# In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni



## Cilquiestsuens

Hello all,

 I wanted to ask experts of Latin whether this sentence was right or not.... (it is the title of a film by Guy Debord) and what does it mean???

*In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni...*

Thanks in advance


----------



## relativamente

Hello!
It seems to be a nice palindrome, but has at least a  little imperfection. In fact girus is not in the dictionaries, but gyrus, since is a greek word accepted in Latin.


----------



## Fred_C

Bonjour,
Cette phrase signifie "En cercle nous marchons la nuit et sommes consumés par le feu". C'est un palindrome : Lisez-le à l'envers, vous lirez la même phrase.


----------



## Stoicorum_simia

Palindromes are often slightly odd grammatically or in sense terms; compare the famous *Sator Arepo tenet opera rotas*(which of course can also be read in a wordsquare and made to produce *Pater Noster*). So I think we can forgive this one the -i- for -y- and also perhaps accusative 'we go _into_ a circle' where ablative might seem more natural, or indeed ablative without _in_.


----------



## Cilquiestsuens

Thank you all. I had noticed indeed it was a palindrome, but your are confirming that the grammar of this sentence is not perfect. Does anybody know where the sentence come from?


----------



## effeundici

Fred_C said:


> Bonjour,
> Cette phrase signifie "En cercle nous marchons la nuit et sommes consumés par le feu". C'est un palindrome : Lisez-le à l'envers, vous lirez la même phrase.


 
I humbly think that your translation may not be perfect. At least in Italian "in girum ire - andare in giro" does not mean "to walk in circle"; actually it's an idiom which means "to wander"

_We wander in the night and we are consumed by the fire_

_Edit: thinking better, I have more than one doubt that that idom could be used by Latins as well; may be you're right and only my Italian mindset made me think about that translation_


----------



## Fred_C

effeundici said:


> I humbly think that your translation may not be perfect. At least in Italian "in girum ire - andare in giro" does not mean "to walk in circle"; actually it's an idiom which means "to wander"



Lei ha ragione. Mi ero dimenticato della significazione di quella espressione. Ma forse sarebbe piuttosto "in gyr*o* imus", in latino, no ?
Comunque, volevo fare una traduzzione francesa più vicina al latino, che non ha veramente ulla significazione....


----------

