li'l Greek/Latin translation help, if you please, and an invitation to talk about profile names

Okay, dudes: I promised my SO (thanks anna pdx for adding that little acronym to my arsenal) that I would change my librarything profile name from my real name (to my current name, "bookfallapart") since a lot of my reviews tend to get a bit personal and she would prefer some privacy. However, I am a forgetful man and sometimes link to my profile on other fora (hello, facebook!), thus compromising my anonymity. All of which is to say that it is time for another change, hopefully the last one.

Since my library is books I am reading, not books I own, I had thought to do something reflecting that. I messed around with "bibliobiography" and "bibliohistory" but those seemed kinda stupid, and I decided to go with something more evocative like "my life in books" or "the book of life",the latter later discarded when I discovered it had religious connotations (Sefer HaChaim!). I also thought I would translate it, and after discarding German (boring), Japanese (nerdish), Irish (fey), and proto-Indo-European (impossible!), settled on a classical language, for more, um, class.

BUT, I speak neither Greek nor Latin, so I am throwing myself on the mercy of the Salon. My best stab at translating "Martin's life in books" into Classical Greek is "ζωή Μαρτίνου εν βιβλία" or "zoe Martinou en biblia" (forgive the lack of diacritics). I kind of like having my name in there;I hope it will encourage people to call me by it. (I believe "my life in books" would be "zoe mou en biblia"?)

So, um, is this accurate? Is it pointlessly long and unmellifluous-looking? Would people just referto me as "Zoe"? Do you have any idea how I might say the same thing in Latin, as an alternative? I know there are some classicists in here . . . .

Do any of you put as much pointless thought into your internet names as I do? I'd love to hear your stories.

How about SpartanMartin? I like names that rhyme or have alliteration. I've put a ridiculous amount of time into handles over the years. They just come to me in dreams. When I was in Fantasy Football, I was "The Bionic Member" and "First Down Syndrome". How about M&MsSpartanStacks. I would stay away from Zoe, as there's a Zoe already here in LT who's quite a prominent poster.

McCarvill'sMarvels. M&Ms. BiblioM&Ms. Or go Spanish: BibliotecaMartinez. I'm going to stop, since these undoubtedly suck, and let my unconscious go to work, and if something decent zaps me outta the blue, I'll post it.

THE BIONIC MEMBER LOLOL

MateriaMartinae

Martin's materials or Martin's matters of substance

MeditatiaMartinae

Martin's meditations

Oh, I like MeditatiaMartinae. Somehow I came away with the idea that the possessive of my name would be "Martini"?

Anyway, thanks v.much for the suggestions, but I have decided to stick with what I know--Teutonic chauvinism--and have sent the admin people an email asking them to change my name to "Martins_Leseleben", or "Marin's reading life." Now I just have to wait for them to respond!

I think you can do it yourself, on your profile page. No? EF did it once or twice I seem to remember.

They've removed the feature!

#5

Good choice, Martini_in libris_vita! I'm not an expert on classical Greek, but to my (modern-Greek-compromised) ears the above rendering sounds all wrong (Martinou? I want to say tou Martin. En? Sta, say ah.) You wouldn't want a handle that reads funny in Athens, would you... :)

By the way, there are several LT groups for all your classical needs--Lingua Latina, Ancient History... and more.

>8 LolaWalser: Yeah, I came up with sta for modern Greek, but Martinou both times for the genitive. That's using online resources and Google, though, so I'm not surprised it's a mess!

Thanks for the tips, and I will no doubt need those groups again--always find myself doing things like this! I once got the greatest little impromptu Hebrew lesson from our local rabbi when I went to translate a birthday note for an Israeli friend . . . .

Irrelevant aside but my attempts above were based on Latin I last studied 34 years ago. So Materia and Meditatia are both Latin and I am pretty sure both correct. The genitive I came up with is probably incorrect because the ae ending I added is for the feminine, which Martin is not as far as I know. LOL If we were to say the name in Latin is Martinus, which I think is right, then the genitive would be Martini.

So the correct Latin versions of my attempt in #4 are, I think,

MediatatiaMartini and

MateriaMartini

I prefer mine with vodka, not gin.

Tongue-twister that is

I have had a chance for sober second thought, since the name change feature is currently broken . . . and "MeditatiaMartini" is growing on me. It's mellifluous, it's my initials, and I will confess to occasionally accompanying my online meditations with a martini (gin, not vodka). Thanks, polutropos:) But Latin is so . . . I dunno . . . redolent of class privilege and imperial pomp. I remain on the lookout for a freedom-fightin'-and-philosophy-loving Greek alternative!

Er. Meditationes, not meditatia (which is not a word), assuming you mean to translate "Martin's contemplations" (meditations etc.)

OK, Lola,

I will go hide now.

Slapped again.

(I said it had been 34 years since I studied Latin.)

Thanks for the correction.

Aack, no, no, no slapping involved! I was just sayin' (and responding to Martin right before my post).

Thank youuuuu, Lola! And polu (which is, incidentally, itself a great name), you still get credit for the idea, which is the hard part.

Martinou? Romanian, are you?

Nahhh, just trying to translate into a language I don't speak using the internet.