A Latin Language Version of "From Me to You" - with a Tribute to Eddie O'Hara

A fellow Latin teacher on Twitter told me about a man who, back in the 1960's already, had translated Beatles' songs into Latin in an effort to inspire students about the continued relevance of this ancient language. As I investigated further, I learned that the man in question, Eddie O'Hara, was no simple Latin teacher. He would eventually leave teaching to serve for twenty years as a Member of the British Parliament!

Without ever having had the privilege of corresponding with Eddie O'Hara personally, we are certainly kindred spirits. I also have dabbled in the translation of contemporary music into Latin in the hopes of making the study of the language more interesting to my students. Like him, I served my country in a war zone (I served in Iraq; Mr. O'Hara served in British occupied Cyprus and was the target of an attack, an irony since he would eventually champion the Greek Cypriot cause).

Since there is no evidence that anyone ever put Eddie O'Hara's translations to music, I decided that it was my duty to pay tribute to this great man by doing just that.

Below I offer a video which begins with a tribute to Eddie O'Hara, and then continues with a music video of "From Me to You," translation by the man himself and vocals and music performed by me. Following the video is a grammatical description of his translation. It is not woodenly literal, which I admit I tend toward in my own efforts, but delightfully dynamic. 

I also invite you to learn more about Eddie O'Hara in the obituaries that major news venues published about him.

The Guardian

The Telegraph

The BBC


 Tribute and Music Video of "From Me to You"




Grammatical Description of Eddie O'Hara's Translation

Latin	English	Parsing	Grammar Points
Si	If		Conj.
quid	anything	acc. sing. neut. pronoun	aliquis, aliquid; after “si” shortened to “quid”
habeo	I have	1st pers. sing. pres. act. ind. verb	habeō, habēre, habuī, habitus
quod	which	acc. sing. rel. pronoun	qui, quae, quod
cupis	you want	2nd pers. sing. pres. act. ind. verb	cupiō, cupere, cupīvī, cupītus
Si	If		Conj.
quid	anything	acc. sing. neut. pronoun	aliquis, aliquid; after “si” shortened to “quid”
opus	needful	acc. sing. indecl. noun	opus
auxilii	of help	gen. sing. neut. noun	auxilium, auxilii
Vocanti	to the one calling	dat. sing. pres. act. part.	vocō, vocāre, vocāvī, vocātus
me	me	acc. sing. pronoun	ego, mei
tibi	to you	dat. sing. pronoun	tu, tui
id	it	acc. sing. neut. dem. adj.	is, ea, id
mittam	I will send	1st pers. sing. fut. ind. verb	mittō, mittere, mīsī, missus
Amore	With love	Abl. sing. masc. noun	amor, amoris
a	from		Pres. + Abl.
me	me	abl. sing. pronoun	ego, mei
tibi	to you	dat. sing. pronoun	tu, tui
Bracchia	Arms	nom. pl. neut. noun	bracchium, bracchii
volunt	want	3rd pers. pl. pres. ind. verb	volō, velle, voluī
tenere	to hold	pres. act. inf.	teneō, tenēre, tenuī
Te	You	acc. sing. pronoun	tu, tui
ne	so that not		conj.
tu	you	nom. sing. pronoun	tu, tui
abeas	(you) may go away	2nd pers. sing. pres. act. subj. verb	abeō, abīre, abīvī, abitus
Et	And		Conj.
labra	lips	acc. pl. neut. noun	labrum, labrī
basiare	to kiss	pres. act. inf.	bāsiō, bāsiāre, bāsiāvī, bāsiātus
Dum	Until		Conj.
satis	enough		indeclinable noun
habeas	you may have	2nd pers. sing. pres. act. ind. verb	habeō, habēre, habuī, habitus