A quick question about Latin

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DanH34
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A quick question about Latin

Post by DanH34 »

I'm pretty sure that there are a few Latin speakers on the board, so this is the only place that I can think of to ask a question that's been bugging me for weeks.

A local madman with a propensity for telling hilariously absurd lies claims that he has devised a Latin phrase 'Omnia sane ratio omnibus', which he says means 'A reason for all things and all things within reason'.

I'm convinced that he's talking out of his arse, and (the possibly unreliable) Google translate agrees with me - not that I have a great deal of faith in it. So I was wondering if anyone could possibly answer me three questions if it's not too much trouble:

1) Does the emboldened text above actually mean what the aforementioned madman claims?
2) If not, what does it mean (if anything)?
3) Also if not, what would the actual translation(s) of 'A reason for all things and all things within reason' be?

Many thanks in advance.
Life's a bitch, then you die.

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Aeluro
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Re: A quick question about Latin

Post by Aeluro »

Maybe it means "everything is really the case for anything".
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Xonen
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Re: A quick question about Latin

Post by Xonen »

Okay, my Latin is rusty, so take the following cum grano salis, but...
DanH34 wrote:1) Does the emboldened text above actually mean what the aforementioned madman claims?
Not quite, no.
2) If not, what does it mean (if anything)?
If you want to be generous and attempt a translation that bears at least some resemblance to the intended one, I guess you could go with 'all things are truly the reason for all things', or thereabouts.
3) Also if not, what would the actual translation(s) of 'A reason for all things and all things within reason' be?
Again, going with something that actually resembles this attempt, I might suggest ?ratio omnibus et omnia in ratione... But that's an extremely literal translation and would probably be tremendously unidiomatic in actual Latin. [:D] :roll: So, we need someone more qualified to actually produce Latin actively to give us a better translation here.
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DanH34
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Re: A quick question about Latin

Post by DanH34 »

Many thanks, Xonen.
Life's a bitch, then you die.

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