Gaudeamus Igitur
This is mostly just an excuse to practice my Latin translating ability
Gaudeamus igitur, iuvenes dum sumus;
post iucundam iuventutem, post molestam senectutem
nos habebit humus, nos habebit humus
Ubi sunt qui ante nos in mundo fuere?
Transeas ad superos, abeas ad inferos
quos si vis videre, quos si vis videre
Vita nostra brevis est, brevi finietur;
venit mors velociter, rapit nos atrociter,
nemini parcetur, nemini parcetur.
Vivat academia, vivant professores,
vivat membrum quodlibet, vivant membra
quaelibet, semper sint in flore.
Vivant omnes virgines, faciles,
formosae, vivant et mulieres,
dulces et amabiles, bonae, laboriosae
Vivat et res publica, et qui illam regit
vivat nostra civitas, Maecenatum
caritas, quae nos hic protegit
Pereat tristitia, pereant osores,
pereat diabolus, quivis
antiburschius atque irrisores.
My translation:
Therefore let us rejoice, as long as we are young;
after the pleasant age of youth, after bothersome old age
the earth will have us, the earth will have us
Where are those who have been on the earth before us?
You may cross to those above, you may go to those below,
If you wish to see them, if you wish to see them
Our life is short, it will soon be finished;
death comes quickly, it takes us violently,
No one will be spared, no one will be spared.
May academia live, may professors live
may each member live, may all members live
May they always be prosperous
May live all maidens, easy
beautiful, and may live all women
sweet and lovable, good, diligent
And may the state live, and who rules it
may our city live, the charity of benefactors
here which protects us
May sorrow perish, let the haters die
May the devil die, any opponents to the fraternities
and also the scoffers
In the above song, common in collegiate settings, I have offered a more literal and less beautiful translation. The lyrics suggest a true ‘you only live once’ attitude, however, the prospect of death is still looming large in the background. In the first paragraph, my literal translation is even more foreboding than the more common ‘the ground will hold us’. Don’t get me wrong, this is a perfectly good translation, although ‘have’ is usually the first translation given for ‘habebit’. Notice how the tone shifts, though, when ‘hold’ is made ‘have’. Both words suggest possession, but ‘have’ sounds almost malignant, domineering, and inevitable. There is a quality behind ‘earth’ that ‘ground’ does not have as well. Perhaps this is because, at least in many Western cultures, the Earth is personified, whereas the notion of ‘ground’ is left as inanimate. What are you more afraid of, a mass of dirt we have given a name for, or the person of Gaia? It should be noted that this was likely written in a Christian context, yet even today we treat the Earth as an enigmatic person, unlike the ground, even though both are the same from our perspective.