Saturday, January 14, 2006

REQUISCAT IN PACE ...

William Bryson.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

The correct phrase, dear boy, is "in pace requiscat." When latin phrases are inverted as you have done in order to correspond to the english word order, then the result doesn't mean anything.

BigMitch said...

Thank you for your kind and helpful comment. The phrase, Resquiscat in Pace, is frequently abbreviated R.I.P.

If you had not posted annonymously, I might have taken it upon myself to see that your headstone was inscribed, I.P.R.

R.I.P. -- it's not just a school near Albany.

angelbaby said...

i have a tattoo on my back for my deceased father.it says "requiskat in pace".i know now that it is misspelled and or out of order.can you please help me out.i cannot change the k to a c(go figure that my doctor gave me that spelling)but i can get the requiskat covered and get the proper spelling put benieth so it reads"in pace requscat"? thank you for your time.

angelbaby said...

i got a tattoo on my back for my deceased father.it says "requiskat in pace"i soon after found out the correct spelling.i can't have the k changed into a c but i can have the first requiskat covered and put requiscat at the bottom.is this the correct way?my doctor told me that it was spelled with a k.go figure.it will spell out "in pace requiscat" if i have it fixed.is this correct.any help greatly appresiated.thank you.

Anonymous said...

ACTUALLY, my dear (anonymous) boy...

Because Latin is an inflected language (as opposed to a word order structure), you can put the words in any order you want and it will still make sense to a true Latin speaker.
That may not have been how it would have been spoken in ancient Rome, but it DOES work.

I suppose you didn't think someone who is a linguist by profession and who has taken five years of Latin would see this and contradict you.

Anonymous said...

I was going to comment on and correct the ignorant, yet condescending, comment that "anonymous" (and now we know WHY he left it anonymously) made, but I see someone has already noted that Latin is inflected, and therefore sense is not dependent on word order--the meaning is derived from the (inflected) endings.

Anonymous said...

well, probably the reason why it is abbreviated as R.I.P. on headstones is because it is translated in English as "Rest in Peace"

Gregg D'Bully said...

Requiscat in pace follows the ecclesiastical use of Latin. In pace requiscat is classical. The former is proper in the medieval use of the language. The latter is pertains to the native Roman use during the Roman era.

Anonymous said...

Anybody seen assassin's creed? He says it like that so it must be right. That guy is so cool. Ubisoft!

albyone said...

Requiscat in Pace translates to may He or She rest in peace. Requiscant in pace translates may they rest in peace.
albyone

Anonymous said...

in assassin's creed he ezio says "Requiscat in Pace"

Anonymous said...

The beauty of inflection In Latin is exemplified in the classic writings. Since word order doesn't matter, Roman authors could use many different techniques, such as the diaspora, to make reading not only an imaginative experience but a visual one as well.

That aside, I've been told that the "most proper" sentence structure, if you really want one, has the verb at the end of the sentence.