# Blood isn’t always thicker than water



## James3512

My step grandpa passed and was fluent in Latin. I want to get a tattoo in Latin that says “Blood isn’t always thicker than water”. It’s significant because he wasn’t blood but did more than most. What’s the translation I should get tattooed on my body. Please give me a straight forward answer because I know it can get complicated. No one has broken it down for me yet and I’m confused.


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## jazyk

A possibility: Sanguis non est semper grossior quam aqua.


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## James3512

jazyk said:


> A possibility: Sanguis non est semper grossior quam aqua.



Thanks for letting me know. Should I still wait before I make any decisions on what I put on my body?


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## jazyk

Yes, you should. My rendition is correct, but others may have better ideas.


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## Scholiast

Greetings

jazyk, typically, is grammatically correct, but my feeling is that you need something more epigrammatic and punchy (and I don't think the adjective _grossus / grossior _exists). How about _sanguis nusquam aqua fidelior_?

Σ


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## jazyk

Of course it exists: gremia - Dictionnaire Gaffiot français-latin - Page 727

grossior - Wiktionary

Collection of pamphlets on Aristotle

And your version altered the original. You are saying blood is nowhere/under no circumstance more faithful than water.


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## Scholiast

salvete de novo!

Thank you, jazyk, for this info and the references.

But under _grossus _my copy of the _OLD_ has only reference (and these precious few) to Martial and Pliny the Elder referring to an immature fig.

Of course later Latin may have found other usages, and I am not so academically irresponsible as to usurp your word or authority. And the German _grass_ comes to mind too.

But from a classical point of view it 'feels' wrong.

All good wishes nevertheless.

Σ


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## jazyk

I don't care. Your rendition altered the meaning.

And German Grass means grass. Descendants of Latin grossus are French gros, Spanish grueso, and Portuguese and Italian grosso, for example.


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## Scholiast

Scholiasta suis SPD

Yes, jazyk _noster_, for I was trying to convey the sense rather than the individual words. Is that not what translation is about?

If I may say so courteously, I think the tone of your # 8 was a little intemperate.

Σ


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## jazyk

You didn't convey the sense.


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## Scholiast

Once again my salutations



jazyk said:


> And German Grass means grass



Oh no it does not.

German for 'grass' is 'Gras'.

Σ


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## jazyk

You don't know what Grass I'm talking about: Duden | Grass | Rechtschreibung, Bedeutung, Definition, Synonyme, Herkunft


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## Scholiast

Dear jazyk

As the Duden article which you cite (#12) shows, this 'Grass' is a loan-word from English slang for marijuana.

Look at Isaiah 40:6 in the Luther Bible: 'Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras, und alle Herrlichkeit des Menschen wie des Grases Blumen.'

Σ


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## jazyk

I know it is. Ich spreche fließend Deutsch. Ich bin Übersetzer. In meinem Kommentar ging es um Ihre falsche Analogie zwischen einem lateinischen Adjektiv und einem deutschen Nomen, die keinen semantischen Zusammenhang teilen.


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## Scholiast

salvete omnes, praesertim jazyk!

Neugierigkeit wird erweckt. Given that there is no clearly attested classical authority for *_grossus_ in the sense of 'large', its prevalence in the Romance legacy languages calls for explanation.

Perhaps this was vulgar (i.e. spoken), or military, Latin eschewed by 'polite' writers.

I fully accept that English 'Grass' and Germ. 'Gras' have nothing to do with it anyway—my 'falsche Analogie'.

I also command fluent German, incidentally.

Σ


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## jazyk

Offer a better translation than mine, then. Yours, Sanguis nusquam aqua fidelior, isn't better.

There is no question that grossus is a word. And grossus doesn't mean large (Are you thinking of German groß?). It means thick. Similar concepts, but not quite the same.


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## Scholiast

salvete de novo.

_sanguis non ubique aqua densior.
_
Σ


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## jazyk

Now that is a good translation. And better than mine. Not that there is a problem with mine.


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## Scholiast

Greetings renewed


jazyk said:


> better than mine. Not that there is a problem with mine


Thank you for the compliment, jazyk. I never supposed yours was in any grammatical way incorrect, only that it was a little 'clunky' and literal, where for the OP's purposes something terser and more epigrammatic was called for.
Σ


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## jazyk

I don't see it as clunky.


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## James3512

Scholiast said:


> salvete de novo.
> 
> _sanguis non ubique aqua densior.
> _
> Σ





jazyk said:


> Now that is a good translation. And better than mine. Not that there is a problem with mine.



Thank you guys for discussing this, now which is a better quote to tattoo between the two? "_sanguis non ubique aqua densior" or "Sanguis non est semper grossior quam aqua"? Also if you would be so kind, please give me the literal translation of the two. Thank you_


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## fdb

jazyk said:


> I don't care. Your rendition altered the meaning.
> 
> And German Grass means grass. Descendants of Latin grossus are French gros, Spanish grueso, and Portuguese and Italian grosso, for example.



CNRTL s.v. "gros":

"Du b. lat. _grossus, _terme pop. correspondant au lat. class. _crassus (gras*), _attesté au 1ers. au sens de « gros, épais » et dès le lat. chrét. au fig. au sens de « rude, grossier » (v. _FEW _t. 4, p. 280 et 281); alors que _crassus _supplantait _pinguis _au sens de « gras », _grossus _est passé dans les lang. rom. avec le sens plus gén. de « gros, de fortes dimensions » qui le met parfois en concurrence, en fr., avec _grand _(v. _FEW _t. 4, p. 280 et 281)."


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## bearded

James3512 said:


> which is a better quote to tattoo between the two?


Scholiast's version (#17) is indeed much better in my opinion.


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## James3512

bearded said:


> Scholiast's version (#17) is indeed much better in my opinion.



I will go with that, can you tell me what the implied meaning of it is? as well as the literal translation?


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## bearded

James3512 said:


> the literal translation


The literal translation corresponds exactly to the title of this thread, and the meaning is the same.
The adverb _ubique _(originally 'everywhere') can also mean 'under all circumstances/always'.
I find Scholiast's formulation well-shaped and elegant in Latin (also because the 'is'(est) copula is absent: quite suitable for a motto!).


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