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I am getting a Latin tattoo so want to ensure that the Latin phrase is accurate before I get it inked!

The Latin phrase is:

Pulchre vive, vehementer somina, ardenter ama.

Apparently, this means "live beautifully, dream passionately, love completely."

Please can someone confirm that this is all correct?

luchonacho
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Mark Hirst
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2 Answers2

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First, there is a typo: It should be somnia, not somina.

The translation is roughly correct, but the nuances of the adverbs are not exactly right. Pulchre is "beautifully", but vehementer is "eagerly, impetuously, ardently, violently, earnestly, vehemently, strongly, forcibly, powerfully, exceedingly, extremely, very much" and ardenter is "in a burning, fiery, eager, passionate manner, ardently, eagerly, passionately". If this sounds fine to you, then it's fine. But vehementer sounds quite aggressive and ardenter does not imply "completely", so the translation you offer is not quite right.

You can look up the details on these adverbs and look for more options in any online Latin dictionary. I picked those translations from a version of Lewis and Short. Adverbs are easy to use: you can just put them in as such, whereas many other words need to be put in the correct form first.

Joonas Ilmavirta
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Seems like you're working too hard; why not translate directly?

"Live beautifully, dream vehemently, love ardently."

medievalist
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    Welcome to the site! This is indeed a good translation, but note that Mark was asking to check whether his Latin was correct, not so much how it translates to English. And it should also be borne in mind that the "obvious" English counterpart to a Latin word doesn't always mean the same thing... – Joonas Ilmavirta Apr 08 '19 at 18:45