My Latin - I'm embarassed at it, how rusty it's gotten. To brush up, I've started translating on the fly. My aim: develop a party trick whereby I can render song and movie titles into Latin.
I've started with the challenge of Doctor Who episode titles, and I'll be typing them up here season by season. The rules? Only to look at the dictionary if I really, really have to.
My first pass is in red, followed up by the correct translation if necessary and then a slightly more artistic rendering. As always, I welcome comments and criticisms. At the bottom: everything I needed to look up.
GAP YEAR
Waters of Mars - Aquae Martium Aquae Martiales
I really like the implied double meaning here - Martialis is literally "of Mars" the planet, but also the God - as in, violent waters.
Planet of the Dead - Terra Mortis Tellus Manium
Oh, ugly ugly! The word Planet caused me some trouble - "stella errans" is the best my dictionary could do, and I'm sure not whipping that out every time DW uses the word. In any case, the different planets of Doctor Who may as well be different lands. That gives me a choice between tellus, orbis terrarum, terra, solum and humus; mundus, regio, fines, patria. In this context, I just like tellus. I knew mortis sucked at the time - but one of the problems with DW titles is they're chosen for their cool soundingness. Planet of the Dead what? I'd better do Planet of the Dead People, because I'll need "Tellus Mortuus" for when I get to Hartnell.
In a way, the research for this title is going to keep me going for ages. Every other DW episode contains either Planets or Death, so it should be a cinch from now on. If only I can work out whether the Planet of Fire should be the same type of planet as the Dead Planet, the Tenth Planet, the Planet of the Ood e.t.c.
The Next Doctor - Proximus Doctor - Insequens Doctor
See, I was so proud of getting proximus, but the dictionary seemed to think insequens was better: next in time, instead of the implied next in place proximus has. I kept doctor however: medicus is a medical term, while doctor carries the correct overtones of teaching.
New words
Martius - "of Mars"
Insequens - adj - next, chronologically