# l dedicate this journal/book to...



## J. Harvey88

For Mothers' Day in one of my classes we are making bound journals. I want to go above and beyond the call of duty and use the first page to dedicate it to my mother. 

Something like, "I dedicate this journal/book to my mother who should use it to commence the writing of her long-awaited book" Or something to that effect. And something to indicate filial love, too.

I know it starts with the conjugated form of dedicare, [dedico], but can't get past that part.


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## Jana337

Wrong forum, my friend.  Do you want it in Spanish or Italian? I will move it the thread for you.

Jana


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## J. Harvey88

Oh! I'm so sorry, I forgot to specify the language. The language I desire is Latin, which doesn't have a forum so I put it in this forum.


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## Jana337

Oh, I didn't think of Latin. I renamed the thread. 

Jana


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## J. Harvey88

Thanks! I'll be more clear in the title = I wasn't thinking when I typed it.


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## Whodunit

J. Harvey88 said:
			
		

> "I dedicate this journal/book to my mother who should use it to commence the writing of her long-awaited book"


 
I'll give it a try. 

*Prosequor hoc libro matrem meam utiendi causa incipere scriptione de libro suo diu manso.*

Hints:

"prosequor" is the 1st sg present form of "prosequi". I chose this word, because "dedicare" seems to have a slight different connotation.
"utiendi" is the gerund form of "uti". I hope the "i" in "ut*i*endi" is correct. "cause utiendi" means "in order to use".
"scriptione" is the ablativus instrumentalis of "scriptio" and means "with (the) writing".
"manso" is the declined past participle of "manere" to imply the attributive particple.
Hope it helps.


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## Brazilian dude

Hanc ephemeridem mitto matri meae quae utiatur ad initium scriptionis ejus diu exspectati libri.

Brazilian dude


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## Whodunit

Brazilian dude said:
			
		

> Hanc ephemeridem mitto matri meae quae utiatur ad initium scriptionis ejus diu exspectati libri.
> 
> Brazilian dude


 
Ok, here's my commentary. 

I agree that "ephemeris" is not a bad translation! 

However, I'm not sure about "mittere". I can mean "dedicate" in rare contexts, therefore I'd suggest "prosequi". Furtheremore, I'm not sure if the contruction "quae utator (there must have been a typo in this word)" does work, and if the gentive contruction "initium scriptionis" is preferable. ANd why did you write "eius" (there's no j in Latin)? Isn't it quite superflous?


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## Brazilian dude

All my choices were conscious and the j I used is because that's the way I was taught.  Whether you spell it with a j or an i is immaterial.

Brazilian dude


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## J. Harvey88

My Harper Collins dictionary says that mittere can mean 'to bestow' a gift....


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## J. Harvey88

One of my friends said this:

Ad matrem mea hanc ephemeris dedico, ut incipere librum diu expectum utator.

I kind of like this one...


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## Whodunit

J. Harvey88 said:
			
		

> One of my friends said this:
> 
> Ad matrem mea hanc ephemeris dedico, ut incipere librum diu expectum utator.
> 
> I kind of like this one...


 
"expectum" does not exist in Latin as an adjective. You seem to mean "exspectatum".

I'd left out "ad" before "matrem mea", because this is already in the accusative. And as I said, I don't know if "dedicere" fits well here, but I wouldn't use it.


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## J. Harvey88

My dictionary says that dedicare means to dedicate...

And both exspectum and exspectatum are correct; simply in different time periods. Exspectum was a mediaeval contraction.

I simply forgot to put the 's' in exspectum. A typo.

The use of Ad improves readability by clarifying it.


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## Brazilian dude

I'm sorry, J.Harvey88, but your friend's Latin is totally wrong.  He's got all cases mixed up.

Brazilian dude


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## J. Harvey88

What's wrong about it?


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## kamome

matri ephemerida hanc dicatam, ut suum diutissime at cupidissime scribendi procrastinatum librum incipiet​


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## Whodunit

Okay, here's my correction:



			
				J. Harvey88 said:
			
		

> One of my friends said this:
> 
> Ad *Hanc* matr*i* mea*e* ephemeri*da* dedico, ut in*itie* libr*i* diu ex*s*pect*ati* utator.
> 
> I kind of like this one...


 
That's how I'd change it. Nevertheless, it still looks strange. I wasn't sure about "utator incipere", so I used the ablative of the noun "initium".

By the way, I just found that the singular accusative form of "ephemeris" (and other foreign words) is "ephemerida".


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## kamome

thanks to whodunit - it was a typo, my fault, and suddenly corrected to EPHEMERIDA - our friend is as usual right...I'd like to underline instead (being I myself one of the "native latins" in this thread) that if you all consider an absolute need to add something like "make use of", whodunit's suggestion UTIATUR is (and imho/to my ear sounds) far better than the following UTATOR options.​


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## Brazilian dude

Ephemerida is indeed possible, but only if you follow the Greek declension.  I like the Latin one far better, though.

Brazilian dude


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