Don't kill the messenger

[Docent]

Hello !
I would like to translate this sentence to latin (I've heard that it is
originally from latin). I've spent hours using Google but without success.
During my "studies" I've found that the last word could be "necori", but I'm
not sure. If somebody knows the answer please reply.
Thanks

Docent

[Dethstryk]

Thus Spake Docent:

My shot would be "Nuntium non necate."
--
"Insanity -- a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world."
- R. D. Lang

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| jema...@tcainternet.com |
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[Tommi Ojanperä]

Dethstryk <jema...@tcainternet.com> kirjoitti
viestissä:Xns913651EFCjema...@207.126.101.100...

> My shot would be "Nuntium non necate."

Not a very good shot, I'm afraid. Check your grammar again on
the negative imperative.
It should be "nuntium ne necaveris", or "nuntium ne necaveritis",
if you want to order around more than one person.
So that's "ne" plus the subjunctive perfect (subjunctive present
is used for the 1st and 3rd persons).
Or, if you want to get poetic about, you can use "ne" plus
the imperative, as in "nuntium ne neca/necate".

Don't be surprised if you bump into something like "non necate",
somewhere though -- just remember that it isn't strictly classical,
and hence oh-so-very-bad-and-terrible, even though Ovid happened to
use it on occasion. :)

Tommi Antero Ojanpera <to...@itu.st.jyu.fi>
Jyvaskyla, FINLAND <www.jyu.fi/~tojan>
"Lungpa rere skad lugs re, blama rere chos lugs re."
'Every district its own dialect, every lama his own doctrine.'
- A Tibetan proverb

[Edwin Menes]

"Nuntium noli (or nolite) necare" is another Classically sanctioned
possibility.

[Dethstryk]

Thus Spake Tommi Ojanperä:

>> My shot would be "Nuntium non necate."
>
>Not a very good shot, I'm afraid. Check your grammar again on
>the negative imperative.
>It should be "nuntium ne necaveris", or "nuntium ne necaveritis",
>if you want to order around more than one person.
>So that's "ne" plus the subjunctive perfect (subjunctive present
>is used for the 1st and 3rd persons).
>Or, if you want to get poetic about, you can use "ne" plus
>the imperative, as in "nuntium ne neca/necate".
>
>Don't be surprised if you bump into something like "non necate",
>somewhere though -- just remember that it isn't strictly classical,
>and hence oh-so-very-bad-and-terrible, even though Ovid happened to
>use it on occasion. :)

Isn't "ne" a conjunction? I'm confused on how you would use that instead of
"non," an adverb. Since I was describing the imperative 2nd person verb
"necate," wouldn't I want to use the adjective instead of a conjunction? Is
this a specific rule that has to do with making an imperative verb
negative?

I'm sorry if I sound bullheaded or anything! I haven't ran across this
particular set of rules before, and I'd love to learn how to do it right.
:)
--
"Half the world is composed of idiots, the other half of people clever
enough to take indecent advantage of them."
- Walter Kerr

[Dethstryk]

Thus Spake Edwin Menes:

>"Nuntium noli (or nolite) necare" is another Classically sanctioned
>possibility.

Now I do understand this one (I hope!) Since "noli" is imperative, I can
see it being used with an imperative verb such as "necate."
--
"If by fine you mean "Oh my, what a beautiful woman, except for the
moustache", then I guess it works..."
- anotherone, SA Forums

[Kevin O'Donnell]

As Edwin says - noli (singular) and nolite (plural) + infinitive is the
usual expression for negative imperatives:

Noli me tangere! Don't touch me!
Nolite timere. Don't be afraid.

et alia huiusmodi ...

Kevin

Edwin Menes wrote in message <3BC4A3D1...@earthlink.net>...

[Dethstryk]

Thus Spake Kevin O'Donnell:

>As Edwin says - noli (singular) and nolite (plural) + infinitive is the
>usual expression for negative imperatives:
>
>Noli me tangere! Don't touch me!
>Nolite timere. Don't be afraid.

Thanks Kevin!
--
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions."
- Karl Marx

[Edwin Menes]

"Ne" is both conjunction and negatizing particle (negative adverb) for
use in some constructions: e.g., negative wishes, negative jussives,
negative commands (with perf. subj.), the expression "ne . . . quidem"
(meaning "not even"), some others. The usual "non" is thought to be a
contraction of "ne oinom (= unum)".

You need to have on your shelf a reasonably comprehensive Latin grammar,
either Allen & Greenough or Gildersleeve & Lodge. They may tell you
more than you want to know at this stage of your studies, but hey! you
keep learning more and more. Check Bolchazy-Carducci
(<www.bolchazy.com>) for both (I think).. Neither is very expensive.

[Docent]

Thank You very much, all of You !
1. Of course it was necare, not necori as I wrote.
2. I suspected nuntium, but it couldn't be "ne nuntium necare" - "noli" was
the key.
Now, thanks to You (especially Edwin) I figured out that the person I've
heard it from said: "Noli nuntium necare"

Thanks again,

Docent

[Patrick Tingler]

Dethstryk wrote:

> Isn't "ne" a conjunction? I'm confused on how you would use that instead of
> "non," an adverb. Since I was describing the imperative 2nd person verb
> "necate," wouldn't I want to use the adjective instead of a conjunction? Is
> this a specific rule that has to do with making an imperative verb
> negative?

Ne is a conjunction, an interjection, and an adverb. Ne may be used to negate
verbs. Ne is used with the subjunctive to negate 1st and 3rd person. Negative
commands and prohibitions that are second person usually use the imperative of
nolo (i.e. noli and nolite) plus the infinitive. However, ne is occasionally
used to negate second person. Also, as a side note about grammar, if you want
to modify a verb, you want to use an adverb. Adjectives qualify nouns.
--
Patrick Tingler
Tui soles numquam pallescant.
(Translation: "May your suns never fade." A valediction used in my Fading Suns
campaign.)
http://members.tripod.com/~Tingler/about_me.html