Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Latin term or phrase:
Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurret
English translation:
You can drive nature out with a pitchfork, but she always comes back
Added to glossary by
Sheila Hardie
Nov 11, 2001 07:53
22 yrs ago
3 viewers *
Latin term
Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurret
Non-PRO
Latin to English
Art/Literary
Sé que la expresion equivalente en español es "genio y figura hasta la sepultura" pero me gustaria tener la traduccion literal.
Muchas gracias
Muchas gracias
Proposed translations
7 mins
Selected
You can drive nature out with a pitchfork...
I'm not sure if you want it in English or Spanish, but here's an attempt at the English!
HTH
Sheila
naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurret You can drive nature out with a pitchfork but she always comes back. Literally, "Nature can be expelled with a fork, but nevertheless always returns"
http://www.rktekt.com/ck/LatSayings.html
HTH
Sheila
naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurret You can drive nature out with a pitchfork but she always comes back. Literally, "Nature can be expelled with a fork, but nevertheless always returns"
http://www.rktekt.com/ck/LatSayings.html
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you"
+1
18 hrs
“What’s bred in the bone will come out in the flesh.”
Bred in the bone. A part of one’s nature. “What’s bred in the bone will come out in the flesh.” A natural propensity cannot be repressed. Naturam furcâ expellas, autem usque redibit.
E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Reference:
4099 days
No matter how ferociously you drive Nature away, she’ll still keep coming back
Nātūram expellās furcā, tamen usque recurret
Even if you drive Nature away with a pitchfork, she’ll still keep coming back
No matter how ferociously you drive Nature away, she’ll still keep coming back
The translations already provided seem more than adequate. Even so, here are alternatives intended to express the sense, more than the literal meaning, of the saying. Here are some justifications:
• expellās can have the sense of it is possible for you to drive away (but not you have the power or skill to drive away), but it can also have the sense of if you drive away, which seems more appealing here, especially in the presence of furcā and tamen
• furcā (with or using (a) pitchfork) suggests the great determination, intensity, ferocity, or even viciousness with which one might drive Nature away; in contemporary English, we might express this meaning with an expression such as at gunpoint
• tamen has a meaning like nevertheless, still, even so; it suggests that, here, furcā means even with a pitchfork
• usque adds a meaning like continuously, without stopping
• recurret is future tense: (she) will return or come back
I urge those who find fault with any of this to post explanations of my errors here. I’ll be very grateful.
Even if you drive Nature away with a pitchfork, she’ll still keep coming back
No matter how ferociously you drive Nature away, she’ll still keep coming back
The translations already provided seem more than adequate. Even so, here are alternatives intended to express the sense, more than the literal meaning, of the saying. Here are some justifications:
• expellās can have the sense of it is possible for you to drive away (but not you have the power or skill to drive away), but it can also have the sense of if you drive away, which seems more appealing here, especially in the presence of furcā and tamen
• furcā (with or using (a) pitchfork) suggests the great determination, intensity, ferocity, or even viciousness with which one might drive Nature away; in contemporary English, we might express this meaning with an expression such as at gunpoint
• tamen has a meaning like nevertheless, still, even so; it suggests that, here, furcā means even with a pitchfork
• usque adds a meaning like continuously, without stopping
• recurret is future tense: (she) will return or come back
I urge those who find fault with any of this to post explanations of my errors here. I’ll be very grateful.
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