# Sword with Terminus Est *The Usenet list — 5 messages, 5 voices, 12 Apr 1991* > Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright > in each message remains with the person who wrote it. > Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original > archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than > retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact. --- ### Sridhar Dasari *12 Apr 1991, 21:53* I was just reading Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer. The swrod with the engraving called Terminus Est was mentioned. The name rings a bell; where did I hear this name before? The only famous swords I can think of are Excalibur, and Roland's sword (name starts with a C, I think) Anyone who can help me on this one? -------------------------- Sridhar H. Dasari sd1r+ at andrew.cmu.edu The sign of an educated person is how clear was the line in his mind between what he knew and what he didn't know. - Irving Babbitt An insufficient talent is the cruelest of all temptations. - anonymous The average woman would rather have beauty than brains, because the average man can see better than he can think. - Farrah Fawcett --- ### Klaus Ole Kristiansen *16 Apr 1991, 11:35 · in reply to Sridhar Dasari* sd1r+ at andrew.cmu.edu (Sridhar Dasari) writes: > I was just reading Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer. The swrod with > the engraving called Terminus Est was mentioned. The name rings a bell; > where did I hear this name before? The only famous swords I can think > of are Excalibur, and Roland's sword (name starts with a C, I think) > Anyone who can help me on this one? I can not help, but I have a question: Wouldn't Terminus Es be a better name? Klaus Kristiansen --- ### Steve Simmons *18 Apr 1991, 17:09 · in reply to Sridhar Dasari* klaus at diku.dk (Klaus Ole Kristiansen) writes: > sd1r+ at andrew.cmu.edu (Sridhar Dasari) writes: >> I was just reading Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer. The swrod with >> the engraving called Terminus Est was mentioned. The name rings a bell; >> where did I hear this name before? The only famous swords I can think >> of are Excalibur, and Roland's sword (name starts with a C, I think) >> Anyone who can help me on this one? > I can not help, but I have a question: > Wouldn't Terminus Es be a better name? Wolfe is usually worth reading closely. His translations from the Latin appear to be quite deliberately suspect. I pointed out several to a latin-literate friend and she confirmed some significant differences between the phrases given and how the characters translated them. In particular he translates "Terminus Est" as "The dividing line", but my friend claims "this is the end" is a better translation. Sorry, I can't bring other instances to mind. --- ### Paul DuBois *18 Apr 1991, 19:24 · in reply to Klaus Ole Kristiansen* In article <1991Apr16.113525.3350 at odin.diku.dk> klaus at diku.dk (Klaus Ole Kristiansen) writes: > sd1r+ at andrew.cmu.edu (Sridhar Dasari) writes: >> I was just reading Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer. The swrod with >> the engraving called Terminus Est was mentioned. The name rings a bell; >> where did I hear this name before? The only famous swords I can think >> of are Excalibur, and Roland's sword (name starts with a C, I think) >> Anyone who can help me on this one? > I can not help, but I have a question: > > Wouldn't Terminus Es be a better name? > > Klaus Kristiansen I don't know any Latin, but somewhere in the series they mention the translation of Terminus Est as being "The Dividing Line" for semi-obvious reasons. --- ### Chris Adams *23 Apr 1991, 17:07 · in reply to Steve Simmons* In article <1991Apr18.170927.22201 at lokkur.dexter.mi.us> scs at lokkur.dexter.mi.us (Steve Simmons) writes: > Wolfe is usually worth reading closely. His translations from the Latin > appear to be quite deliberately suspect. I pointed out several to a > latin-literate friend and she confirmed some significant differences > between the phrases given and how the characters translated them. In > particular he translates "Terminus Est" as "The dividing line", but my > friend claims "this is the end" is a better translation. Well, I can't really say how accurate Wolfe's other translations are, but he's not as wrong as everyone keeps saying... terminus, in addition to meaning "end," also can mean "border" or "boundry." and what is a border if not a dividing line? the est is definitely "is" and that's a little awkward, but he's not THAT far off... love and xxx, chris ---