I heard this very early on when I started Latin and I loved
it. At first, I didn’t have a clue what it meant and so it became a bit of a
target: to be able to understand it all, and it took a lot of time.
So, don’t concern yourself about knowing all of it.
Below are some lines from the Disney song “Frozen” in Latin.
I really like this because the performer pronounces the words in Classical
Latin; listen out for /v/ pronounced clearly as /w/. Sure, she has to change
the stresses on a few words to fit the rhythm of the song, but it’s still a
very nice way of picking up pronunciation.
I don’t know who translated this but, comparing it with the
original English version, he did a pretty good job. As always, some of the
youtube comments contain remarks from the Latin grammar police who think that a
certain expression could have been put in a different way blah blah. I hope you
just enjoy listening to it and picking up some more vocabulary in context.
I’m not translating all of it here, but I’ve picked out the
phrases where the song refers to weather.
gelātus, -a, -um: frozen
Hāc nocte nix in monte splendet │ On
this night the snow glitters on the mountain
splendeō, splendēre [2]: shine; glitter
Hic ventus fremit ut
interna tempestās │ This wind howls like
an inward storm
fremō, fremere [3]: howl
Pergat tempestās │ Let the storm continue
Nam numquam vexāvit hoc frīgus mē │ For
this cold has never bothered me …
frīgus, frīgoris [3/n]: cold
Tunc ventus caelumque fīō │ Then
I become the wind and the sky
Note: fiō; this is an important verb in general
and means ‘become’
An interesting point to note for those who want to get into
Latin poetry:
Me’anim’ascendit = me[a a]nim[a a]scendit:
my soul rises … If a Roman poet had written this, he would have kept all the
vowels in but the first of each pair of vowels would not be
pronounced; this is called elision. So, what the translator has
done is merely indicated that elision by using an apostrophe.
In the original lyrics, the line is: my soul is spiraling.
The translator writes: “like a coil [spīra] / something twirling in the air”
ut spīra in āer’ ergō
āēr, āeris [3m/f]: air
Hic surgam ut oriēns sōl │ I
shall arise here like the rising sun.
oriēns: rising
Et sub ¦ diēī ¦ luce │ And at
the light ¦ of the day … [= as day dawns]
If you want a bit of practice of those Latin long vowels,
listen to her as she sings:
Iam hōra est explōrandī [that long
ō in explōrandī isn’t marked in the transcript, but she pronounces it] Now it
is time for exploring ...
Et terminōs sīc temptandī │ and
for testing the limits in this way.
Ab rēgulīs mē līberō. │ I
free myself from the rules.
Surgō! │ I rise up!
And also:
Firmē stō │ I’m standing firmly
Mansūra hīc │ intending to
remain here
The pronunciation of long /ō/ in haud redībō [I
shall not return] couldn’t be more emphatic!
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