How to translate “L’être unique a plus d’un nom” in Latin?

Question

I was reading about an eclectic mausoleum in Belgium. It is written in four languages (Greek, Sanskrit, Egyptian and French) the following sentence:

L’être unique a plus d’un nom.

ΕΙΣ Δ ΩΝ ΠΟΛΥΩΝΥΜΟΣ ΕΣΤΙ (if I transcribed it correctly)

That is:

The unique being has more than one name.

How do you translate that into (classical) Latin?

I was thinking something like

Unicum ens plus quam unum nomen habet

But I'm sure you can do better

Any chance you have the Greek, Egyptian, and Sanskrit translations? — cmw, Aug 24 '22 at 15:03

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 29 '22 at 05:24

2

Ens is tricky because it is mediaeval rather than classical, invented to convey ΤΟ ΟΝ.

Given that the style of lapidary inscriptions is, well, lapidary, my first attempt would be

Nomina unici plurima

where the adjective “unicum” is promoted to a noun - thus from “one and only” to “the One and Only”.

If you allowed yourself ens then you could have

Entis unici nomina plurima

“Of the unique entity the names are many”

answered Aug 29 '22 at 05:24

Martin Kochanski

You didn’t ask, and I’m not expert enough, but myself I’d have saved chisels and said πολυώνυμον το μόνον. But don’t trust me on this. – Martin Kochanski Aug 29 '22 at 05:29

1 Answers1