# in memory of Guillaume de Machaut



## metaphrastes

Salvete!

Dear friends, some friend of mine who is a composer wants to dedicate a new composition "in memory of Guillaume de Machaut (or Machault)".

Now, the well known Latin formula is "In Memoriam + name in genitive", if I got it right.

Now, the Latin name that Guillaume himself used to sign his works was, so far I can tell you, Guillelmus de Mascandio, if I am to trust the Latin Wikipedia: Guillelmus de Mascandio - Vicipaedia.

As for the first name, the genitive would end in -i, thus, Guillelmi.

I am not sure about what should I do with the surname "de Mascandio": is it already a genitive, following the preposition "de" for the toponym? Should it receive another ending?

Thank you for any enlightenment.


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## bearded

Salve



metaphrastes said:


> what should I do with the surname "de Mascandio":..... Should it receive another ending?


No, I think it should remain unchanged: _In memoriam Guillelmi de Mascandio._
Such surnames  usually retain their current 'latinized' shape and are uninflected, as far as I know.
Specialists will hopefully confirm.


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## Scholiast

saluete amici!

bearded is right (# 2): _de Mascandio_ is already in Latin form, for the French 'de Machau[l]t', and as the preposition _de_ requires, _Mascandio_ is in fact an ablative.

My only hesitation is whether _In Memoriam_ is quite right for a title or superscription to honour someone so long dead (the Vicipaedia entry cited by Metaphrastes puts his demise in 1377). How about _In_ (or _Ad_) _Honorem_ instead?

Σ


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## Circunflejo

My doubt was whether Guillelmus would be a better translation of his name than Gulielmus but it seems that it's more frequent.



Scholiast said:


> How about _In_ (or _Ad_) _Honorem_ instead?



Ad Honorem.


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## bearded

Isn't it actually so, that _ad honorem_ could also apply to a living person? At our universities, outstanding people are conferred a _laurea ad honorem _(honour degree).  For a dead person, _in memoriam _would seem more suitable to me (and also the intended meaning is different..).


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## Scholiast

saluete de nouo!

_A propos _of bearded's point (# 5 here): yes, many academic institutions in the UK and elsewhere in the Anglophone world also award honorary degrees, and, like military decorations, these can be, though only rarely are, awarded posthumously. I suppose the feeling behind my 'hesitations' (# 3) was that I associate the phrase _in memoriam_ with either epitaphs on tombstones or dedications in literary or artistic works such as Tennyson's great poem under that title, written in mourning for his friend Arthur Hallam. In other words, there is (to me) the implication of a personal connexion between the author(s) and the dedicatee.

Σ


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## Circunflejo

bearded said:


> Isn't it actually so, that _ad honorem_ could also apply to a living person?


Yes, undoubtely.


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