BlogLatin

A Decision Delayed is a Decision Savoured

A friend, who overestimates my Latin skills, asked me to translate the above into Latin for him. Someone else he knew came up with tardum judicium voluptuosum judicium est but my friend objected that sounded more like "a late decision is a decision full of enjoyment"
So I figured I'd record my reply here. If nothing else, it can serve as a future source of embarrasment when and if I figure out that I really botched it:

Wow, ask an easy one, why don't you? I'll give it my best shot, but you might ask on the list since Rob's Latin is much better than mine.

arbitrium procrastinatum est arbitrium sapientis

Basically, my analysis goes: this is a predicate nominative, usually
indicated in Latin by word order NP copula NP. Adjectives usually
follow nouns unless they are adjectives of beauty, size, truth, and I
forget.

The NP is in the Nominative (duh), and I chose to use arbitrium, -i,
N. Iudicium would be fine, too, although my impression--really based on nothing more than the dictionary entries--is that it has a more legal flavor since among its primary meanings is a trial or law court itself.
I agree with you that it ought to be a participle, not an adjective, at least if you want to be guided by the English grammar. The perfect participle (e.g. procrastinatus : delayed, having been delayed) is the one that's closest to the English meaning, I think (the present would be more like delaying, i.e. a decision to delay, not a delayed decision), and of course it has to match the gender and case of the neuter noun arbitrium.
Finally, sapio, sapere, sapivi/sapli, sapientis is an almost literal translation of savour. In fact, I believe it's the root of savour, and in Latin just as in English has both the literal meaning to taste and the figurative to discern, to think. Unfortunately, I think in Latin it carries a heavier sense that it's a judicious or wise discernment, and not the sense of lingering pleasure. So maybe you mean something more like delectatus.

Hoping that I didn't go too far astray,

Joshua

Update: my friend objects to using sapio, sapere in the sense of savoured, but I'm just going by my Cassall's Latin-English dictionary, which offers "savour, v. sapere". Also, he points out that delectatus wouldn't be the right form, since we don't mean delighted/having been delighted. I was carelessly making it parallel to procrastinatus. Delectans, the present participle, would make it "pleasing/delighting" which is better.