# God was no scientist, he was an artist!



## alahay

Could you please help me translate this to latin?
Gratias!


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## Le Pamplemousse

Deus physicus non fuit, artifex fuit!


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## Brioche

why not 'erat' rather than 'fuit'?

How about:
_deus non physicus sed artifex erat _?

or even leave the verb out?

_deus non physicus sed artifex_.


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## Whodunit

Le Pamplemousse said:
			
		

> Deus physicus non fuit, artifex fuit!


 
Why not "Deus physicus non erat, sed artifex erat"?


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## Brioche

Whodunit said:
			
		

> Why not "Deus physicus non erat, sed artifex erat"?


 
Good Latin is pithy.
The Romans did not waste words.
The second 'erat' does not add any meaning.


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## alahay

Many thanks! 

However I used to think that artist is faber in latin, so is there any difference between faber and artifex? Like if I want to say I'm an artist, wouldn't that be "faber sum"? Thanks again!


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## alahay

Brioche said:
			
		

> why not 'erat' rather than 'fuit'?
> 
> How about:
> _deus non physicus sed artifex erat _?
> 
> or even leave the verb out?
> 
> _deus non physicus sed artifex_.



Isn't fuit for remote past and erat for simple past?

fuit might mean that God was (in the very remote past) and no longer is...True?


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## Le Pamplemousse

"Fuit" is perfect and "erat" is imperfect.  I don't know why you're using past tense in the first place, I took it to mean he was an artist because of doing one (or more) specific thing.  For instance:

God created the Universe in 7 days.  He was no scientist, he was an artist!

In that case, I used "fuit" because you would be referring to a specific point in time.  If you mean something else, "erat" may be a better choice.




> However I used to think that artist is faber in latin, so is there any difference between faber and artifex? Like if I want to say I'm an artist, wouldn't that be "faber sum"? Thanks again!


 
"Faber" basically just means a "skilled worker".  It is most often used by itself for a carpenter or a smith of some sort.  If that's what you want to say, then use it, but "artifex" comes from "ars, artis", which means "art".


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## Whodunit

Le Pamplemousse said:
			
		

> "Fuit" is perfect and "erat" is imperfect. I don't know why you're using past tense in the first place, I took it to mean he was an artist because of doing one (or more) specific thing. For instance:
> 
> God created the Universe in 7 days. He was no scientist, he was an artist!
> 
> In that case, I used "fuit" because you would be referring to a specific point in time. If you mean something else, "erat" may be a better choice.


 
Hm, so I'd use "fuerat". It's the past perfect form of "esse".


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## Le Pamplemousse

In order to use the past perfect, you need a past event to work off of.  This statement doesn't vary in its use of time, so I don't see how the past perfect could work.


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