# a play on "mens sana in corpore sano"



## arsanima

Hello!

For a painting I'm working on, I'm looking for the correct grammar of a modified version of the popular saying "mens sana in corpore sano". What I'm trying to do is replace the "sane" part of the saying by the word "saint". However, I'm at lost about which declension to use. My guess would be ablative (mens sancto in corpore sancto?) but I'm really not sure about it.



Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!

-David


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## Hamlet2508

I am sure you know about the background of this verse (Juvenal, Satires, 10.356). It would have to be "mens sancta in corpore sancto" 

You might also go for

"mens sacra in corpore sacro"


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## exgerman

Hamlet2508 said:


> I am sure you know about the background of this verse (Juvenal, Satires, 10.356). It would have to be "mens sancta in corpore sancto"
> 
> You might also go for
> 
> "mens sacra in corpore sacro"



Sancta/o is appropriate in Christian Latin, sacra/o in pagan Latin. So choose the one that works best in your context.


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## Kevin Beach

exgerman said:


> Sancta/o is appropriate in Christian Latin, sacra/o in pagan Latin. So choose the one that works best in your context.


But then there is the hymn "O sacrum convivium in quo Christus sumitur ..."


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## XiaoRoel

> mens sana in corpore sancto/sacro/beato


Mais je ne trouve pas le sens de cette modification de l'originel latin. À quoi sancto/sacro/beato?.


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## arsanima

Thanks folks! Sancta/o seems appropriate in this circumstance.
XiaoRoel: L'original latin se traduisant " Un esprit sain dans un corps sain", je cherches simplement à modifier le sens pour qu'on puisse la traduire comme "Un esprit saint dans un corps saint".


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## XiaoRoel

C'est bon. Vous avez bien choisi: _sanctus, sancta, sanctum_.


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## stevelogan

exgerman said:


> Sancta/o is appropriate in Christian Latin, sacra/o in pagan Latin. So choose the one that works best in your context.




This difference is not completely correct. Both are used in Classical and Christian Latin in both ways.

_For example, sanctus_ is widely used in Virgilio, Cicero, Tacitus. It means pure, venerated. _Sacer_ means venerated too, but it has also the sense of consecrated / dedicated to, and bounded to someone. _Cum-sacer_, c_um-sacrare_, con-sacrated, dedicated to. It's a minimal difference, and you can see it only in some phrases, it depends from the context.  _Sacer_ is a synonim of "dedicated" and "bounded to someone" usually by oath, but if you are devoted to a god for exampe,  you are also _sanctus_ (in principle) by extension. So...


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