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How would you translate this to English?

"Non est malus recordari, sed vivere autem meminisses, est". (No es malo recordar, pero vivir de recuerdos lo es).

The sentences come from this tweet. I especially want to know what is the meaning of "meminisses."

cmw
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Di Gascon
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    Welcome to the site! Can you tell us where the phrase is from? Context helps, and in many cases there already is a good translation somewhere out there. – Joonas Ilmavirta Sep 26 '21 at 12:00
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    I'm a bit confused by the question: the Spanish phrase is perfectly good and easily translated into English (Spanish->English). The Latin phrase is botched. Are you looking for a good Latin translation of the Spanish expression, or an English translation of the Spanish phrase? – brianpck Sep 26 '21 at 16:37
  • Why are only moderators allowed to answer? – Cairnarvon Sep 26 '21 at 17:28
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    @Cairnarvon That opening probably has to do with the OP's answer with related content to another question. A moderator converted that answer into a comment. – Joonas Ilmavirta Sep 26 '21 at 17:32
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    Hola! Bienvenido a Latín.SE! No se entiende muy bien lo que quieres preguntar. ¿Quieres validar la traducción al latín de esa frase en castellano? Yo te puedo ayudar a traducir al inglés sí ese es el problema. Por ejemplo, la oración en cuestión podría ser: it's not bad to remember, but to live from memories is. Malo también puede ser wrong, si quieres enfatizar lo incorrecto: it's not wrong to remember... – Rafael Sep 26 '21 at 18:00
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    Hello guys, Thanks for your replies. As Joonas mentioned, this question has to do with "an answer with related content to another question. A moderator converted that answer into a comment." The whole thing has to do with the "exact" English definition of the word MEMINISSES (apreciaría mucho tu ayuda Rafael) I would very much appreciate your input guys. BTW, the phrase came from here: twitter.com/ssk_josue?lang=en Thanks – Di Gascon Sep 26 '21 at 20:52
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    The Latin generally and the specific word meminisses are grammatically wrong, so they can't really be translated. – TKR Sep 26 '21 at 22:18

1 Answers1

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As brianpck notes in the comments, the Latin is ungrammatical. It looks like someone tried to use a word-for-word translation on the Spanish to get the Latin to make it sound "loftier." But that doesn't work.

For one, meminisses is not the same as recuerdos, but as I mention here, it's 2nd singular pluperfect subjunctive active. It's a verb, but recuerdos (in this sentence) is a plural noun.

The word autem for de is also just wrong. Autem would instead come after the first word in the clause (it's post-positive) and would correspond to pero, but sed is doing performing that function already.

Finally, malus is masculine, but the Latin would require a neuter here. (It's "it is not wrong," not "he is not wrong.")

If that Twitter user wanted to translate the Spanish more accurately, he could have written it this way:

Malum non est meminisse, sed vivere in memoriis est malum

Or if you wanted to use recordari, you could have that word instead:

Malum non est recordari, sed vivere in recordationibus est malum.

cmw
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  • Resumen: la gramática del latín está mal. P.ej. meminisses es hubieras recordado (no recuerdos). Sed y autem son mutuamente redundantes (y el segundo queda mal posicionado). En vez de malus debe decir malum (neutro en vez de m.) [Después vienen las dos propuestas de traducción al latín]. – Rafael Sep 27 '21 at 10:49
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    I'd prefer starting with the negation for emphasis, autem over sed, and omitting the second malum (but it's all a matter of taste): non est malum meminisse, vivere autem in memoriis est. [Prefiero comenzar con la negación para dar énfasis, autem más que sed y omitir el segundo malum, pero es cosa de gustos...] – Rafael Sep 27 '21 at 10:59