MovieChat Forums > The Little Vampire (2000) Discussion > Can anyone translate the invocation? It...

Can anyone translate the invocation? It sounds Latin.


It sounds to me like "in toto in vovo nil desperandum sine die". Anyone able to translate? The best I can make out is something about "all together" "never despair" and "without day". ???

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I'm not a Latin specailist, but I believe the gist of it is "We are together, without light, but not without hope." It is a reference to them being creatures of the night but having the hope to become human again.

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THANK YOU! I wanted to know, too!

"A boy's best friend is his mother." Yeah. Norman Bates needs a dog.

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[deleted]

I thought it said "ab ovo" (meaning "from the egg," that is since birth), not "in vovo" (which does not mean anything). And yes, it is Latin.

My name is Colin Creevey
and I'm a photoholic.

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Thank-you! "We are together since birth, without light, but not without hope," looks like a good translation. "together since birth not despairing without day" more literal.

"It is not our abilities that show what we truly are. It is our choices." by Dumbledore (J.K.Rowlings)

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Thank you! It's on now and I remember wondering what the invocation was. I only was able to translate a little bit of it from what I've learned thus far in my latin class.

"I'll go,because I am Cinema!" - Ben (Man Bites Dog)

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It's a group of Latin phrases that put together make little or no sense but they sound good because they are Latin. (Where did the author get the idea that vampires used Latin?)

Anyway....

Ab ovo - 'from the egg', in other words 'from the start'

In toto - 'in all', or 'altogether'

Nil desparandum 'not to be despaired of', 'must not despair' ('nil' - short for 'nihil')

'sine die' --'without a day' - used to adjourn a session (of the Senate or House of Representatives) without setting a date for reconvening. Makes no sense here.



It's too bad the authors didn't just call up the classics department of the nearest university for a scholar to devise a more appropriate incantation.

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