Thuum.org

A community for the dragon language of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Thuum.org

A community for the dragon language of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Question Board


Anonymous
March 5, 2015

Veni, Vidi, Vici - Literal translation?

Hi there.

I discovered your website and I love it. I am trying to translate Caesar's famous "I came, I saw, i conquered" into Thu'um. What I have found so far is simply translating it becomes "Zu'u bo, Zu'u koraav, Zu'u kron" Which translates to "I fly, I see, I conquer." I am trying to find a more solid translation. Can you help me? 

Category: Translation


2


paarthurnax
Administrator
March 5, 2015

That translation is actually correct. We'll have to dive a bit into grammar to explain why.

If we look at the definition of boit's a very broad word that can be used to describe a wide range of motion. Its primary definition is "to fly," since that's the kind of motion most common to dragon.

Koraav and kron are "to see" and "to conquer," respectively. What's important to note is that (most) verbs in the dragon language don't have explicit past tense forms, so zu'u koraav could translate to "I see" or "I saw" depending on the context. If you want to be clear about past tense, you can use drey "did" to indiciate this; zu'u drey bo, zu'u drey koraav, zu'u drey koraav "I did come, I did see, I did conquer." If you think this isn't quite in the spirit of the original phrase, zu'u bo, zu'u koraav, zu'u kron will work just as well.