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I think the phrase plebs together strong is a cool one in English, but I'd like to translate it to Latin. In this context, I take pleb to mean a commoner, an ordinary person and the essence of the sentence to have a similar meaning to apes together strong.

Here are several translations I've found on Google Translate (English to Latin):

`pleb together strong` --> `pleb validis pariter`  
`pleb strongest together` --> `pleb fortissimum simul`
`pleb together undefeated` --> `pleb simul invictam`

I did see a translation that had the word invictus in it that I liked; I can't recall what it was.

EDIT: It was pleb simul invictus, meaning pleb together undefeated. However, when I translate that phrase from Latin to English, I get he wished, at the same time he was unconquered.

Of course, I don't understand excrementum in Latin; I would just like to not completely embarrass myself when I plaster something on a t-shirt and rock it around town.

YY338339
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2 Answers2

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Google translate is awful, so don't trust it for Latin (and many other languages, I've noticed).

The word you're probably looking for here is plebs, not pleb. In English, "pleb" is short for "plebeian," which in turn comes from the adjective form of the Latin plebs. It means "the common people, the masses." I'm not really sure "apes" means that in the parlance of GME shareholders, but it makes sense in and of itself.

Strong is fortis, but I really think the comparative is better: fortior "stronger". You have a variety of options for "together." The most common are probably simul or una. The former is "at the same time," whereas the latter can also mean "at the same place, at one." Additionally, you have some prepositional phrases with unus, like ad unum. You could even imitate the English and do it as an appositive, which would be una again, but with a short -a on the end (unā, that -ā being long, is an ablative).

Taking it all together, an option for you is plebs fortior una, "the common people are stronger as one" or with slightly different and perhaps better word order (as suggested by TKR), plebs una fortior, "a united people is stronger."

cmw
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  • Yes, I was trying to capture the sentiment of the GME holders but in a different context... I do like the idiosyncratic feel of that phrase and I also like that pleb or plebs is the first word. Thank you! – YY338339 May 14 '21 at 18:33
  • How do you feel about the participle unita instead of una? I'm not sure if there's a significant difference in this use. – Joonas Ilmavirta May 14 '21 at 20:11
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    @JoonasIlmavirta Well unitus is a pretty rare word, uniter aside, and not present in Republican authors. – cmw May 14 '21 at 22:03
  • The alternate word order Plebs una fortior strikes me as preferable here; an English translation would be "A united people is stronger". – TKR May 14 '21 at 23:24
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    @TKR I think you're right. I was sort of playing with e pluribus unum as a parallel, but I agree that reversing the two is indeed preferable. I think I'll add it. – cmw May 14 '21 at 23:33
  • I don't know if this affects anything, but memetically, it is 'strong', not stronger. It's a sense of: "apes alone weak, apes together strong" rather than "hedge funds strong, apes together stronger", if that makes sense. I also don't know if memetically means: of or relating to memes, but it should. – mcalex May 15 '21 at 07:01
  • @mcalex In that case, using the same vocabulary I offered, you would only need to make fortior fortis instead. – cmw May 15 '21 at 11:06
  • @mcalex I still think "stronger" works, too: "We're stronger together than separate." – cmw Aug 11 '21 at 23:58
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Note that plebs, although it stands for many people ("the common people", "the multitude"), is a singular noun, both in English and the original Latin. The plural is usually not used (although sometimes in Latin, in that case it's plebes). Therefore, there is no single pleb; a member of the plebs is called a plebeian, or plebeius (-a if female) in Latin.

The English phrase you cite has a babytalk feel to it, presumably because it is supposed to mimic the meaning of the character's gestures. I am not sure if you want that recreated in Latin, and would not really know how to do it anyway. So let's assume you want normal, correct Latin.

A suggestion: Concors valet plebs.

Concors means "united, of a mind." Valere means "be strong" (although it also has other meanings like "be well").

Alternatively, you can take inspiration from Sallust and say (Bellum Iugurthinum 10):

Concordia parvae res crescunt, discordia maximae dilabuntur.

Through unity small things grow, through disunity great ones fall apart.

If you want it to look extra cool, you can say maxumae instead of maximae, which some sources have (it is an older form).

Sebastian Koppehel
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