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{{quote|''"Quidquid latine dictum (sit),<ref>As noted below, Latin is big on ellipsis, so this word can be elided without any problem, but retained because that's by far the most widespread form of this quote.</ref> [[Trope Namer|altum videtur]]."''<ref>"Anything said in Latin seems profound". Much more literally: Whatever it would be that has been said in Latin is seen highly.</ref>}}
Latin is a mysterious language. It's been effectively dead for one
It could also be that
There's also a significant tendency to mix Latin and [[Gratuitous Greek]] together. Someone who is unfamiliar with one or both could easily mistake one for the other just based on sound, which probably has to do with a great portion of Latin vocabulary being derived from Greek in the first place. [[Real Life]] science's tendency for this, especially in the field of Taxonomy (Xiphias gladius)<ref>Swordfish</ref> doesn't help.
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* ''[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]''. As a group of Catholic monks are walking along, they repeatedly chant the phrase "Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem" <ref>"Kind Lord Jesus, grant them rest.</ref> and hit themselves on the head with boards. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7wc55oXWf8&NR=1 Watch it here].
* [[Life of Brian]] - Some rather [[Canis Latinicus|doggy Latin]] is used for graffiti, and the Roman soldier who stumbles on it takes the time to correct the graffiti's grammar.
* ''[[The Running Man (film)|The Running Man]]''. While Richards is being led to the arena, a lawyer reads his contract to him. It includes a Latin phrase in its legalese, "Ad hoc de facto".<ref>Literally, it's "for this, in fact"; but in legal use, both are standard terms and it means "for this purpose; in practice, but not by law"</ref>
* The captain of the ''[[Event Horizon]]'' signed off his logs with Latin phrases. We learn this ''after'' we learn that the only transmission from the ship since it reappeared appears to be garbletrash, but with "save me" spoken in Latin amid the static, and the reasonable assumption is that the captain spoke this as well. He did. {{spoiler|But the static distorted the message, so we only later learn that he was actually saying "Save yourself, from [[To Hell and Back|Hell.]]"}}
* Edward Rutledge in ''[[1776]]'' likes to speak Latin, much to Colonel McKean's annoyance.
* The dog funerals in ''[[A Fish Called Wanda]]'' all feature a choir singing "Miserere dominus, canis mortus est."<ref>Lord have mercy, the dog is dead.</ref>
* In ''[[Tombstone]]'', there is a dialog between Ringo and Doc Holliday with common latin quotations.
* ''[[Johnny Dangerously]]'' has the eponymous protagonist being led down death row by a phony priest, who begins his "last rites" by muttering common Latin phrases, then rapidly degenerates into [[Canis Latinicus]].
{{quote|Magna Cum Laude, Summa Cum Laude, The Radio's Too Loud-y. Dominus, Festivus, Missed the bus.}}
* As people in the [[Warhammer
* In ''[[Leviathan (film)|Leviathan]]'', the Doc is thoughtful enough to give an English version of his commentary on radical genetic engineering: "''Natura non confundenda est.'' Loosely translated: ''[[Gone Horribly Wrong|don't]] [[Lego Genetics|fuck]] [[The Virus|with]] [[Biological Mashup|Mother]] [[Body Horror|Nature]]''."
* In ''[[Priest (1994 film)|Priest]]'', after Father Greg's [[Crisis of Faith]] escalates (and his arrest for having [[Auto Erotica|gay sex in a car]] ends up in the newspaper), he flees to a remote parish, headed by a priest who dresses him down in Latin.
* The Polish short film ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRTh3qqZLkQ Imperator]'' is done ''entirely'' in Classical Latin, right down to the narration text. And much like in ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'', the filmmakers [[Shown Their Work|definitely did their research]] in how Latin was actually spoken at the time the film takes place in.
== Līterae ==
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** Also, [[The Dresden Files]] mostly has [[Canis Latinicus]] in the form of spells and Harry's butchering of the language, but occasionally, there will be a bit of real Latin. Mostly when [[Knight in Shining Armor|Michael Carpenter]] is wielding one of the holy swords. The White Council of wizards uses Latin during formal Council meetings, which mostly serves the purpose of indicating to the reader that it's run by a bunch of very old-fashioned and hidebound people; Harry, as already mentioned, speaks it only poorly.
*** The [[Canis Latinicus]] is justified in the text by the fact that picking a magic word to go with a spell forges a link between the two in the caster's mind, so they try to use dead or fake languages that they won't use in normal life (which could lead to an accidental discharge). Harry uses dog-Latin and some dog-Spanish; other wizards are shown using dog-Sumerian, dog-Egyptian, and dog-Japanese.
* [[Discworld]] often has Latin sprinkled about, usually in situations where people are trying to sound pretentious. Examples include the City Watch's motto (Fabricati Diem, Pvnc) to a joke played by the Unseen University's wizards on a foreign diplomat by awarding him an honorary doctorate in "Adamus cum Flabello Dulci"
** Bugarup U's motto "Nullus Anxietas" isn't even trying.
* The spells of ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'', as noted above, fall between this and [[Canis Latinicus]]
** There's also the school motto "Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus" (Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon), which appears on the Hogwarts seal and is never translated in the books.
* [[Older Than Steam]]: ''[[Don Quixote]]'': This trope is [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] and even '''defined''' by Cervantes, a Spanish writer in the seventeenth century. At the time, Latin and Greek were languages that must be known by government bureaucrats and any people with literacy pretenses, but certainly there were a lot of books where this trope was not justified.
** In the Preface of the Author, Part I, [[Take That|Cervantes attacks
{{quote|"[[Shown Their Work|As to references in the margin to the books and authors from whom you take the aphorisms and sayings you put into your story]], it is only contriving to [[Small Reference Pools|fit in nicely any sentences or scraps of Latin you may happen to have by heart, or at any rate that will not give you much trouble to look up]]; so as, when you speak of freedom and captivity, to insert ''Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro;'' and then refer in the margin to Horace, or whoever said it...'''[[Viewers are Morons|With these and such like bits of Latin they will take you for a grammarian at all events]], and that now-a-days is no small honour and profit."'''}}
** Another example is lampshaded in Part II, chapter LI. Sancho has been made [[Massive Multiplayer Scam|governor of the "Island of Barataria"]]. In the seventeenth century, it was expected that members of the government and the aristocracy would be well educated, and this education included Latin. Don Quixote never uses Latin in his sentences with Sancho because he is not interested in impressing him with his superior knowledge, but he expects that Sancho will learn Latin now that he is a governor:
{{quote|''"... amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas''
* In ''[[A Canticle for Leibowitz]]'' the last words spoken are "Sic transit mundus",<ref>Thus passes the world</ref>
* [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s ''[[Farmer Giles of Ham]]'' features Latin names which are then translated into the 'vulgar tongue'. Provides [[Bilingual Bonus]] since the translations are often not exact.
* [[George Eliot]] complains of this in ''[[Silly Novels by Lady Novelists]]'':
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* Random Latin phrases appear in the mouths of clergy (and people pretending to be clerics) in ''[[Ivanhoe]].'' A brawl between Friar Tuck and Prior Aymer is particularly memorable for loud threats delivered in bad Latin.
{{quote|Friar Tuck: ''Ossa ejus perfringam,'' I shall break your bones, as the Vulgate hath it. (Referring to the Vulgate Bible, the translation used by the Church in those days).}}
* In addition to the title, the web-novel ''[[Domina]]'' <ref>"the lady," as in the mistress of a house or city</ref> uses Latin in a number of other places. Every chapter title is a Latin word, and one of the major gangs is Necessarius
* In 1991, ''[[Winnie the Pooh]]'' was translated into Latin and published as ''Winnie Ille Pu''.
== Televisio Vīva ==
{{smallcaps|Live
* In ''[[The West Wing]]'', when President Bartlet conducts his [[Rage Against the Heavens]] in the National Cathedral, he starts yelling at God in Latin.
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** The Ood's songs in the episodes "Planet of the Ood" (which turned into a full choir for a reprise "Journey's End") and ''The End of Time'' are in Classical Ood, but [[Translator Microbes|translated by the TARDIS]] into ridiculously bad Latin for human ears.
* Any time a ''[[Star Trek]]'' episode from any series uses a Latin title, you can be assured that the title, when translated, carries significant meaning to the plot of the episode.
** The ''[[Star Trek:
** The ''[[Star Trek:
** And [[Dueling Shows|since you can't mention Deep Space Nine on the internet without someone bringing up]] ''[[Babylon 5]]'': there was an episode of the latter show titled ''Sic Transit Vir'' <ref>
*** {{spoiler|Kinda makes you wonder how long he had been waiting to [[I Always Wanted to Say That|use that one]].}}
* ''[[Mr. Bean]]'' has an opening theme tune consisting of a choir intoning, "Ecce homo qui est faba."<ref>"Behold the man who is a bean."</ref> The same choir closes each episode with, "Vale homo qui est faba."<ref>"Farewell, man who is a bean."</ref>
** Even the show's commercial breaks are denoted with Latin singing: "Finis partis primae"<ref>"End of part one"</ref> and "Pars secunda"<ref>"Part two"</ref>
* Many of the magic spells used on ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' happen to be in Latin. Evidently one of the more challenging things for [[Alyson Hannigan]] was memorizing all of the Latin that the writers kept flinging at her. In the final season, a minor [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] happens when Willow stops halfway through a spell and shouts "''Screw it! I suck at Latin, OK?!'' and proceeds to make the spell work in ''English'' by pure [[
* In ''[[Kaamelott]]'', King Loth is fond of meaningless Latin quotes. The Latin language (in the quotes) is mostly legitimate, but Loth's translations are always inaccurate.
* ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' did this in a conversation with Amber-slash-Cutthroat Bitch: (episode is "Don't Ever Change")
{{quote|'''Amber:''' Hello, Greg. And I call you Greg because we're now social equals.
'''House:''' And I call you Cutthroat Bitch because, well, ''quod erat demonstratum''.<ref>Which was to be proved.</ref>
* [[The Colbert Report|Stephen Colbert]]'s Latin motto is "Videri Quam Esse",<ref>to seem to be rather than to be</ref>
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** As an example, the incantation for one of Negi's favorite attack spells:
{{quote|'''Negi''': "Veniant Spiritus Aeriales Fulgurientes! Cum Fulguratione Flet Tempestas Austrina! ''Jovis Tempestas Fulguriens!''" <ref>"Come, Spirits of Air and Lightning! Southern Storm Which Blows with Lightning! Jupiter’s Storm of Thunder!"</ref>}}
** The series title is sometimes translated into Latin as "Magi Magister Negi," with ''magi magister'' having a rather convenient double meaning as either "magic teacher" or "master of magic"
* In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'', they bring us the "Memento Mori" "Remember you will die" It's a [[Kill Sat|killsat]] that royally messes up the Middle East before it is destroyed, along with its [[Ax Crazy|commander]]. The [[Big Bad|Innovators]] have another, just in case.
* In ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'',<ref>Literally, ''[[Department of Redundancy Department|Magical Girl Magician Madoka]]''</ref>
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* The German neo-medieval band ''Corvus Corax'' parodies this trope on one of its shirts with the words, "Omnia dicta fortiora, si dicta latina" which means, "[[Everything Sounds Sexier in French|Everything sounds more impressive when said in Latin.]]"
** Actually Latin was heavy on simplifications, the Romans elided everything they could from their sentences, perhaps in an effort to sound more laconic and no-nonsense, perhaps they had more pressing things to do (like building an empire) than wasting time uttering too many words. They often elided the subject of a phrase when it was apparent who was taking the described action and they hadn't a fixed word for 'yes' but made 'hoc' double for it, other examples could take several pages. This tendency was not merely a quirk of spoken tongue, but had literary dignity and was taken to extremes by people like Julius Caesar, who famously sent the Roman Senate an iconic three words message about his Gallic Campaign: "Veni, Vidi, Vici" (I came, I saw, I conquered); hence Corvus Corax motto could be better rendered as: "Omnia dicta fortiora, si latina".
* Latin is a favorite language of many classical and modern choral composers. For a singer, it may seem difficult to learn the pronounciations at first - anyone who's ever tried to teach Latin pronunciation to an Anglican church choir can tell you that it ''is'' difficult to learn properly after you've been singing it wrong for your entire life. "Veh-'''night'''-ee," indeed.
* One section of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" is titled "Con mortuis in lingua mortua," meaning "with the dead in a dead language" (though the first word should be "cum", rather than "con" as it would be in Italian).
* ''[[Carmina Burana]]'' has a lot of Latin songs in it, mingling with courtly French and mediaeval German.
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{{smallcaps|Tabletop Games}}
*
** E.g. the word "Primarch" from is an example of Latin/Greek mixture: "primus" ("first") is a Latin word root, whereas "archon" ("ruler") is Greek (''άρχον'').
* ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'' has a lot of terminology either directly imported from, or [[Canis Latinicus|inspired by]] Latin, presumably related to the fact that vampire society is static, at best. Although [https://web.archive.org/web/20120506190840/http://wiki.white-wolf.com/worldofdarkness/index.php?title=Ancilla_(Vampire:_The_Requiem) justified], it is still amusing to note that Ancilla, a word used to refer to "middle-aged" vampires, translates quite readily as "slave woman."
** Fangame [[Genius: The Transgression]] has the [[Vestigial Empire|Lemurians]], who formed around the time of Rome and their terminology is derived from it. [[Canis Latinicus|As with most modern people, they often aren't very good at speaking it]]...most of the time. In the case of [[Fun with Acronyms|PLPKBs (Proper Latin Plural Knowing Bastards)]], this means they are [[Time Abyss|very old]] or [[Determinator|obsessive enough to teach themselves the language]], which, when dealing with a [[Mad Scientist]], should probably set off danger sirens in the minds of their opponents.
* Subverted in ''[[FATAL]]'', which was kind enough to provide a translation for its pretentious Latin. Usually, this was some kind of crude sexual doggerel. The Latin is also often wrong. On the other hand, at least one part seems to be quoting (or paraphrasing) the crude sexual doggerel of [[Catullus]] (a real Roman poet) - see Catullus 16 on [[The Other Wiki]] for info on that ([[NSFW]] text there though).
* Not always done ''well'' the "Book of Bad Latin" is a [[Dungeons
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'''Jodelet''' ''(who has looked out):'' They hoot Montfleury!
'''Bellerose''' ''(solemnly):'' Sic transit!... }}
** Act II Scene VII, when a cadet shows the hats of the thugs Cyrano defeated, Captain Carbon says: ''Spolia opima!'' <ref>
* A running gag in ''[[Love's Labour's Lost]]'' is that a couple of blowhard characters are full of this, and love to correct each other for using grammar incorrectly and such. This annoys [[Bratty Half-Pint|Moth]], the local [[Servile Snarker]], who remarks, "They have been at a great feast of languages, and stolen the scraps."
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** Makes for a sort of [[Bilingual Bonus]] when all of the [[The Federation|New Californa Republic]] troops pointedly use the Anglified pronounciation of Caesar's name. At least one bit of dialogue indicates that they're ''aware'' of how he wants his name said, they just ''don't care'', given that the Legion and the Republic are at war.
** Your character, with high enough intelligence, can also speak some Latin, and you can use it to [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|fake out a captured Centurion and make him spill the beans on his plans without even needing to raise a fist]].
* Ezio Auditore's [[
** Pretty sure that ''Requiescat in pace'' is Italian. The Latin is admittedly the same, but it's probably much more likely that he's speaking Italian.
*** This Italian troper assures that it IS Latin. In Italian it's "riposi in pace" (fortunately, the first, second and third persons of the subjunctive mood of the verb ''riposare'' are the same, unlike Latin ''requiesco'').
* The final mission of ''[[Ace Combat]] 04: Shattered Skies'' features the [[Crowning Music of Awesome|utterly epic]] song ''Megalith-Agnus Dei'' as the soundtrack for destroying the Megalith superweapon <ref>
** Ace Combat 05: The Unsung War's final mission theme, fittingly named [[Title Drop|The Unsung War]], is also in latin. This time the lyrics are a vulgate translation of the Razgriz poem that recurrently appears through the game, with a lot of repetitions.
* In the background of ''[[Sword of the Stars]]'', Latin has become one of humanity's main languages.
** This is mostly due to the Catholic Church becoming the dominant religion on Earth and its colonies (but not the only one). In ''The Deacon's Tale'' novel (which features a lot of gratuitous Latin and few translations), the Pope has enough power to threaten the Director of [[Space Navy|SolForce]], the most powerful man in human space. The protagonist of the novel is a Chinese man who is in charge of one of [[[[[Sol Force]]]]]'s intelligence branches but who is secretly a Catholic deacon (it's kinda frowned upon to serve 2 masters).
* ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'' uses the trope multiple times. ''Dissidia'' itself is derived from the Latin word for discord. The prequel is called ''Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy'', where in 012 is officially pronounced "Duodecim", which is Latin for twelve. The prequel's final secret character, {{spoiler|Feral Chaos}} has Latin names for his HP attacks, such as Deus Iratus,<ref>Angered God</ref>
* Durandal of ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]'' has some fun with this: after killing his greatest enemy, he carves the following epitaph [[Deface of the Moon|into a moon]]: "Fatum Iustum Stultorum" ("The Just Fate of Fools"; in other words, "These idiots got what was coming to them.")
* ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'' parodies this trope. The IOTM Loathing Legion Knife has a tattoo needle, and when used, it will give you a tattoo inscribed with the Loathing Legion's unofficial motto: "Tardis Pro Cena", which you should never call a Loathing Legionnaire. Apparently, you should never call them {{spoiler|"late for dinner"}}.
* The opening theme of ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'', "[http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Liberi_Fatali Liberi Fatali]" ("Fated Children," though more properly it should be "Liberi Fatales"). Additionally, all of the paintings in the art gallery in Ultimecia's castle have Latin titles which are part of a minor sidequest.
* [[Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia]] uses latin extensively in the glyph (weapon) names and even some of the stages.
* In [[Super Robot Wars Z]] 2: Saisei-Hen, During Uther's final attack, he chants a spell to cast a curse on his opponent. The translated version of the spell chant Uther recites during [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHkSmu91PRc the attack] is Latin for:
* ''[[Age of Mythology]]'' averts [[Canis Latinicus]] creating scientific names for myth units - any [[Half-Human Hybrid]] is ''Homo x'' (centaur = equus, minotaur = bull, valkyrie = valkyria), any giant is ''Atlas x'', others take the genus of the animal it's inspired in and add a sufix (the Nemean Lion is ''Leo biaxomus'', the Fenris Wolf is ''Canis fenrir'').
* Rhea of ''[[Dark Souls]]'' will say "Vereor Nox" as a farewell to the player. It means "fearfully respect the night/dark."
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{{smallcaps|Webcomics}}
* A subversive [https://web.archive.org/web/20120508070252/http://techhouse.brown.edu/cgi-bin/fluble/vault.pl?date=20000118 example] from ''[[Fluble]]'' (Mind you, Death's Latin is incorrect: ''hystrix'' means "porcupine").
* ''[[Tales of the Questor]]'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20130227024823/http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00473.html makes extensive use of Latin in deals with] [[The Fair Folk]].
{{quote|'''Quentyn''': ''Well, you know why Latin is called the "Scholars'" tongue...? It's a dead language. Never changes, very specific and all that stuff... So scholars can use it to write to one another, and no matter what language they speak they can understand one another, exactly. ...So the Fey are always pulling tricks, right? Getting out of agreements by playing dumb, deliberately misunderstanding words or using double-meanings... But Latin is one of the only languages that they can't do that. In fact, they say that you should only make deals with Fey in Latin for that reason.''}}
* ''[[Breakfast of the Gods]]'': Jarvis's final spell is in decent Latin, except for one word in English. Saying what the spell is would be a ''huge'' spoiler for the whole work.
* ''[[Mullein Fields]]'': [https://web.archive.org/web/20120106080226/http://www.mulleinfields.com/2005/09/13/the-craziest-dream/ Adeo mihi bardus bus!] (See comments for a translation)
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* In [[The Slender Man Mythos]], there is the side-story of [http://quiaegosicdico.blogspot.com/ A Lack of Lexicon]. Now, just look at that URL.
* This trope is probably why message board posters [http://community.livejournal.com/wrongworddammit/283991.html wrongly] use "[[Ad Hominem]]" synonymously with "personal attack".
* In his [https://web.archive.org/web/20130807021022/http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/community/myvideos/74334-thebanjokid/video/4198-Banjo+Kid+Reviews%3A+Top+11+Anime+Openings list of top 11 Anime openings], the Banjo Kid (when talking about Elfen Lied) remarks on how anything can be made to sound elegent and beautiful in Latin, then begins singing a Latin explanation of why he's not wearing any pants. Later, he also does a Gregorian Chant version of [[Eminem]]'s "The Real Slim Shady".
* ''[[The Gungan Council]]'' featured several factions with Latin names, such as Regnum In Potestas and Sine Occasu, for no better reason than it was cool.
* There is some Latin dialogue in [[Greek Ninja]].
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* In the episode of ''[[South Park]]'' where Damien (Satan's son) visits the Earth, all of his evil spells are accompanied by some [[Ominous Latin Chanting]] that goes "''Rectus! Dominus!''" before shifting abruptly to "[[Sophisticated As Hell|Cheesy]] [[Rule of Funny|Poofs]]!" (The first two words, by the way, literally translate to "Ass Master.")
== miscellānea ==
{{smallcaps|literally: Hodgepodge}}
* There's an old joke about this: «the reason Latin is a dead language is because they kept accidentally summoning demons during regular conversations».
== VERITAS ==
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* Nova Roma, an international organization "dedicated to the study and restoration of ancient Roman culture". Including the Cultus Deorum Romanorum.
* ''Nuntii Latini'', the Latin news report.
* Many [[Badass Creed
* The "Audi" car brand was named after a direct translation from the German "Horch" (Listen) to its Latin counterpart. [[Hilarious in Hindsight|One has to wonder]] if a person ever exclaimed "[[Most Annoying Sound|Hey!]] [[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|Audi!]]"
* ''Volvo'', Latin for ''I roll''
* There is a little town in northeast Georgia named Subligna. A certain Dr. Underwood suggested the name when it was founded.<ref>Subligna meaning, of course, "Under wood."</ref>
* The [[Canada|Canadian]] province of Nova Scotia - "New Scotland" wouldn't have been as impressive a name.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Trope Names from Latin]]
[[Category:Language Tropes]]
[[Category:This Trope Name References Itself]]
[[Category:Gratuitous Foreign Language]]
[[Category:Self-Demonstrating Article]]
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