Latin query

[truepenny]

For, lo, my Latin is woefully rusty, and I never really got the hang of either imperatives (especially in the negative) or the nuances of translating that handy little English verb "do":

How would you say "Don't do that!" in Latin? Ciceronian or medieval, I don't care which. "That" is the action of turning on the lights. Singular addressee, and I honestly don't know if it should be formal or familiar, since the speaker is a necromantic construct who has been stalking my protagonist and has designs on his body. ("Designs" as in "Oh what lovely and available real estate!" not as in carnality worthy of the Marquis de Sade.)

[Nota bene: Please, don't respond with links to English-to-Latin translators. I can do a Google search just as well as anybody else; the problem is that I don't trust the online translation engines to be correct. Likewise, please, don't respond with the results of putting "Don't do that!" into an online translator, unless you can then go on to testify from your own knowledge of Latin that the results are correct.]

Comments

[sovay]

"Don't do that!"

Technically I have replaced "that" with "this": Nōlī hoc facere!

[sovay]

The macrons appear to have gone weird: without them, Noli hoc facere! Or Noli illud facere! although the connotation of ille, illa, illud is more distant than hic, haec, hoc, so I'm not sure it would be the word that comes first to mind when snapping at someone.

[sovay]

You can also use the negative subjunctive, Nē faciās!

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

So what's the shade of meaning between noli hoc facere and nec facias?

[sovay]

(Ne facias; nec is "neither / nor.") There is no distinction in Latin between the second person formal and familiar—as you asked about—but noli + infinitive is a direct order, while the subjunctive is more politely put; may you not rather than don't you dare.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Thank you, that put it very clearly.

I'm going with noli facere, because this creature is much more likely to order than to request.

[sovay]

I'm going with noli facere, because this creature is much more likely to order than to request.

Cool. And very curious to read this story now!

[shadefell.livejournal.com]

My (mere) five years of Latin was going to suggest that phrase. Oh, the internet! So useful!

[sovay]

Whether you want to include the explicit direct object hoc / illud is another question, which I should have differentiated more clearly; unless the speaker particularly wants to underline whatever "that" is, noli facere and ne facias are probably more intuitive. Latin is a very compressible language; it does fine with implicit.

[thechildoftime.livejournal.com]

We're typing at the same time, and we seem to agree very well. :)

[thechildoftime.livejournal.com]

Noli facere vs. nec facias is like "stop that!" versus "please don't do that."

If something awful is going to happen if someone turns on the light, I would be much more likely to use the imperative. If I was more concerned about being polite than about getting the person I'm addressing to cut it out, I would be more likely to use the (jussive) subjunctive. It's command versus request.