Some help with Medieval Latin

Sirion

Sirion

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My Latin is a little rusty, so I just wanted to elicit some of you guy's and gal's help.

Now, A.D. (as in the dating system), stands for Anno Domini (shortened from Anno Domini Nostri Iesu), meaning "in the year of our Lord," and "in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ" respectively.

For one of my Fantasy stories I was trying to concot another dating system to be used in relation to the age of the Earth, so "In the year of the Earth."

I suspect that it might simply be Anno Terra (A.T.), but I wanted to make sure this is grammatical correct and on-par with the dialect of Latin that Anno Domini is in.

Any help would be appreciated!

[Simplified question: What is "In the year of the Earth" in Latin. :)]

-Travis
 
Hathor

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I think "terra" should be in the genitive case, as "domini" apparently is. (Notice how I'm hedging in case someone is more up on Latin than I am and there is some peculiar quirk I've forgotten ;)) The genitive (closest equivalent in English is the possessive) would be "terrae."
 
Sirion

Sirion

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Perhaps there are two distinctions between "In the year of the Earth." One rendering implies it is the Earth's year, or that is how long the Earth has been around. The other implies that year exists only because the Earth does, and all that succeeds it is within the age of the Earth.

I'm looking for the latter (which you addressed); similar to how Anno Domini is not the "Lord's Year" but rather is the age in which the Lord's time is.

So I am looking for the "age in which the Earth's time is" rendering of the phrase.

( -- end of confusing statement, proper question below -- ) :)

Anno Terrae seems correct, I don't suppose any third party could confirm it for us? :D

Don't be shy ^^

-Travis
 
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Hathor

Hathor

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At the risk of being asked more questions about Latin, I did just try to look it up in my Latin grammar book and Wheelocks. What they say is when one noun modifies another, as "earth" would be modifying "year," the genitive case is used. There is something called the "ablative of time," but that is when a noun is modifying a verb by specifying the time in which it is operating. (Which would indicate the "anno" is ablative.) But "domini" is genitive. I can't really make a case (sorry, couldn't resist) for anything other than genitive for "earth."
 

ideagirl

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TTCleveland said:
Perhaps there are two distinctions between "In the year of the Earth." One rendering implies it is the Earth's year, or that is how long the Earth has been around. The other implies that year exists only because the Earth does, and all that succeeds it is within the age of the Earth.

I'm looking for the latter (which you addressed); similar to how Anno Domini is not the "Lord's Year" but rather is the age in which the Lord's time is.
Click to expand...

Anno Domini is literally "the Lord's year" or "the year of the Lord." It just happens to be used to mean the age in which the Lord's time is, but literally it's still "the Lord's year." So have no fear of saying "the Earth's year."
 
Danger Jane

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Hathor said:
At the risk of being asked more questions about Latin, I did just try to look it up in my Latin grammar book and Wheelocks. What they say is when one noun modifies another, as "earth" would be modifying "year," the genitive case is used. There is something called the "ablative of time," but that is when a noun is modifying a verb by specifying the time in which it is operating. (Which would indicate the "anno" is ablative.) But "domini" is genitive. I can't really make a case (sorry, couldn't resist) for anything other than genitive for "earth."
Click to expand...

I don't think that's applicable to this situation. "In the year" is "anno" (ablative, preposition is implied.) and "of the earth" is "terrae" (genitive). Anno terrae is correct.
 
milhistbuff1

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One thing, find out whether or not your character would be speaking vernacular (common people's ) latin or church latin as pronunciation and possibly conjugations are different. For instance, vernacular latin Tempus Fugit (hard G)/ Church tempus fugit (j sound)

T. F. = Time flies.
 
Sirion

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This would generally be abbreviated, like A.D. is, (ie "6221 A.T." or "A.T. 6221" or even "In the year of the Earth, 6221") and would only rarely be spoken by anyone. I would imagine that Anno Domini is church Latin, if so then Anno Terrae should be too.



Thanks for all of your help btw :)
 
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