I was walking through Budapest today and stumbled onto the basilica. There was an inscription on it that made me think back to my Latin studies in junior high and high school ...
"Ego sum via, veritas, et vitas."
I was pleased that it hit me immediately that this was messed up. Latin always has the verb at the end and there is no special word for I. Clearly, someone, versed in English, was trying to say:
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
Seems odd to have this carved into 75 year old stone, though; especially at the top of the entrance to the basilica.
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That does look like English translated directly to Latin. I also thought in Latin the first person was often left out and understood by the reader (or perhaps I've just spent too much time with Oriental languages) ??? And perhaps the Latin inscription is more recent than the bridge?
There was Latin all over Prague but I couldn't understand much of it. I'm sure Cliff would have had a field day with each of the statues of Catholic figures on Karlův Most (Charles Bridge) and their respective latin inscriptions.
I was told by my esteemed German colleages that ego was used as "I", but that was never taught in my Latin classes. Even Caeser said simply, " Veni, vidi, vici."
Well, I am afraid your German friends are correct. Here are the facts: Classical Latin (what you studied with Caesar) does not require a pronoun and regularly folds it into the verb (so does Italian), but it can use pronouns to stress a contrast, such as, "EGO veni, ILLE vidit." Also, the classical language tends to put the verb in the third position (S-O-V), but it can relocate it for emphasis.
Your observation is not entirely off though. What you are looking at does not sound entirely Classical. The rhetoric is Christian, and the Latinity has begun to sound more like the Romance languages. This falls under the broad category of "Vulgar Latin", or more sympathetically "Medieval Latin."
My point is that, while Latin can do these things in the Classical period, it is more typical of later changes in the dialects.
Hope this helps.
So, then, the Church has taken some liberties with Latin over the years!
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