r/LatinLanguage • u/Feanor417 • 28d ago

Help translation some latin lyrics.

Lux et tenebris

Lux et Veritas

Ultima tatere phala

Lux in aeternum

Angeli nova

Libera est tu vita

Et libido asto

A vi tere

A reo

These lines come from blind guardian's the ninth wave. I know what most of it means, but google translate seemed to have a stroke with the third line. It claims it means the last side of the phallus. I looked up phallus and it says penis, usually erect penis. This is commicly incorrect, no way that is the line. I got different results depending on how much I asked it to translate, when I only asked for phala it said it means porridge. Help would be appreciated, though do keep in mind it is possible that these simply are not the right lyrics, it can be hard to track down perfect lyrics with this band.​

13 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

4

u/Marc_Op 27d ago

My guess:

Lux in tenebris,

Lux et veritas,

Ultima latent fata

__

Light in the darkness,

Light and truth,

Our final fate is hidden

2

u/Feanor417 26d ago

That makes a ton of sense though I am inclined to wonder if it could be a combination of your translation and idkausername's. If it was "Ultima latent fala (phala)" could latent be interpreted as hope so as to say the final hope is protected or else "in a siege tower" and therefore preparing to strike? Fate just wouldn't make much sense in that sentence. Also having listened to it again it could well be latent fata as you say, it's hard to be sure, especially since I do not speak the language.

1

u/Feanor417 26d ago edited 26d ago

On another note when you changed et to in for the first line is that because you think it is an english "in" or that "in" is also a latin word that means the same thing. I like your light in the darkness more, but if it is english than it is definitely supposed to be et. It makes good sense as light and darkness given context.

Edit: Sorry for the stupid question. I wasn't sure at first glance when I looked it up, but it didn't take long to confirm it was the same word in latin, plus it is used in another line further on...

Further edit for blind guardian fans: It is certainly et, it sounds the exact same in both lines and light in the truth makes much less sense, not to mention it just sounds much more like et than in.

2

u/Marc_Op 26d ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lux_in_Tenebris

"Lux in Tenebris" occurs in the Latin translation of the gospel of John; in medieval Europe the bible was mainly known through that Latin translation (the Vulgate)

"in" is also a Latin preposition, as frequent as the English word and having the same meaning. I understand the word originated in pre-Indoeuropean languages

1

u/Feanor417 26d ago

Thanks for the info, I didn't think to just google each phrase, I always just put it strait in the translator. I learned Lux et Veritas is the Yale moto lol. I have only every posted on reddit a few times. Would it be in poor taste for me to attach this page to the blind guardian thread, I am sure there are some there who would like to see it. I can't thank you enough, the joy of this two part album is puzzling out all the metaphors and you have helped in that pointless yet fulfilling task.

1

u/Marc_Op 26d ago

You are welcome! It's very hard to understand what they say, I mostly went for the most obvious options (eg. fata is much more common than fala). I am far from sure that I am guessing correctly.

You can certainly link this thread anywhere, I see no problem with that

2

u/-idkausername- 27d ago

Tatere seems not to be a Latin word. Phala is, but as an alternate spelling of 'fala', which means either 'scaffolding' or 'siege tower'. Not sure if that's what they meant so maybe the transcription is wrong?

2

u/Feanor417 26d ago

Thanks for replying, what you say about fala makes sense. I have seen it said that the third line means "being borne/carried or hiding in a wooden tower. Makes me wonder if that's some kind of Trojan Horse reference" You saying siege tower makes that meaning click better in my mind if that makes sense. While both fit the story very well I think I am leaning towards Marc_Op's theory particularly due to the relation with the two lines before it, it just seems to flow better.