Toughen up, princess

[ianbee]

Hello

I wonder anyone could help contribute to a friend's get-well gift.

I am looking for a translation of "Toughen up, princess" (don't worry, it's an Australian in-joke!)

It has been suggested that "Be strong, princess" (or girl/lady) might be more manageable and a friend had a stab at:

conforta regis filia

I just wondered whether anyone had any feedback on this translation? I think the playfulness of the original might be hard to capture, but i guess i am just looking for something that passes a basic accuracy test and will make her smile when it is explained.

cheers

ian

[scrabblehack]

conforta = "strengthen," but also "comfort, console, encourage."
regis filia = "daughter of the king," which is a princess but maybe that's not the effect you're trying to achieve.

I'm going to suggest
Esto fortis, principissa, patterned after the U.S. state of Idaho's motto, Esto perpetua.
(fortis = "strong.") There is a word vale which means "be strong" but it also means "goodbye."

There is a word callosa for "tough" but I think that's too much like "callous."

[Diaphanus]

Medieval Latin and Neo-Latin have principissa for "princess."

[Cinefactus]

The problem is that this doesn't convey the sense of prima donna in the term princess...

I am racking my brains to think of a word which would convey both, but having a little difficulty...

At a pinch, I guess Domina might come close, such as Propertius' Cynthia, although I don't think that this conveys the slightly contemptuous flavour of princess... Tumida might be good, but doesn't have any of the positive implications of princess...

The other problem is that 'toughen up', also implies, 'stop whining', which I fear is not present in 'esto fortis'!

OTOH, I think that Esto fortis, principissa, would be quite comprehensible in all meanings to a modern reader

[ianbee]

thanks for the input!
fascinating discussion, really interesting and friendly forum ...

[Matthaeus]

Maybe obdura for toughen up, as in Catullus' carmen.

[ianbee]

Hi

I just thought you might like to see the fruits of your labours!

http://ianbee.typepad.com/stuff/2009/08 ... pissa.html

thank you!