# Hic vivit leo - A lion lives here?



## foxytrot1988

I'm trying to reverse-engineer a phrase from Spanish to Latin, and want to be pretty darn sure since it's for a friend's tattoo.
In Spanish, it would be _aquí vive un león_, or in English something like "a lion lives here".

The idea is a tattoo of the Leo constellation on the chest, with the text below. Is *"hic vivit leo"* correct? Or is there a better way to convey that? I think the "hic" is confusing me the most.
Tattoo will be something similar to the attached pic.

Thanks in advance!


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## jazyk

_Hic vivit leo_ is correct.


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## Scholiast

salvete!

Is this 'live' in the sense of 'exist', 'be alive', or in the sense of 'dwell', 'stay'?

Σ


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## Snodv

Good question--"hic habitat leo" might be more appropriate depending on the answer.


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## foxytrot1988

Ooooh, good question. In Spanish, _vivir _encompasses both of those meanings (live/exist and dwell), which makes for a dual meaning. 
Does Latin "vivere" have the same dual connotation?


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## aefrizzo

Why not "hic est leo"?
(hic sunt leones)


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## Scholiast

Greetings, all


aefrizzo said:


> Why not "hic est leo"?


This could be taken to mean 'here the lion eats'. Which would be funny, but not, I think, what the OP was intending.
Σ


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## aefrizzo




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## foxytrot1988

Delightful. But also not quite the intended spirit of this particular tattoo


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## Snodv

To the question:  No, _vivere_ means to be alive. _ Habitare_ means to dwell, reside.  

Back when I was a young student, we learned _est_ "is" and _est_ "eats" in this silly saying:  _Mea mater sus mala est_-- "My mother is an evil sow"--or adding punctuation, "Go, mother!  The sow is eating the apples!"  Similarly, "a beautiful apple" and "a bad war" can be the same in Latin:  _Malum bellum_.  Perhaps the worst--I say perhaps--_Cum eo eo eo_ means "I am going there with him."


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