Magic Squares
18 July 2008 - 16 תמוז 5768 by Huw
F COURSE The initials A.M.D.G. stand for Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam, the motto of the Jesuits. But the other night I realised it also stands for “Ad Maria Dei Genetrix” or To Mary the Birthgiver of God. And I began to wonder if the letters could slide around and mean other things as well.
Please forgive my childish Latin! But so far I’ve got:
Ante Maria Dei Genetrix
Mater Dolorosa Gens Adam
Dei Gratia, Alma Mater
Gentilis, Ab malibus delatus
Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam
“In the Presence of Maria Theotokos
Sorrowful Mother of the Race of Adam
By the grace of God, Nourishing Mother
of the Gentiles, from evil deliver us
To the Greater Glory of God.”
Someone please offer corrections to my latin - but try not to change the letters!
I suppose at least these deep thoughts keep you off the streets… :)
Well done. I do not know my Ave from my Ergo, so I’ll leave it to others; but I am in awe of your creativity.
sorrowful mother of the race of adam=mater dolorosa gentis ( adam
nourishing mother of the Gentiles=alma mater gentium (at least if we are using the Latin of the Vulgate)
the Lord’s Prayer in Latin uses “libera nos a malo” for “deliver us from evil”
what you have now, “ab malibus delatus” is a participial phrase that describes someone in the masculine single who has been taken away from evils. and even then it should be “a malibus”
the imperative singular of defero is defer but even then it’s not going to say what you want it to
deprecor however can mean “intercede” perhaps you can do something with that.
also i think you should replace “ante” in the first line with “ave”
keep pluggin away at it!
ok, so here’s what i came up with after some flipping through my dictionary and old latin textbook:
ave maria dei genetrix
mundum deprecare gravatum ante
dominum. gratias agamus matri
gloriam ad maiorem dei.
hail Mary, Mother of God
you plead for the burdened world before
the Lord. let us give thanks to His Mother
to the greater glory of God.
a little clunky still, but i’ll keep workin on it.