fake, but in fact, while creatum is a participle to "creare", to create, nutrimens is actually a real Latin word meaning 'food' or 'nourishment'.

Expello Simae - Expello is a genuine Latin word, meaning 'I banish' or 'expell'. Simae, of course, is not a real Latin word, but I like it and think it a creative word for a Sim.

Appello Cattus Amicus - All real Latin words, meaning very roughly 'I invoke a cat friend'. Notice the form ‘cattus' (which is in the wrong case) is true, if rarer than ‘catus'.

Appello Simae - As established, Simae is fake. But, appello is a real Latin word meaning 'I call' or 'summon'

Magus Mutatio - Finally, we tackle Magus, which is the genuine Latin word for 'magician'. Mutatio is also a real Latin word, meaning 'change' or 'transformation'. So, ‘Change (into a magician)'.

Tempus Interruptus - As most of you probably know, tempus is the Latin word for 'time'. Interruptus, on the other hand, is participle of "interrumpere", to break off. Why would it be so often associated with coitus, otherwise?

Good Spells:

Benemoodus Simae - This one is purely made up also of the Latin adverb "bene".

Creatum Insecto Volucris - take a participle of "creare", create, pig-Latinize the plural of "insectum", insect (which would be "insecta"), add "volucris" (flying being) and you have, ‘create flying insects'

Beautificus Locus - As established above, Locus means 'Location'. Beautificus, on the other hand, is probably a homebrew variant of "beatificus", in turn composed of "beatus", happy/pleasant, and "facere", to make/render. Main infiltration seems to come from ‘beauty', a word whose farthest roots lie in Latin adjective "bellus", pretty.

Remedis Simae - Purely made up in the second word; the first reminds of "remedium", remedy.

Compello Acceptus - As with it's dark counterpoint, both words are real Latin. Compello meaning 'I compell' or 'force', and Acceptus meaning ‘received, accepted'. So, basically, 'compel to accept.'

Appello Servantus - Appello, as established, means 'I summon'. Servantus is, however, not genuine Latin.

Benemoodus Populus - While benemoodus is partially made up, Populus is, of course, genuine Latin, meaning 'the people'

Mactoamicus - Once again, in two halves. First, macto. This is a genuine Latin word meaning 'I magnify', 'glorify', among others. There's also ‘macte', which means, hooray for…! Amicus is, as established, Latin for 'friend'.

Expello Mortis - Both genuine Latin. Expello meaning 'I banish' or 'expel', and Mortis meaning 'of Death'. So, 'I expel Death' in EAxis Latin (should be either, "Expello Mortem" or "Expulsio Mortis").

[Annan]

My slapdash list of corrections:
(snip)

Thank you. I had a feeling that the original list was sort of made of fail, but since my latin skillz are not as good as they could be, I didn't feel like tackling that one.

Also, I don't understand how the OP can be so surprised there are actual latin words in spells made to sound like latin. ...D'oh?

I think the lesson here is, don't start assuming what is and what isn't proper latin if you don't know what cases or declensions are.

[Obsidian]

breyerii, some of your corrections work, but others...not so much.

For example:

Spiritus Poultria - Spirtus is real Latin. It means 'breath', 'life' and 'spirit'. Poultria refers to Latin "pullus", which means chicken.

This is pushing it, I think. Poultria is obviously a fake Latin version of 'poultry', and you'd really have to stretch to get that out of "pullus"  

Corruptus Locus - Locus is real Latin. It means 'location' and 'place', amongst others. Corruptus is the past participle of "corrumpere", to corrupt.

As I said, I can't find corruptus anywhere, and I looked in almost a dozen sources. I believe you though.

Inflammo - I didn't think it would be, but this is in fact REALLY a Latin word, meaning 'I set on fire'

Every one of my sources says either "to set on fire" or just "set on fire", not "I". Still, I'll give you this.

Serventus Attackum - No real Latin here, unless one takes into consideration "servus", which means slave.

While not stretching it as much as the poultry example above, it's still kinda pointless to correct. Servantus is obviously fake-Latin for 'servant', just taking the current English word and sticking 'us' on the end of it, as is common.

Tabula Rasa - As mentioned elsewhere, this is indeed genuine Latin, meaning 'blank tablet'.

Okay. Now this is just quibbling over semantics.  

'Slate' and 'tablet' mean the same thing, and pretty much every source you look at will give you both definitions for tabula, as well as 'board', 'plank', and several other related words.

Tempus Interruptus - As most of you probably know, tempus is the Latin word for 'time'. Interruptus, on the other hand, is participle of "interrumpere", to break off. Why would it be so often associated with coitus, otherwise?

Oh, maybe because they both end with the 'us' sound.  

As with the chicken and servant examples above, it appears to be a matter of them just taking an English word and attaching 'us' to it to give it a faux-Latin sound. Don't over analyze these things. 

Benemoodus Simae - This one is purely made up also of the Latin adverb "bene".

As I said, I didn't even think of the adverb 'bene', for some strange reason.  

Creatum Insecto Volucris - take a participle of "creare", create, pig-Latinize the plural of "insectum", insect (which would be "insecta"), add "volucris" (flying being) and you have, ‘create flying insects'

I can't find volucris anywhere. I'll accept that, though.

Creatum seems to be just a faux-Latin version of 'Create'.

And insecto is the same, although why they didn't just use 'insectum' is beyond me.

Compello Acceptus - As with it's dark counterpoint, both words are real Latin. Compello meaning 'I compell' or 'force', and Acceptus meaning ‘received, accepted'. So, basically, 'compel to accept.'

Every source I have gives the translations I gave.   I'll accept that, though.

[Annan]

See what I said about cases and declensions? Those are what make the words you looked up different from the list that Breyerii corrected. The -o ending means I, since latin rarely uses free-standing pronouns. The suffixes shows who does what (and to whom). Hence; inflammo = I set on fire. Same with corruptus, the -tus ending is the past participle - it is not in the present tempus. To know how the different cases of verbs are formed, you need to know which category the verb you're looking up belongs to - there are four groups. All groups follow different rules, and the third group is irregular.

Disclaimer: It has been eight years since my last Latin class and my grasp of Latin grammar is shaky. Breyerii, forgive my mistakes.

[jolrei]

breyerii, some of your corrections work, but others...not so much.

Except, of course, that the point here is not actually to make spell names that ARE Latin, but to make them SOUND LIKE Latin, with enough reference to be able to guess a bit of what the spell might do.  It is therefore irrelevant whether the words are "real" Latin.  As Breyerii noted, they "refer to" Latin (insofar as the word poultry is derived from the Latin "pullus").

For example:

Spiritus Poultria - Spirtus is real Latin. It means 'breath', 'life' and 'spirit'. Poultria refers to Latin "pullus", which means chicken.

This is pushing it, I think. Poultria is obviously a fake Latin version of 'poultry', and you'd really have to stretch to get that out of "pullus"  

Except that it isn't, because the spell likely has something to do with making sims do the silly chicken dance, or some such, thus, having the spirit of a chicken.  The word "poultria" used because "pullus" would not be as readily understood.

Serventus Attackum - No real Latin here, unless one takes into consideration "servus", which means slave.

While not stretching it as much as the poultry example above, it's still kinda pointless to correct. Servantus is obviously fake-Latin for 'servant', just taking the current English word and sticking 'us' on the end of it, as is common.

Again, the English "servant" is derived from the Latin "servus" - "servantus" is used to 1) be more clearly understood; or 2) in an attempt to be funny/like Harry Potter/cool.  It isn't Latin, but is still "derived from" Latin.

Tabula Rasa - As mentioned elsewhere, this is indeed genuine Latin, meaning 'blank tablet'.

Okay. Now this is just quibbling over semantics.  

'Slate' and 'tablet' mean the same thing, and pretty much every source you look at will give you both definitions for tabula, as well as 'board', 'plank', and several other related words.

Agreed.  Slate is a more "modern" translation of tablet, since nobody...er...uses tablets...anymore...like nobody now uses slates anymore either.  Right, new translation:  "wiped memory".  See, it works!

Anyway, it's all very interesting.  However, it seems one can understand the pseudo-derived-not-quite-Latin well enough to figure out the spells, so I'm not seeing a problem.  Admittedly this could annoy the Latin purist, but I suspect the spell book was made with a nod (if not a full fall over bow attempt) to Harry Potter, not to any true Latin text of note.

[Annan]

Anyway, it's all very interesting.  However, it seems one can understand the pseudo-derived-not-quite-Latin well enough to figure out the spells, so I'm not seeing a problem.  Admittedly this could annoy the Latin purist, but I suspect the spell book was made with a nod (if not a full fall over bow attempt) to Harry Potter, not to any true Latin text of note.

Except that in this case, the Latin purist doesn't actually know any Latin.

[Obsidian]

Anyway, it's all very interesting.  However, it seems one can understand the pseudo-derived-not-quite-Latin well enough to figure out the spells, so I'm not seeing a problem.  Admittedly this could annoy the Latin purist, but I suspect the spell book was made with a nod (if not a full fall over bow attempt) to Harry Potter, not to any true Latin text of note.

Except that in this case, the Latin purist doesn't actually know any Latin.

If that's aimed at me, I never claimed to be a Latin purist, or an expert. I said very clearly that I was not.

[Solowren]

Yes, but then you go on to say things like "I'll accept that," and "I'll give you this" to someone who obviously does know Latin. Your responses came off rather pretentiously.

[breyerii]

I admit I've nitpicked in places. To the point:

This is pushing it, I think. Poultria is obviously a fake Latin version of 'poultry', and you'd really have to stretch to get that out of "pullus" 

Nitpick, right. Although poultry clearly comes from pullus.

As I said, I can't find corruptus anywhere, and I looked in almost a dozen sources. I believe you though.

It's because it's not a paradigm (that is, not the form registered by dictionaries in most cases, as in "flee" instead of "fled"). However, some do when a form becomes so important to take a life on its own. See here.

Every one of my sources says either "to set on fire" or just "set on fire", not "I". Still, I'll give you this.

The evils of paradigm. Listing Latin verbs using the first present singular form is good and well, but it requires one to know that it's an inflected form not to be fooled.

While not stretching it as much as the poultry example above, it's still kinda pointless to correct. Servantus is obviously fake-Latin for 'servant', just taking the current English word and sticking 'us' on the end of it, as is common.

My nitpick, again, even though like before there was some Latin to be found after al.

Okay. Now this is just quibbling over semantics.   

'Slate' and 'tablet' mean the same thing, and pretty much every source you look at will give you both definitions for tabula, as well as 'board', 'plank', and several other related words.

Aren't slates made of stone? 

Oh, maybe because they both end with the 'us' sound.   

As with the chicken and servant examples above, it appears to be a matter of them just taking an English word and attaching 'us' to it to give it a faux-Latin sound. Don't over analyze these things. 

Tempus, we agree is Latin. Interruptus, is just as I said (oh, will this last link, best explanation of Woohoous Interruptus also from the etymological sense I could grab on, corrupt some innocents?  )

I can't find volucris anywhere. I'll accept that, though.

These are rare words... 

Creatum seems to be just a faux-Latin version of 'Create'.

And insecto is the same, although why they didn't just use 'insectum' is beyond me.

And "create" in turn comes from Latin.
As for the "insectus"... I'm perfectly willing to accept that EAxis really in this case took English and slapped an -us on it!

Every source I have gives the translations I gave.  I'll accept that, though.

Ah, yes, this one is problematic. If acceptus is taken as an adjective, it would be as you say, but considering the boundless affection EAxis has shown for participles I find it more logical to assume they used accipere, similar to English to accept. Makes more sense than a verb+adj phrase to me, but then, considering the grammar involved in these spells... sit domina omnium et regina ratio (May reason be mistress and queen to all).

[Gwill]

Oh, cool, a latin grammar nazi!
Go, breyerii!

Ceterum autem censeo, Carthaginem esse delendam.

[J. M. Pescado]

As for the "insectus"... I'm perfectly willing to accept that EAxis really in this case took English and slapped an -us on it!

Everyone know slapping -us onto something makes instant dog-Latin! See "Bigus Dickus".

[Fat D]

Oh, cool, a latin grammar nazi!
Go, breyerii!

Ceterum autem censeo, Carthaginem esse delendam.

I used that as frequent non sequitur somewhere some time ago. I once thought about a script to add that with the press of a button so I could attach it to a monologue, and I might have even decided to use it as a signature somewhere. After all, it was originally used non sequens.

And Pescado, I know dog latin is enough for you, with all the pseudo-latin double-i genitives you use.

[breyerii]

Oh, cool, a latin grammar nazi!
Go, breyerii!

Resistance is futile. 

Everyone know slapping -us onto something makes instant dog-Latin! See "Bigus Dickus".

Ah, but where I live he became "Marco Pisellonio" ("pisellone" = big... dickus).

[Quinctia]

Oh, now I'm remembering the good ol' days of taking Latin, and Carthago delendo est.  We'd go to quizbowl contests and that was one of our stock answers for bonus questions that we didn't know the answer to, along with Julius Caesar and 3rd declension.  We knew how to play the odds!

[Metatwaddle]

Ours was Hernan Cortez. But it was the trademark of one guy on the team, and the one time that Cortez was an answer, he wasn't there. He was really disappointed.

Then there were the QuizNet contests, where we'd occasionally make something up when nobody on any team knew the answer. Usually they'd all just repeat the answer we gave, and it really annoyed the moderator.

[Lum]

Don't know Latin, but as a native Spanish-speaker, that '-lo' ending (expello, apello, ect) is still used in Spanish and you don't need to stick the 'I' pronoun ('Yo') to know that I am the one doing the expelling... if that makes any sense...

[J. M. Pescado]

Ours was Hernan Cortez. But it was the trademark of one guy on the team, and the one time that Cortez was an answer, he wasn't there. He was really disappointed.

Then there were the QuizNet contests, where we'd occasionally make something up when nobody on any team knew the answer. Usually they'd all just repeat the answer we gave, and it really annoyed the moderator.

I remember there was a quiz-type dealy where one player would always sleep through the entire thing, yet always have the right answer when prodded despite not having listened to any of it. He apparently wasn't all that well-liked, but everyone wanted him on the their team because that team always won.

[Quinctia]

Ours was Hernan Cortez. But it was the trademark of one guy on the team, and the one time that Cortez was an answer, he wasn't there. He was really disappointed.

It was Latin quizbowl, actually called Certamen, so we had a slightly narrower range of topics.  We had a "guess" guy on the team.  If no one on the team knew an answer to buzz in, we'd kick him, and he could guess whatever he would like.  The other teams would find him hilarious until he got answers right.  We actually did quite well on the state level, but man, I went to nationals once and the people there were insane.  No fun at all.

Don't know Latin, but as a native Spanish-speaker, that '-lo' ending (expello, apello, ect) is still used in Spanish and you don't need to stick the 'I' pronoun ('Yo') to know that I am the one doing the expelling... if that makes any sense...

Spanish is really close to Latin.  I took four years of Latin in high school and did a bunch of contests with that, read a bunch of the literature, and then when I took Spanish in college, it was rather easy.  Verb conjugation is really similar, and there's even less morphology with the nouns and adjectives!  I did really well, except for the whole thing where habere/haber isn't the same verb in both languages, and the fact that we never really had to listen/speak much in Latin class.

I think it's a really common thing across the Romance languages to not require a subject pronoun because it's redundant with the conjugation of the verbs.