in memory of Guillaume de Machaut

[metaphrastes]

Salvete!

Dear friends, some friend of mine who is a composer wants to dedicate a new composition "in memory of Guillaume de Machaut (or Machault)".

Now, the well known Latin formula is "In Memoriam + name in genitive", if I got it right.

Now, the Latin name that Guillaume himself used to sign his works was, so far I can tell you, Guillelmus de Mascandio, if I am to trust the Latin Wikipedia: Guillelmus de Mascandio - Vicipaedia.

As for the first name, the genitive would end in -i, thus, Guillelmi.

I am not sure about what should I do with the surname "de Mascandio": is it already a genitive, following the preposition "de" for the toponym? Should it receive another ending?

Thank you for any enlightenment.

 

[bearded]

Salve

what should I do with the surname "de Mascandio":..... Should it receive another ending?

No, I think it should remain unchanged: In memoriam Guillelmi de Mascandio.
Such surnames usually retain their current 'latinized' shape and are uninflected, as far as I know.
Specialists will hopefully confirm.

 

[Scholiast]

saluete amici!

bearded is right (# 2): de Mascandio is already in Latin form, for the French 'de Machau[l]t', and as the preposition de requires, Mascandio is in fact an ablative.

My only hesitation is whether In Memoriam is quite right for a title or superscription to honour someone so long dead (the Vicipaedia entry cited by Metaphrastes puts his demise in 1377). How about In (or Ad) Honorem instead?

Σ

 

[Circunflejo]

My doubt was whether Guillelmus would be a better translation of his name than Gulielmus but it seems that it's more frequent.

How about In (or Ad) Honorem instead?

Ad Honorem.

 

[bearded]

Isn't it actually so, that ad honorem could also apply to a living person? At our universities, outstanding people are conferred a laurea ad honorem (honour degree). For a dead person, in memoriam would seem more suitable to me (and also the intended meaning is different..).

 

[Scholiast]

saluete de nouo!

A propos of bearded's point (# 5 here): yes, many academic institutions in the UK and elsewhere in the Anglophone world also award honorary degrees, and, like military decorations, these can be, though only rarely are, awarded posthumously. I suppose the feeling behind my 'hesitations' (# 3) was that I associate the phrase in memoriam with either epitaphs on tombstones or dedications in literary or artistic works such as Tennyson's great poem under that title, written in mourning for his friend Arthur Hallam. In other words, there is (to me) the implication of a personal connexion between the author(s) and the dedicatee.

Σ

 

[Circunflejo]

Isn't it actually so, that ad honorem could also apply to a living person?

Yes, undoubtely.