Apparently Pope Benedict XVI sent his first tweet in Latin on Sunday (I am not sure if it was his first tweet or his first tweet in Latin; the article was unclear). He asked believers to "orare semper, iustitiam factitare, amare probitatem, humiles Secum ambulare." I'll let you translate it.
The Pope tweets? Præcipitate semen avis! Z, where does one get "do justice frequently?" I see the words "iustitiam factitare, but don't see how "frequently is derived. What am I missing.This message has been edited. Last edited by: Geoff,
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti
-itāre is a frequentive suffix. palpāre "to touch", palpitāre "to beat, pulse", facere "to do", factitāre "to do frequently" etc. It's found in premeditate, debilitate, agitate.
I am sure there was some layers of bureaucracy in between the Supreme Pontiff and the computer. Perhaps a cardinal takes the handwritten tweet and gives it to the IT Nuncio for the Propagation of the Faith.
facere "to do", factitāre "to do frequently"
It is interesting that in this case, the frequentive form of the verb uses not the stem fac- of the verb but the past participle factus 'made, done'. When I first saw, I that that maybe, giving that the message is in Neo-Latin, that it might be a more recent derivation, but Lewis & Short cite it in a Plautus play.
arnie, I just meant that you are a student of Latin and might want to translate it, that's all.
Apparently the pope does embrace the Web and social media.
Here is the Tribune's translation of the pope's tweet: "What does the Lord command to those wholly eager for the unity of those following Christ? To always pray, to continually do justice, to love uprightness, to walk humbly with Him," according to University of Cambridge scholar Tamer Nawar.
Benedict has relaxed prohibitions against the saying of the Tridentine Mass (the older Latin one) in which the officiating priest has his back to the congregation mostly. He's also changed the wording of one prayer and that caused a controversy (see link). As somebody said: it's not all about Latin and incense.