# to be chosen to serve the Truth



## swlqspkfire

Hello! This is my first time at Word Reference.

I would like to translate this phrase into Latin: "to be chosen to serve the Truth". It should mean that someone is selected, elected or hired, and that their job is to serve the Truth.

I used Google Translate, which produced "electus veritati serviendi", so I wonder if "Electus Veritati Serviendi" maintains that meaning, or if the grammar and capitalization are incorrect.

Alternatively, "electus ut servo Verum"?

Thank you for your consideration.


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## Scholiast

salvete!

...and welcome to the Latin Forum - we are precious few, but nice.



> I used Google Translate...



Oh dear. Don't EVER do this, it is dire.

Most literally, it would be:

_eligi ad veritatem servandam_.

But it would be helpful to know a wider context. For example, what and wherefor will the aphorism be used?

Σ


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## swlqspkfire

It is to be used as a label or indication saying "he/she/they/we/those who are... chosen to serve the Truth". So the phrase is "chosen to serve the Truth". Thank you for your help. Is it really that horrid for Latin in Google Translate, or was that a generic prompt to gain further understanding instead of use an automated translator? Or perhaps you are saying that Google Translate does not work in general for language translations? I didn't understand the rationale for "doing this" and "it is dire". Thanks for explaining.

To clarify further: Truth is capitalized as a proper noun, as a living being. So it's like saying that a king comes along and chooses servants from among the common folk so that they can serve him. He doesn't say, "Come preserve me," but he says, "Come serve me". That's the intended use of it, rather than the preservation of an inanimate concept. So it's not "chosen to preserve knowledge of what is true" but "chosen to work for my employer, the living truth". So in English, it would be "chosen to serve the Truth", where Truth means a living being. You can see it as a metaphor if it makes the logic of this clearer for your perception.


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## wtrmute

Google Translate (or any automated translation service) should, as a rule, only be used to translate a language you don't know into a language you do.  This is because when it inevitably screws up the grammar of the target language, you will know what is correct and what isn't, but will get a gist for what the original text was saying anyway.  If you don't know the target language, you will get a string of text the correctness of which you cannot evaluate.

As for the further context you provided, I would risk to alter Scholiast's suggestion by taking the Passive Infinitive _ēligī_ and replacing it with the Passive Participle _ēlēctus/a_.  Note here that you will have to flex the participle according to the number or person.  So if it's a man, _ēlēctus ad Vēritātem servandam_; if it's a woman, _ēlēcta ad Vēritātem servandam_; if it is a group of women, _ēlēctæ ad Vēritātem servandam_; and if it is a group of people with at least one man, _ēlēctī ad Vēritātem servandam.
_
The infinitive refers to the action of choosing itself, the passive participle refers to the object of the choice (that is, the thing or person who is chosen).  So _to be chosen..._ would translate into the infinitive, while _they who are chosen..._ translate into the participle.  Does that make sense?
_
_


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## swlqspkfire

Alright well since it's a general statement of an individual being chosen, that means it's the masculine, right? Thank you. Electus ad Veritatem servandam. But what about the English equivalent of using "chosen" as an adjective, as in "he is chosen to serve the Truth," or "they are chosen to serve the Truth?"


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## wtrmute

That is exactly the role of the participle, being used as an adjective.  This is the reason why you have to pick a number and gender: unlike English, Latin adjectives must agree with their head nouns.  The construction "someone who is..." is merely a nominalisation of the adjective, that is, the adjective is used as a substantive noun.  Again, this is possible in Latin but not in English, which needs a nominalising particle like _one_.


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## Scholiast

Greetings again!



> I would risk to alter Scholiast's suggestion by taking the Passive Infinitive _ēligī_ and replacing it with the Passive Participle _ēlēctus/a_


Of course I endorse this - the OP seems to be wanting to refer to the individual(s) thus chosen, rather than the fact or action of their being chosen.

wtrmute's explanation of the inflected endings is also quite right. I would just subjoin that if "chosen" is referring to a group, the plural will be needed (_electi_).

Σ


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## swlqspkfire

I was chosen to serve truth itself. I was chosen to serve The Truth. Of those who are like me, it can be said that they are (to be) or were (have been) *chosen to serve the truth* itself. The statement of status being is therefore that I am / you are / he is / she is / they are *chosen to serve The Truth*.

I would like such a statement translated into Latin. I was under the impression that Veritatem is a plural of Veritas, which would mis-translate the singular of Truth Itself or The Truth into a plural as "truths". Please consider this and let me know if the statement "elect(us/a/_æ/i)_ ad Verita*tem* servandam" is still accurate.

Thank you.


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## Scholiast

salvete de novo!



swlqspkfire said:


> I was under the impression that Veritatem is a plural of Veritas, which would mis-translate the singular of Truth Itself or The Truth into a plural as "truths"



_veritatem_ is the accusative singular, never a plural, of _veritas_. In fact _veritas_ is almost impossible to find in the plural in Latin - few abstract nouns are. (In English we can talk of "freedoms", "truths", "beauties", but that is because we distinguish an abstract and indissoluble principle from its various manifestations).



swlqspkfire said:


> if the statement "elect(us/a/_æ/i)_ ad Verita*tem* servandam" is still accurate



This is indeed grammatically accurate. But it is frustrating not to know still yet for what precise purpose it is intended. Is it for a motto (for a school, a church, a club)? Is it for the title of a book? For something in a poem? Without more guidance as to the context and intended reception, it is wholly impossible to know whether our suggestions are hitting the button.

Σ


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