Little Italian Help?

[Dr Adequate]

Can anyone tell me how to translate the English idiom "cleanliness is next to godliness" into Italian? Thanks.

P.S: Latin would be equally acceptable, now I think of it.

[Powa]

Pulizia è accanto alla pietà.


Disclaimer: this was translated by Google, so do not use.

[Akhenaten]

Munditia iuxtus pietas.


ETA: The original is, I believe, in Hebrew. Which is all Greek to me.

[Shrike]

I know a little Italian.
Look, there he is. :D

[MG1962]

I know a little Italian.
Look, there he is. :D

....................tootsie fruitsie, get your tootsie fruitsie..................

[Dr Adequate]

Munditia iuxtus pietas. Ah, Latin. "Munditia" ... would be an odd coincidence, for reasons that will become apparent.

I'd be happier if you were more sure about the grammar. But thanks for the suggestion.

Anyone else like to weigh in?

---

P.S: I'd have thought it would be "iuxta" ... what's your reasoning for "iuxtus"?

[Damien Evans]

according to Babelfish:

la pulizia è vicino a godliness

This can't be right as God in Italian is Dio.

[Dr Adequate]

Yeah, it just doesn't translate words it doesn't know.

The actual translation of "godliness", however, is unlikely to be the Italian for god-li-ness, morpheme for morpheme. "Pietà" (piety) may be as close as one can get.

[Kritikos]

I don't think the phrase exists in Italian. Someone posting here (http://it.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090503051701AA9MqiU) gives "La pulizia rende simili alla divinità" ("Cleanliness makes one like divinity"), but a Google search does not turn up that phrase anywhere but on that one page. (Edited to add: I just noticed a that the Italian is ungrammatical, which is a further reason not to trust this translation. "Simili" is plural; the singular is "simile.") The Italian Wikipedia does not include it among the proverbs on cleanliness (http://it.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pulizia), though you will find several proverbs there that praise cleanliness:

"Chi è pulito è bello" (Who is clean is beautiful).

"La pulizia adorna la padrona e la serva" (Cleanliness adorns the mistress and the maidservant).

"La pulizia costa poco, e molto vale" (Cleanliness costs little and is worth much).

"La pulizia piace a Dio e alle persone" (Cleanliness is pleasing to God and to people).

The last one is pretty close to the one that you have in mind. Why not use a proverb that actually exists in Italian?

ETA:

Yeah, it just doesn't translate words it doesn't know.

The actual translation of "godliness", however, is unlikely to be the Italian for god-li-ness, morpheme for morpheme. "Pietà" (piety) may be as close as one can get.

Yes, I am pretty sure that "pietà" is the best translation of "godliness." It's rather a rum word in English: I don't recall ever seeing it used in any context other than that proverb.

[Akhenaten]

P.S: I'd have thought it would be "iuxta" ... what's your reasoning for "iuxtus"?





I had "iuxta" and changed it because I thought "iuxtus" sounded better. That was dumb.

"Munditia" is feminine and therefore the verb should also be feminine, so yours and my first thoughts seem correct - "iuxta"


I'm very rusty, and also hope someone better will chime in.

[bpesta22]

I am a little italian. Can I help?

[Akhenaten]

Yeah, it just doesn't translate words it doesn't know.

The actual translation of "godliness", however, is unlikely to be the Italian for god-li-ness, morpheme for morpheme. "Pietà" (piety) may be as close as one can get.


I don't know Italian, but it does seem that the Italian word is very close to the Latin "pietas", which translates exactly as "godliness".



ETA: It occurs to me that in English, there's very little difference in meaning between piety and godliness. They seem like Roman and Germanic versions of the same word, like "deus" and "gott". both of which mean "god".