# Tellus dormit et liberi in diem faciunt numquam extinguunt ne expergisci possint.



## Faethin

Greetings. This is the phrase in question:

_Tellus dormit
et liberi in diem faciunt
numquam extinguunt
ne expergisci possint._

Those are some constructions I had never seen before. My attempt was:
_
The land sleeps
And so the children do
Never ceasing in doing so
They cannot awake_

I'm not sure about it though. Specifically, the phrase "et liberi in diem faciunt" puzzles me: "And the children during the day do..." do _what?_

These verses are taken from _Final Fantasy Versus XIII_'s theme song "Somnus". As far as I've been able to find, the lyrics are exact.

Gratias vobis!


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## Todessprache

xxx

Hi. *et liberi in diem* *faciunt: *this does not really make sense, are you sure the lyrics are correct?


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## Faethin

I am. I checked the web again. All sources list the lyrics so.


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## loco44

Tellus dormit
The kingdom sleeps

Et liberi in diem faciunt
And children sacrifice themselves daily

Nunquam extinguut
Before it is extinguished

Ne expergisci possint
They will never awake


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## Faethin

That's the "official" translation, which, from my personal experience with Square-Enix's use of foreign languages, could not be less accurate. _Et liberi in diem faciunt_ means, literally "And the children do during the daylight", _do _being a transitive verb.


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## loco44

făcĭo, făcis, feci, factum, făcĕre  *tr. and intr. v*.
tr: to make, to construct, to manufacture, to complete, etc.
intr: to sacrifice, to make sacrifices
i.e. Facere alicui = to sacrifice to somebody


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## Todessprache

loco44 said:


> făcĭo, făcis, feci, factum, făcĕre *tr. and intr. v*.
> tr: to make, to construct, to manufacture, to complete, etc.
> intr: to sacrifice, to make sacrifices
> i.e. Facere alicui = to sacrifice to somebody


 
If facere meant sacrifice here the reflexive 'se' would be used. It does not mean that here.


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## loco44

Errare humanum est, perseverare diabolicum...


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## Todessprache

loco44 said:


> Errare humanum est, perseverare diabolicum...


 
Illa veritas non disputanda est.


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## brian

Hi all, _facere_ actually can be used to refer to a previously mentioned verb in a sentence. Example: "_Demosthenem, si illa pronuntiare voluisset, ornate splendideque facere potuisse_" (here, II.E). "Facere" here stands for "pronuntiare" and so the gist is, "If she wanted... she could (do it)." Just like "farlo" (Italian), "hacerlo" (Spanish), "le faire" (French), etc. except Latin didn't require an "it."

My attempt at this sentence:

_Tellus dormit
et liberi in diem faciunt
numquam extinguunt
ne expergisci possint._

_The land sleeps
as do the children daily
never do they expire/burn out
so that they may never awaken._

Notes:

- _in diem_ = "daily"
- _ne_ introduces a subordinate subjunctive clause with "possint," but I would've expected an "ut," too. Anyway, the idea is that the children's inability to "expergisci" is a result of their "numquam extinguunt." I think.


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## Faethin

Thank you Brian, Todesprache and Loco for your help!


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## Fred_C

brian8733 said:


> _numquam extinguunt
> __
> never do they expire/burn out
> _



Hi,
How do you explain that it is not "extinguuntur" ?


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## brian

I really can't explain. It most probably should be passive.

I've done a little searching, and it seems to me that it was created just for Final Fantasy. So whoever wrote it probably was just going off of high school Latin or something.

I really don't know.


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