Dog Latin
Dog Latin, also known as Cod Latin, macaronic Latin, mock Latin, or Canis Latinicus[1] refers to the creation of a phrase or jargon in imitation of Latin,[2] often by "translating" English words (or those of other languages) into Latin by conjugating or declining them as if they were Latin words. Unlike the similarly named language game Pig Latin (a form of playful spoken code), Dog Latin is more of a humorous device for invoking scholarly seriousness. Sometimes "dog Latin" can mean a poor-quality genuine attempt at writing in Latin.[3] Dog Latin is used, inter alia, by art directors, advertising agencies, publishers, etc. to present advertisement and page layouts for appearance and balance, and not meant to be read.
More often, correct Latin is mixed with English words for humorous effect or in an attempt to update Latin by providing words for modern items.
Examples [edit]
A once-common schoolboy doggerel which, though very poor Latin, would have done a tolerable job of reinforcing the rhythms of Latin hexameters:
- Patres conscripti took a boat, and went to Philippi;
- Boatum est upsettum, magno cum grandine venti.
- Omnes drownderunt qui swim away non potuerunt.
- Trumpeter unus erat, qui coatum scarlet habebat;
- Et magnum periwig, tied about with the tail of a dead pig.[4]
The meter uses Latin vowel quantities for the Latin parts, and to some extent follows English stress in the English parts.
Another variant has similar lines in a different order, with the following variants:
- Stormum surgebat et boatum oversetebat
- Excipe John Periwig tied up to the tail of a dead pig.[5]
Another verse in similar vein is
- Caesar ad sum jam forti
- Brutus et erat
- Caesar sic in omnibus
- Brutus sic in at
which when read aloud sounds like English:
but which actually means
- Caesar I am already present for the strong one
- Brutus was also
- Caesar thus in all things
- Brutus thus in by
The following spoof of legal Latin, in the fictional case of Daniel v Dishclout (from George Alexander Stevens' "Lecture on Heads", 1765),[6] describes a kitchen:
- camera necessaria pro usus cookare, cum saucepannis, stewpannis, scullero, dressero, coalholo, stovis, smoak-jacko; pro roastandum, boilandum, fryandum, et plumpudding mixandum, pro turtle soupos, calve's-head-hashibus, cum calipee et calepashibus.[7]
Dog Latin is featured in the dialogues of Cranly, a student in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. When asked the question "Have you signed?" Cranly answers "Ego habeo," apparently using habeo as if it were a translation of the English auxiliary verb "have". He also makes remarks such as "Credo ut vos sanguinarius mendax estis, quia facies vostra monstrat ut vos in damno malo humore estis," This is a word-for-word "translation" of his intended speech: "I think that you are bloody lying, because your face shows that you are in damn bad humor." Adding to the effect, he mixes up the singular "you are" and "your" with the plural vos ... estis and vostra, among other pseudo-Latin constructs.
See also [edit]
- Languages
- Hiberno-Latin, playful learned Latin literature by Irish monks
- Latino sine Flexione, a constructed language based on Latin, but using only ablative as the standard form
- Latatian, dog Latin in the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett
- Macaronic language, using a mixture of languages, such as Latin and English
- Medieval Latin, including many influences from vernacular languages
- New Latin, post-medieval Latin used for international science
- Pig Latin, simple verbal code language based on English
- Law Latin, a form of Latin used in English legal contexts, similarly to Law French
- Examples
- HoboSapiens, a John Cale album
- Homo Consumericus, a concept in social science
- Illegitimi non carborundum, dog Latin for "Don't let the bastards grind you down"
- Mater si, magistra no, a macaronic mashup of Mater et Magistra and Cuba si, Castro no
- Reductio ad Hitlerum, a dog Latin phrase
- Smugglerius, a dog Latin name for a cast of a smuggler's body posed as a dying gladiator
- Mots d'Heures, a book of verses in cod-French[clarification needed]
- Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner, two Looney Tunes characters, are given various dog Latin Linnaean taxonomical names at the beginning of most of their cartoons, except for The Whizzard of Ow
- Syllabi, a hypercorrection of the Greek σίλλυβος or σίττυβος sillybos/sittybos "parchment label, table of contents
- dorkus malorkus, an insult spoken by Bart Simpson
References [edit]
- ^ Canis Latinicus - Television Tropes and Idioms
- ^ Dog-Latin, Bartleby.com
- ^ OED s.v. "dog," compounds C3a
- ^ Notes and Queries. October 13, 1855. Retrieved January 16, 2010. Insofar as this specimen can be translated, it is as follows: "The conscript fathers (i.e. Senators) took a boat and went to Philippi. The boat was upset by a great hailstorm of wind. All drowned who could not swim away. There was a trumpeter, who had a scarlet coat, and a great periwig, tied about with the tail of a dead pig.
- ^ Percival Leigh (1840). The comic Latin grammar. Retrieved January 16, 2010. The meaning here is "The storm rose up and overturned the boat" and "Except for John Periwig", etc.
- ^ [1], Google Books, retrieved November 2, 2009
- ^ "A necessary room for the purpose of cooking, with saucepans, stewpans, scullery, dresser, coalhole, stoves, smoke-jack; for roasting, boiling, frying, and mixing plum pudding, for turtle soups, calves'-head hashes, with calipee and calipashes."
