Жалған Латын тіліндегі мақал: «Illegitimi non carborundum»

Mock Latin aphorism

Illegitimi non carborundum is a mock Latin aphorism, often translated as "Don't let the bastards grind you down". The phrase itself has no meaning in Latin and can only be mock translated.

The sentence is Dog Latin, that is, it is a Latin–English pun with only a mock translation. The first word varies between illegitimi and illegitimis. Illegitimi is presumably the nominative plural of illegitimus meaning "unlawful" or "outlaw" in Latin, but interpreted as English "illegitimate" in the sense of "bastard", in this case, used as a generic insult. Illegitimis may be intended as an ablative plural, but if carborundum is intended to resemble a gerundive, it is more likely intended as a dative plural, since the gerundive takes a dative of agent. The meaning, in either case, is "by the outlaws/bastards." The second word non is a straightforward negation. The third word, carborundum, is an abrasive used for industrial grinding. It is not a Latin word; instead, it is a genericized trademark derived from the word corundum, a word of Tamil origin. However, it resembles a Latin gerundive, so can be interpreted as a hypothetical "fit to be carborere ed" or "to be carborere ed". If carborere (3rd conjugation) were a Latin word meaning "to grind down", Illegitimis non carborundum would be correct Latin for "‍(It/One) must not be ground down by the illegitimates". There are many variants of the phrase, such as Illegitimis non carborundum, Noli illegitimi carborundum and Nil illegitimi carborundum, all of them Dog Latin. Sometimes (as in The Handmaid's Tale), carborundum is prolonged to carborundorum, as if a Latin second declension neuter genitive plural of a noun ending in um. This is purely jocular and cannot have a grammatical meaning in Latin.