Lord's Prayer in Latin - Translated by David Deardorff.

Religion is becoming more important to me these days in accord with life events, and I am greatly missing Latin studies this semester so I thought I'd translate some familiar ecclesiastical documents to keep some of those language gears turning .

I thought I might as well start with the Lord's Prayer, Pater Noster. I've not used any translation notes, and I don't claim to know the vocab or idiomatic uses of these words during the early centuries AD (I think this version came from around the 4th century AD). I'm a classical latinist, which is more the academic Latin than the people's Latin but I'll give you my first shot.

It's relatively literal, I've tried to stick close to the Latin.

Pater Noster

Pater noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen. 

Our Father (Translation by David Deardorff)

Our father, who is in the heaven(s), consecrated is your name. Your kingdom will come. May your will be done, just as (it is) on heaven and on earth. Give to us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive (those) in our debt ( literally = having been in our debt). And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen

The Latin itself is relatively simple, it's meant to be understood. The "Et ne nos...a malo" reads, sinistrodextral, practically like English.You can see a few differences from the translations you might already be familiar with. Most noticeable to me was the "forgive us our trespasses" part that I'm familiar with. They get the translation "trespasses" from the word "debita" and "debitoribus" which are both derived from the perfect passive participle of the Latin verb Debeo (pincipal parts = debeo, debere, debui, debitum) which roughly means "to owe" - this is exactly where we get the English word "debt". So the translation of trespassing is a creative decision for a more polished translation of its day. The verb governing the aforementioned sentence is "dimitte" and "dimittimus" (principal parts = dimitto, dimittere, dimisi, dimissum) which literally means to "dismiss, discharge" , that is to say, "forgive."


The "for thine is thy kingom" part was never written in the original and accepted Latin texts, in case that's bothering anyone.


Most common English version of "The Lord's Prayer" that I've been exposed to personally:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen

P.S. If anyone who knows late biblical Hebrew ever stumbles across this post and can give me an original translation based on that text, I'd love to hear it.