CULTURE
Learn An Advent Carol in Latin (and Something About Latin)
First published 2011, revised November 11, 2017
The Veni Translation Table that you are looking for has been moved to this page. The table was originally a pop-up that visitors were going directly to instead of reading my very edifying article. I cannot have that. That's like going to a party, stuffing one's pockets with hors d'oeuvres and leaving without greeting the host. The translation info is in list format at the end of the very edifying article. -- NJC
This is an Advent exercise inspired by a book entitled Let's Read Latin: Introduction to The Language of The Church by the late Notre Dame Professor Dr. Ralph McInerny. Dr. McInerny was the author of The Fr. Dowling Mysteries and many other works of Catholic fiction. The effort and time he put into those probably could have been better spent.
However McInerny's Let's Read Latin is a wonderful introduction to the Latin language for non-scholars. The peasants who joined the monasteries in centuries past were certainly non-scholars. They learned Latin, and probably how to read, sing and do a bunch of other things through reciting the common prayers. Starting with the Pater Noster and Ave Maria, McInerny uses these familiar prayers in Latin to explain that language's vocabulary and grammar.
Here we're going to do something similar with the hymn Veni, Veni Emmanuel or as you know it, O Come, O Come Emmanuel. The familiar tune is from 15th-Century France. The Latin words of Veni Veni date back to the Eighth Century, the time of Charlemagne. He was the emperor who turned the Dark Ages into Middle Ages. The verses come from vespers prayers that monks chanted during the week before Christmas. These prayers were called the "O Antiphons" (O Oriens, O Clavis Davidica) or as the Abbott Alcuin preferred, "Les sept Os" ["The Seven O's"].
Here's the Latin text:
Veni veni, Emmanuel
captivum solve Israel,
qui gemit in exsilio,
privatus Dei Filio.
R: Gaude! Gaude! Emmanuel,
nascetur pro te Israel!
Veni, veni O Oriens,
solare nos adveniens,
Noctis depelle nebulas,
dirasque mortis tenebras. R.
Veni, Clavis Davidica,
regna reclude caelica.
Fac iter tutum superum,
et claude vias inferum. R.
Latin is a highly inflected language. What words exactly mean is determined by how the end of them is pronounced/spelled. In Latin pronunciation/spelling of a verb varies depending on who (I, You, He, We, You plural, They) is doing the action.
Let's take Venire meaning "to come." Venio = I come; venis = you (one person) come; venit = he/she/it comes; venimus = we come; venitis = you (two or more) come; veniunt = they come.
Notice that the verbs contain the "he, she, we." Latin has pronouns such as "ego" for "I" as in Ego te absolvo [I absolve you]. However the verbs are usually sufficient to convey the person. One discerns if the actor is a he or a she from the context. Is the verb showing up in a passage where Aeneas is doing the action or is the doer Dido (Aeneas' pissed-off ex-girlfriend)?
Another thing. Venis can mean "You come," "You are coming," and "You do come." English is the only language, I think, that expresses these senses separately. This is one of the reasons that, as a speaker of English, you already know one of the world's most difficult languages.
You don't see Veni in the list. Veni here is a special form of venis (you come). You say veni when you tell or command someone to come. If you're thinking of J. Caesar saying "Veni, Vidi, Vici," Veni can also mean "I came," but in this context, it's clear that Veni is a command.
Gaude (rejoice) is another one of these imperative verbs. When you want to tell a group of people to rejoice, you say "Gaudete." The seasons of both Advent and Lent have Gaudete Sundays whereon the faithful are reminded to rejoice because Christmas/Easter is near. In addition to Veni and Gaude, our subject hymn has several other imperative verbs.
Veni = Come
Gaude = Rejoice
Solve = Break
Depelle = Dispel
Diras = Drive away. The que on the end of diras actually means "and" and conjoins it to depelle. Depelle dirasque"Dispel and drive away." Que can also be added to nouns as in "Genitori genitoque"("God the father and God the son") as described by Thomas Aquinas, but that's another hymn.
Reclude = Open, unlock
Fac = Make
Claude = Close, lock
The other verbs in the hymn and their translation:
gemit = It [Israel] groans or mourns (qui = which, which mourns)
solare = to shine on. Veni solare nos adveniens = Come to shine on us [by your] arriving
adveniens [arriving] is a participle and its use here is a bit of grammatic license taken so that it will rhyme with Oriens. It should be pointed out that people who spoke Latin mangled it just like English-speakers mangle English.
Nascetur is the only future tense verb in the hymn. It means [He] will be born. Emmanuel nascetur pro te Israel. Emmanuel will be born for you, Israel.
Latin nouns also have differing endings depending on whether the noun is the subject, or possessing something, or the direct object, the indirect object or the object of a preposition.
First of all, proper nouns. You know what Israel and Emmanuel are. Oriens is the sunrise (of course, in the east) or dawn or as they used to say, dayspring.
Clavis, meaning key, is an example of a subject noun. If it were an object it would be clavem. If I were locking a door with a key, it would be cum clave or, as it was tongue-worn through centuries of use, con clave. As you know, a conclave is what the meeting is called when the cardinals are locked up to elect a pope.
Davidica (Davidic) here is an adjective describing the key just as caelica (Heavenly) describes the regna (kingdoms). Regna reclude caelica. = Unlock the heavenly kingdoms. Notice that the verb is in the middle. Because of the word inflections, word order doesn't matter in Latin.
Another subject noun, iter, appears in Fac iter tutum superum. Make the high [way to heaven] safe. However this is another instance of grammatically incorrect Latin! If iter is the object to be made safe, it should be itinerem, but the hymn lyricist needed two syllables elsewhere.
Properly spelled as objects are vias [ways] nebulas [clouds/fog] and tenebras [shadows]. These are the accusative plural forms of via, nebula and tenebra. In Noctis depelle nebulas dirasque mortis tenebras, we are saying Dispel the clouds of night [noctis] and drive away the shadows of death [mortis].
Noctis, mortis and Dei are the possessive or genitive forms of nox, mors and Deus and respectively mean of night and of death, of God or night's and death's and God's.
Know what? The is possessive ending of many Latin nouns is the origin of the "apostrophe s" we use in English. Those monks in the Middle Ages copying manuscripts drew the letter i before the letter s smaller and higher until it evolved into " 's "
Charlemagne's empire management generated a lot of parchment-work and communications. Around the time the O Antiphons were written down, one of the emperor's monk buddies came up with the idea that those Roman Einsteins never thought of: putting spaces between words sothattheywouldbeeasiertoread.
We have more Latin rule breaking in et claude vias inferum [and lock "the inferior ways" or "road to Hell"]. In Latin, the adjective should agree with the noun in ending. Vias is a plural direct object and is also "feminine." Its adjective Inferum is spelled as the singular "maculine" or "neuter."
Modern English does not have much grammatical gender, however Latin and most other languages have classes of nouns called "masculine," "feminine" and "neuter."
Way, way back in history when noun genders originated, they probably had something to do with biological male and female. However today there's often no apparent rhyme or reason why nouns are masculine or feminine. I suspect that as tongues developed, language-makers used various rationales for assigning genders.. In gendered languages, adjectives must match the noun they describe.
Inferum here is a violation on two counts. Whereas vias is plural femine, It looks like the lyricist wanted inferum to rhyme with superum. It should be inferas.
So there you have it. You never know where the study of Latin may take you. It took John Adams from ditch-digging on the farm to The Executive Mansion.
Veni Translation Line by Line
Latin: Veni veni, Emmanuel
Latin Pronunciation:: Vennee
Literal Translation: Come, come Emmanuel
Traditional English Translation: O come, O come, Emmanuel,
Latin: captivum solve Israel,
Latin Pronunciation:cop tee voom sol vay
Literal Translation: break the bond of Israel
Traditional English Translation: and ransom captive Israel,
Latin: qui gemit in exsilio,
Latin Pronunciation: kwee jem eet in exsilleeo
Literal Translation: which mourns in exile
Traditional English Translation: that mourns in lonely exile here
Latin: privatus Dei Filio.
Latin Pronunciation: pree vo toos day yee fillee-oh
Literal Translation:deprived of God's Son
Traditional English Translation: until the Son of God appear.
Latin: R: Gaude! Gaude! Emmanuel
Latin Pronunciation: Gowday!
Literal Translation:Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Traditional English Translation: R: Rejoice! Rejoice! O Israel,
Latin: nascetur pro te Israel!
Latin Pronunciation: noshaytoor pro tay
Literal Translation: will be born for you Israel
Traditional English Translation: to thee shall come Emmanuel!
Latin: Veni, veni O Oriens,
Latin Pronunciation:Aw ree ens
Literal Translation:Come, come O Dayspring
Traditional English Translation: O come, Thou Dayspring from on high,
Latin: solare nos adveniens,
Latin Pronunciation:so lar ay nose od vay nee ens
Literal Translation:to shine on us [by your] coming
Traditional English Translation: and cheer us by thy drawing nigh;
Latin: noctis depelle nebulas,
Latin Pronunciation:noke tees de pella ne boo loss
Literal Translation: dispel night's clouds
Traditional English Translation: disperse the gloomy clouds of night
Latin: dirasque mortis tenebras. R.
Latin Pronunciation:di ros kay mor tees ten e bross
Literal Translation: drive away death's shadows
Traditional English Translation: and death's dark shadow put to flight. R.
Latin: Veni, Clavis Davidica,
Latin Pronunciation:Claw vees da vee dee ka
Literal Translation: Come Davidic Key
Traditional English Translation: O come, Thou Key of David, come,
Latin: regna reclude caelica,
Latin Pronunciation:renya recloo day chay lee ka
Literal Translation: unlock the heavenly kingdoms
Traditional English Translation: and open wide our heav'nly home,
Latin: fac iter tutum superum,
Latin Pronunciation: fock* eet air toot oom sooperoom
Literal Translation: Make the above safe
Traditional English Translation: make safe the way that leads on high,
Latin: et claude vias inferum. R.
Latin Pronunciation: et clow day vee oss een fer oom.
Literal Translation: and close the lower ways
Traditional English Translation: that we no more have cause to sigh.
*Pay close attention to how you pronounce this.
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