What's all this fuss about?

Latin lyrics in Heavy Metal music are a common phenomenon. The darker the music, the more evil the band wanna be. What's better than using an old, mysterious, hardly understandable, cryptic, medieval and therefore almost satanic language? Unfortunately bands seldom know how to use this language properly. So, instead of evoking the demons of the realm of evil, they just evoke a hop-frog. Clatu verata nicto! - The most of you know what happened after this wrongly spoken spell.

Normally, two questions are the result of the fact that you've just read a latin phrase:
- What does it mean? (almost everybody)
- Is it correct? (just a few latin aficionados)

This page doesn't want to make fun of mistakes in latin lyrics. I wanna answer the first question to everybody who is interested. The second question is just for myself or for the two or three weird guys out there or for bands which are thinking about using a latin phrase as well. You can contact me if you want.

Sonntag, 24. August 2014

Abruptum


The most of Abruptum's albums and/ or titles are written in Latin, sometimes correct, sometimes not. Here are the translations, beginning with the oldest record.

  • obscuritatem invoco amplectere me - I call the darkness to embrace me (This translation is not correct, because "to embrace" is not an infinitve but a final clause. The English language is ambiguous in this aspect, the Latin language not. Correct translations would have been: "ad me amplectendum" / "me amplectendi causa" ... and others)
  • In umbra malitiae ambulabo, in aeternum in triumpho tenebrarum - I will walk in the shadow of malice, into aeternity / eternally in the triumph of darkness
  • Vi sonus veris nigrae malitiaes - This sentence I don't understand. Vi is ablative case and means by force/ power, sonus means sound (nominative case), veris is dative or ablative case and means therefore to the true people / by the true..., nigrae is genitive or dative feminine case and means of the black / to the black, and malitiaes means malice as written above, but the ending -aes doesn't exist.
    So, this sentence doesn't make sense. Maybe it should mean: In power (lies) the sound of true black malice, but this is a very doubtful interpretation.
  • De profundis mors vas consumet - Out of the depths death will consume the container, which means "body", the container of the soul, I guess.
  • On the record Casus Luciferi there are four songs, all with Latin titles:
    casus Luciferi - the case of Lucifer
    in ictu oculi
    - in the gaze
    ex inferno inferiori
    - out of the inferno of the underworld/ out of the undermost inferno
    Gehennae perpetuae cruciatus - the crucified of eternal Gehenna
  • maledictum - swear word/ blasphemy
  • Potestates Apocalypsis (Pestilencia, Bellum, Fames, Mort/ Mors) - The powers ot the apocalypse (pestilence, war, hunger, death)

1 Kommentar:

:Vragh: hat gesagt…

There are also the tracks on the Evil Genius compilation to consider. Could you look into these as well? Giving you a heavy workload here, but I tried to look at these myself years ago but couldn't really get much out of them..

1. Honores Vultus Mutares Ex Aeris Campi
2. Aerge Facere Alci
3. Icendio Fulminis Tecis
4. Calibus Frontem Tumeo Acidus Abcessus
5. Corpus In As Trahere Abincere
6. Vis Semina Dies Hora Dea Membra Corpora
7. Feci Factum Sanguine Gladios Made Fieri Factus
8. Tortus Torquero Colla Tumentes
9. Tyrannum Bellux Eventus Alci Exeo Sivium Vitae Carthaginis Integra
10. Hostes Orco Hostium Legiones Dis Manibus Pacis Ruptores Ultioni
11. Animum, Mentem Alcis Juventutem Largitionibus, Hostes Ad Dimicandum, Commotis Exita Sacris Thyias