Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2023 January 4

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January 4

Latin inscription translation

Can anyone read (18th-century English architectural) Latin? What is the best translation of "COEMETERIUM GULIELMI DUNCAN EQ AURAT ET BARONETTI MEDICI REGII MDCCLXXXIX" given here as an inscription at the church in Lundie? It relates to a mausoleum built for Sir William Duncan, 1st Baronet. My best guess is "Cemetery of William Duncan, knight gilded(?) and baronet, physician to the King 1789", but the AURAT is confusing me and "cemetery" might not be the best word, would "mausoleum" also work? Thanks - Dumelow (talk) 15:07, 4 January 2023 (UTC)

I'm not really conversant with the niceties of the British honors system, but the disambiguation page Eques auratus says that the term is used for a Knight Bachelor (though there's no mention of it in the KB article). Deor (talk) 15:35, 4 January 2023 (UTC)

This document quotes the College of Arms (specifically the Windsor Herald): 'Auratus' was used to describe a person actually dubbed a knight, rather than one simply holding land by knight-service in feudal time. Alansplodge (talk) 15:59, 4 January 2023 (UTC)

Thanks both, sounds like knight bachelor is the intended meaning. Our article doesn't state it but it is fairly likely Duncan would have been knighted at some point before receiving his baronetcy - Dumelow (talk) 16:17, 4 January 2023 (UTC)

though there's no mention of it in the KB article -- done added the mention --2001:BF8:200:396:B0F8:250F:66A9:568D (talk) 06:58, 5 January 2023 (UTC)

The use of coemeterium is somewhat strange, since in Latin as well as English the term referred to a burial ground. A tomb would have been tumba. Presumably, the classicist who wrote the text was inspired by the Greek etymon κοιμητήριον (koimētḗrion), a term for a bedroom formed from a verb meaning "to (put to) sleep", but by extension used for a burial place.^[1] So a more neutral translation is "burial place", or translated a bit more freely (and euphemistically like the Greek etymon) "resting place".  --Lambiam 17:45, 4 January 2023 (UTC)

Thanks Lambiam, I'll go with "burial place" - Dumelow (talk) 07:20, 5 January 2023 (UTC)