# Family means everything in the end.



## w_ille

hello

Would anyone be kind and help me to translate this into Latin

"Family means everything in the end"

I will have it as a text on the chest, if you have any suggestions for similar text please say that to me.

wilhelm


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## XiaoRoel

Denique familia omnia est.


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## Scholiast

Good evening

With all respect to Xiao, whose experthood is evident, I am not wholly convinced by _denique_ here for "in the end": in this sense it seems to be used chiefly and most frequently at the end of, or in summation, of a list of points or ideas. Also, the idiomatic flavour of_ familia omnia est_ feels awkwardly "English" to me.

I have an alternative suggestion, less literal: _ante omnia, familia_ - "Family before all [else]", that is "before" in the sense of importance or value or moral priority, not in the sense of time "before" as opposed to "after".

Good luck


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## XiaoRoel

Denique no es temporal. Se usa coo resumen de una serie de argumentos opara caracterizar la conclusión. En este sentido lo usé. Tras casos y casos que la vida ofrece, _al final, por fin, en resumen, sólo_ queda la familia.


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## Scholiast

Indeed, Xiao (#4), that was what I meant: 





> resumen de una serie de argumentos opara caracterizar la conclusión


.

But the English idiom "in the end" does not quite correspond to this, any more than does "after all": it has more a _concessive_ than _summative_ force - "whatever else matters, family matters most" might be another way of putting it.


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## Stoicorum_simia

I'm not at all happy about _familia_ as 'family'. The proper meaning of _familia_ is 'household', and while it could, perhaps, in some contexts mean something like our 'family', I have the impression that a much commoner meaning is one's group of household slaves.
It's really quite difficult to think of something covering the exact sense of 'family' in modern languages. In terms of the family or kin group you are born from, _gens_ is used, but it can also mean an ethnic group. Similarly _genus_, though perhaps better, has many possible applications. In terms of the family you live with, writers tend to be more specific and say for instance 'coniunx ac nati' - 'spouse and children'. Maybe _domus _'home' would get the sense of the household without the slave implication. Pliny uses it at _Ep_. 7.19.8 in what looks like something very like our sense of family as several close-knit generations.


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## XiaoRoel

PA¡ara un tatuaje va bien *familia*, *gens* queda muy lejana para  nuestras lenguas modernas. Recuerda *paterfamilias.*


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## Stoicorum_simia

XiaoRoel said:


> PA¡ara un tatuaje va bien *familia*, *gens* queda muy lejana para  nuestras lenguas modernas. Recuerda *paterfamilias.*


With respect, I must disagree. _Familia_ *can* mean 'family' in our sense, but I repeat, it is not the commonest meaning and not the word most usually used to convey genetic ties. In a tattoo or motto above all it is important to choose a word that is not ambiguous. If the questioner wants something to look more like a modern language, why not use a phrase *in* a modern language?


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## Scholiast

Greetings!

I wholly endorse what Stoicorum_simia (#8) says, in this much: there is no precise Latin equivalent for "family" in the modern sense. But as I understand the intentions/wishes of the original poster, the finer niceties of classical Latin usage are not quite the point. I think (he may of course correct me if I am wrong) he wants something tantamount to "Blood is thicker than water", but without going as far as the Latin _gens_ (let alone _genus_) would ("family first" is not the same as "kinship first"); in any case, the _domus_ no less than the _familia_, in Latin, embraces slaves and other dependants with whom there are no necessary ties of blood.

For the purposes of enquiry, _familia_ remains, surely, the best compromise. Incidentally, does anyone know, say from Plautus or Publilius Syrus, anything resembling "Blood is thicker than water"? Obviously this could be literally rendered (_sanguen aqua densior_/_gravior_), but this would hardly make sense to a Latin ear.


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## lacrimae

Let me write these attempts. I am looking forward your kind criticism, as usually.

 Familia  tandem summa res.
 Familia tandem summum habetur 
Familia habebitur summa res  /summum.


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