# Nolite te bastardes carborundorum



## fragilistic

I just started learning Latin six months ago, so I don't really know what this means: nolite te bastardes carborundorum. There is no context, it's from a book I'm reading, and the main character found it written on the wall of her room. I know the the first word is the plural imperative of nolo, nolle, nolui. The last word maybe is genitive. Anyway, I was wondering what this translated to.  Does anyone know?


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## judkinsc

"Carborundum," which should be the root of "Carborundorum" doesn't exist in Latin as far as I know. "Nolite" would be "Don't [plural)." "Te bastardes" would be "you bastard," in the vocative.

The plural "nolite" can't modify "te," which is a singular, so the phrase by itself doesn't make sense.

Don't [plural], "you bastard" (singular), of carborundum(s) [The Latin plural would be "-a" for neuter, but no matter here.]

It doesn't make any sense.


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## Whodunit

This should help you.

The phrase is not correct Latin, so it doesn't make much sense to translate it. However, it is intended to mean "Don't let the bastards wear you down," _carborundorum_ being an artificial gerund of _carbon_ and _corundum_.


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## jazyk

> "Carborundum," which should be the root of "Carborundorum" doesn't exist in Latin as far as I know. "Nolite" would be "Don't [plural)." "Te bastardes" would be "you bastard," in the vocative.


_Tu bastarde_ (no s) would be you bastard in the vocative. 

Jazyk


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## judkinsc

jazyk said:


> _Tu bastarde_ (no s) would be you bastard in the vocative.
> 
> Jazyk




Good point.


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## Whodunit

jazyk said:


> _Tu bastarde_ (no s) would be you bastard in the vocative.
> 
> Jazyk


 
Yes, but looking at the translation, that's not what was meant. Both "te" and "bastardes" are meant to be accusative objects being independent from each other.

Don't let (Nolite) the bastards (bastardes) wear you (te) down.

I'm not sure why the gerund was used.  I don't see _any_ need for it. "Nolite" is followed by an infinitive, as far as I know.


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## jazyk

Oh, I just think we could pitch that sentence in the wastebasket. Anyway, if you want accusative, then it should be _te bastardum/vos bastardos.

_Jazyk


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## jazyk

I just realized I was a male chauvinist pig . Here are the other possibilities for accusative:

te bastardam/vos bastardas. I didn't incluse neuter because I don't think there's any logic in that, but if anyone feels excluded, I'll gladly edit my post. 

Jazyk


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## Whodunit

jazyk said:


> Oh, I just think we could pitch that sentence in the wastebasket. Anyway, if you want accusative, then it should be _te bastardum/vos bastardos._
> 
> Jazyk


 
If I understood the meaning of the sentence correctly, the writer intended to use two independent accusatives:

te - accusative singular (Don't let the bastards _you_ ...)
bastardes - accusative plural (Don't let _the bastards_ you ...)

Anyway, this is going to be nonsense, because the sentence per se doesn't make any sense.


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## uninspireded

It means "Don't let the bastards grind you down". The Handmaid's Tale, right?


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## fragilistic

Yeah, it is from the Handmaid's Tale. It's an interesting book.
Thanks everybody for the help!


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## Whodunit

uninspireded said:


> It means "Don't let the bastards grind you down". The Handmaid's Tale, right?


 
That's at least what it is supposed to mean. The words in Latin don't make much sense, though.


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## xkillthescenex

I believe the novel you are reading is Margaret Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale' as I myself am studying it.
If you read on in the novel, Offred actually finds out what it means for you :]
'Don't let the bastards grind you down'
It does not translate directly from latin. As the Commander says :]


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## laxchickie

it's probably confusing to translate because it is mack-latin


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## Myrcenary

It's a quote from the book "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood.  The play on Latin words is kind of a sardonic bit.  The commander goes into how it isn't correct Latin and how it's only funny if you actually know Latin.  So the phrase is intended to be a play on "Don't let the bastards grind you down", but we're left with the feeling, (not knowing Latin), that there's a little more bawdiness to it in this form.

Oops...sorry...I just repeated what xkillthescenex said, basically.  Sorry for the redundancy.


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## firezdog

I think it should be “Nolite vos bastardis  carborundas” — allow not yourselves to be worn down by the bastards — bastardis would be dative of agency and the original “te” should agree with the implied subject of “nolite” in number, becoming “vos”.  Or I guess you could also change it to, “Noli te bastardis carborundu”.  (I just don’t see how bastardes could be a nominative agreeing with nolite — that’s the only way the original is correct.). I read that you can’t use carborundum as a gerundive because it’s a noun but that’s OK — you could interpret the phrase to mean don’t let yourselves become like carborundum (something worn down?) on account of the bastards.


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## Snodv

I heard this many years ago as "Illegitimis non carborundum," which puzzled me for a while before I realized it just didn't work.  It turns out Carborundum is a trademark for a silicon carbide abrasive and not a verb form at all.


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