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interested in the Latin of the dialogue--who did it?

posted 15 years ago by farmerne
6 replies | jump to latest

One of the fascinating things about this movie is that the dialogue is entirely in Latin. And, from some things I have read, it was made to sound like the Latin that Roman soldiers would actually have spoken.

Whatever one may think of the subject matter of the movie, it is to be recommended for anyone interested in the history of the Roman Empire. This isn't the Australian accent of Russell Crowe in "Gladiator", or the polished BBC English viewers heard in "I,Claudius". This is the Latin that you would have heard Augustus or Marcus Aurelius speaking.

Can anyone give more info on who wrote the Latin for the script? It was a huge accomplishment for the actors to learn all those lines in what is essentially today a foreign language.

If you listen closely, you can also see the similarities between the Latin in the movie and modern-day Italian and Spanish.

[–] richmondhill 15 years ago

According to a biography of Jarman it's made of various contributions including Patrick Steede, Jack Welch, Dom Sylvester Houdedard and, I think, Jarman himself.

I read the cast struggled with some of the Latin, which had to be scaled-down and simplified for them in certain scenes.

I'm no Latin expert, but the script is certainly playful with the language e.g. the name of one the fighting beetles is Maria Domus Alba (translating as Mary Whitehouse, high profile British campaigner at the time for 'family entertainment' and not likely to win favour with the director, or vice versa). Also some of the dialogue doesn't always corrulate with the subtitles - at least on the DVD - with some rather non-scholarly Latin spoken by Maximus in the opening party scene!

[–] rs-61 14 years ago

This is NOT the Latin that you would have heard Augustus or Marcus Aurelius speaking. What lousy stilted acting.

[–] megArnold 12 years ago

Inded, it is not. It's vernacular, or "street Latin". What you'd have heard a Trastevere "service provider" speaking.

Unfortunately, most actors struggle with the unknown language, and pronunciation is all over the place. Some English accents, as well.

--
Hmmm?

[–] ccoutroulos 9 years ago

Also, I doubt very much that "excrementum" was ever used as an expletive.

[–] som1950 9 years ago

No one now is certain of how the Latin either of the emperors or of the masses actually sounded. It probably sounded less like Castilian than the movie's actors.

[–] ccoutroulos 8 years ago

Nobody knows every little detail, of course. But there is quite a lot of evidence for the general outlines. See Vox Latina — a Guide to the Pronunciation of Classical Latin (2nd ed.) by William Sidney Allen. (Cambridge University Press, (2003)). ISBN 0-521-37936-9 Quite fascinating.