Dog Latin Explained

Dog Latin or cod Latin is a phrase or jargon that imitates Latin,^[1] often by what is referred to as "translating" English words (or those of other languages) into Latin by conjugating or declining them, as if they were Latin words. Dog Latin usually is a humorous device mocking scholarly seriousness. Also, it can mean a poor-quality attempt at writing genuine Latin.^[2]

History

Examples of this predate even Shakespeare, whose 1590s play, Love's Labour's Lost, includes a reference to dog Latin:

Thomas Jefferson mentioned dog Latin by name in 1815:

Examples

• Illegitimi non carborundum, interpreted as "Don't let the bastards grind you down." Offred, the protagonist of the novel The Handmaid's Tale, finds a similar phrase scratched into the wall of her wardrobe: Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
• Semper ubi sub ubi is unintelligible as Latin, but translates word for word as 'always where under where', interpreted as 'always wear underwear'.^[3]
• A once-common schoolboy doggerel which, though very poor Latin, would have done a tolerable job of reinforcing the rhythms of Latin hexameters:

Insofar as this specimen can be translated, it is as follows:

The meter uses Latin vowel quantities for the Latin parts, and to some extent follows English stress in the English parts.

Another variant has similar lines in a different order:

The meaning here is "The storm rose up and overturned the boat" and "Except for John Periwig", etc.

• Another verse in similar vein, from Geoffrey Willans' Down with Skool, is:^[4]

which, when read aloud using traditional English pronunciation of Latin, sounds like the following:

Notes and References

1. Web site: Brewer, E. Cobham. Dictionary of Phrase & Fable. Dog-Latin.. Bartleby.com. 22 May 2022.
2. OED s.v. "dog," compounds C3a
3. S.O.M.A., Soma's Dictionary of Latin Quotations, Maxims and Phrases, 2010,, s.v.
4. Book: Down with Skool!. Geoffrey. Willans. Geoffrey Willans. Ronald. Searle. Ronald Searle. 1953. Max Parrish . London. 9780141191683 .