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Author: Robert Eliason (Largo High School)
Email: dreliason at ij dot net
Date: 2004-12-02 12:07:03
Subject: Re: Need translation help

> > I am a high schoool teacher who wants to create an Old ENglish motto for an honor society here at the school.
> >
> > Mid Ar'e eadmeda
> >
> > If I have it right ... it should mean "With honor comes humility(Kindness"
> >
> > Is this correct?
>
> Mid often takes the dative. However, we get to be noncomittal about the case of its object this time; the noun r is feminine, so the suffix -e would be found in the dative, genitive, or accusative cases in the singular, just as you have it. So the first two words look good to me, except for the extraneous apostrophe (maybe you meant to indicate length on the first vowel?). Marking the long vowel as I've done is a modern convention not found in the manuscripts, so you could put the macron on or leave it off, as you like.
>
> If looks like you've got several choices for a word for humility/kindness. Bosworth and Toller say that ed-md (also spelled eþ-md) is usually found in the plural. The -a suffix puts the noun in the genitive plural, but I think you want this noun to be in the nominative since it is the subject of the implied verb "come" (which would have plural morphology if it were there, to agree with the plural subject). Since this is a neuter noun with a long vowel, the nominative plural should have a zero suffix (=no suffix).
>
> So my best estimation is:
>
> Mid re ed-md
>
> You could use eþ-md if you want to get the thorn character in there as a conversation piece.
>
> Others, please point out any mistakes I've made.
>
> --Sean
>
Thank you. You have been very helpful.

Messages in this thread	Name	College/University	Date
Need translation help	Robert Eliason	Largo High School	2004-11-30 08:42:48
Re: Need translation help	Sean Crist	Swarthmore College	2004-12-01 22:46:57
Re: Need translation help	Robert Eliason	Largo High School	2004-12-02 12:07:03