# one team, one life, one love



## BajenForever

Hi,

would really appreciate help(easy for you guys I guess ) with this translation to Latin. It is with regards to a soccer team and I would like to be dead sure on the phrasing as I am doing a painting with this included. I do not trust the online translators!

ONE TEAM, ONE LIFE, ONE LOVE -> Latin

Thanks a lot in advance.

BR
/Daniel


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## Scholiast

Welcome to the Latin Forum.

My suggestion:

_una factio, una vita, unus amor._

If you want it in epigraphic style, it would be upper case, thus:

_VNA FACTIO, VNA VITA, VNVS AMOR._

You are quite right not to trust online translation-programs. For inflected languages, they are dreadful.

Σ


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## BajenForever

Thanks a lot! So nice and helpful of you to provide such a fast answer.

I will plan for this translation and hopefully provide you with a picture of the result.

Thanks again and take care


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## Sobakus

But what's the intended meaning of this phrase? I would understand the Latin _una factio, una vita, unus amor_ as “there's only one team, only one life, only one love (the rest are false etc.)” – as with some well-known monotheistic mottoes. English, on the other hand, normally uses this to express *unity, commonality & inclusion,* which is especially clear in the Rastafarian _one love. _With a sports team, presumably it's only the team members that the love is common to, although I'm not quite sure what to do with “one life”. In any case, this usage has no parallel in Latin AFAIK.

Additionally, what's the purpose of the translation? Is this a metalanguage game, where the real motto is in English, and the reader must successfully decode (transverbalise) the Latin to arrive at that English motto? Because this would call for a close adherence to the original. Or is the Latin supposed to be understood on its own terms, without reference to English? Which would call for idiomatic Latin.

You seem to be a native Swede – how would you translate it into your language?


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## BajenForever

Hi,

I am out in such deep water here as I barely can express myself in my native tongue Swedish in a correct way 

I was planning to go with "_una factio, una vita, unus amor" _as my customer seems to accept it, dont really know where his acceptance comes from though, probably Google 

Here maybe you guys can help me out even more. Idiomatic Latin seems to me the way to go in a painting/picture that people will look at? The painting consists of many parts, the soccer team, the supporters and a domestic area of Stockholm where the team comes from.

The customer already has a phrase he wants: _"fortis in fidelitas" _which I guess means something in the line of strong in faith/bravery?

_"presumably it's only the team members that the love is common to" - _When you ask  I see what you mean, the original phrase I asked about(ONE TEAM, ONE LIFE, ONE LOVE) is not correct even in English  I would have this is Swedish:

_"En klubb, En livstid, En kärlek"_

That in English would maybe better be expressed:
_"One Club, One lifetime, One love"_

Hopefully this gives a bit of more insight, as said I suck at languages etc in general.

Thanks for the attention, hopefully I can get it done correctly 

BR
/Daniel


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## Scholiast

Greetings once more

_fortis in fidelitas_ is ungrammatical. At the very least, it would need to read _in fidelitate_. And as it is celebrating a team, you might prefer the plural _fortes_.

Σ


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## BajenForever

Scholiast said:


> Greetings once more
> 
> _fortis in fidelitas_ is ungrammatical. At the very least, it would need to read _in fidelitate_. And as it is celebrating a team, you might prefer the plural _fortes_.
> 
> Σ


perfect and thanks, then I sorted an other issue that was not known to me!

BR and take care


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## Scholiast

saluete omnes!

I should have added (in my last post, # 6) that for once I disagree with the illustrious Sobakus, who... 


Sobakus said:


> would understand the Latin _una factio, una vita, unus amor_ as “there's only one team, only one life, only one love (the rest are false etc.)”


Idiomatically, this does not feel right to me: the implicit stress on 'only' (in English) appears to me more concordant with the (rhetorically potent) adjective _solus_ than with the cardinal numeral _unus_.

Σ


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## Sobakus

Scholiast said:


> saluete omnes!
> 
> I should have added (in my last post, # 6) that for once I disagree with the illustrious Sobakus, who...
> 
> Idiomatically, this does not feel right to me: the implicit stress on 'only' (in English) appears to me more concordant with the (rhetorically potent) adjective _solus_ than with the cardinal numeral _unus_.
> 
> Σ


Salvē optume Scholiastē!

The reason for the difference in my interpretation is the difference between the two languages. Namely, English has both these senses and it's the “one common to many” meaning that's clearly implied at least with “team” and “love”. However, I don't think I've ever seen Latin _ūnus_ used in the sense _commūnis, _and so I don't belive it has that sense at all; while the meaning “only, sole, single” is its primary meaning when not used as a numeral or as an indefinite “some(one)”, f.ex.:

_ūnum hoc sciō_ “there's (only) one thing I know for certain”, _tū ūnus ex omnibus _“you alone among everyone else”, _vir ūnus tōtīus Graeciae doctissimus_ “the single most learned man in all of Greece”.​
English_ one_ isn't used like that any more, but a remnant of such usage is seen in the very adjective _*on*ly < one+ly._

Conversely, the Latin _sōlus_ is less the equivalent of “only, single”, and more that of “(a)lone, in the absence of others”. Although it's true that either one can often be used, _sōlus_ is not only more peremptory, but less idiomatic as well.

Therefore, while in English one can contextually decide between these two meanings, in Latin the only interpretation that seems possible here is “only, sole, single”.


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## Sobakus

As for my own suggestions, judging by the customer's _fortis in fidelitas,_ the quality of the Latin is among the least of their concerns. And since you say you would accept _"En klubb, En livstid, En kärlek"_ as a translation, which I'm convinced doesn't express the same sentiment as the English (granted, I'm still not 100% sure what sentiment it's supposed to express), perhaps we shouldn't bother ourselves too much with this and go with Scholiast's original suggestion.

But if I were to suggest one improvement, it would be to consider if _factio_ is the right choice here, since it encompasses more than just the members of the team, but, being something rather political, has a connotation of division and taking sides as opposed to that of unity. I would be tempted to go for _*turma*_*,* which is originally a horse troop, a squadron, and by extension any body of people seen as acting in concord and unison.


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## BajenForever

Hi,

yes lets end it here as I am sure it will be more than good enough. I now understand how difficult this really is!

I will go with _"una turma, una vita, unus amor" _and _"fortes in fidelitate" _as suggested.

And I cant thank you experts enough for the prompt and excellent help!

BR
/Daniel


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## Penyafort

I, maybe due to being a Neolatin descendant, can't help but seeing _factio _as a political term and _turma _as a military one. 

I wonder whether *sodalitas *wouldn't be closer to that sense conveyed in the word 'team', as the term refers to societies made by mates with a purpose, focusing more on celebrating and on the bonding among them.


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## Sobakus

Penyafort said:


> I, maybe due to being a Neolatin descendant, can't help but seeing _factio _as a political term and _turma _as a military one.
> 
> I wonder whether *sodalitas *wouldn't be closer to that sense conveyed in the word 'team', as the term refers to societies made by mates with a purpose, focusing more on celebrating and on the bonding among them.


While your description seems on point, what's being described here is a sports competition team, while _sodalitas_ is about civil societies, clubs of people joined by common goals or interests, or even simply circles of friends, very much like En. “society, club, association”. It can't be applied to sports or competition on general, unless it's an association of different teams; on the contrary, _turma_ seems like the optimal choice for this. The goal of a sports team isn't bonding, but prevailing in competition.


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