Speaking Latin in my sleep...

This happened a few years ago and has bothered me since.

My girlfriend woke me up in the wee hours and she was urgent. She told me I had stridently said "Alo ecto dominae" in a loud, clear voice and with perfect, though "odd," inflection. I may have said a few things before she was completely conscious, but that's all she could remember.

She had had some Latin in school. I had never studied it or been to Church. Even English can be tough for me and I speak no other languages besides a few years of German and Spanish from decades ago. It freaked us both out a little (her more than I as I was asleep).

I trust her implicitly. She didn't lie about it and for the life of me I can't reason out why she even might.

Asking around I was told it meant something like "She (female godhead) is approaching" in an odd dialect of Latin. I don't know if that's true, though I puzzled out dominae as referring to God in some manner.

Now my question is: is there anyone out there who knows WHY I said this, or has a good guess? In other words, anyone with an idea of what happened here? Any Latin experts with a better translation? Psychics with a line to ethereal information?

It's one of those weird things that happens without easy explanation and all sorts of things have occurred to me, few of them comfy.

Anyway, any input (other than seek professional help- I'm saving up for that!) would be appreciated.

Possible vision? Keep an eye out for some strange "female"
maybe place a taperecorder next to your bed?

reply to post by Baddogma


as above but get a voice activated one

reply to post by Annunak1


Well, since then many people in my life have died and that girlfriend is now a friendly "ex" but no super-powered woman has come into my life ...that I know of, anyway.

Putting a voice activated recorder by the bed is a good idea as I have no idea if it's happened again (no witnesses most nights, unless fortunate).

I admit to being slightly wary of recording myself giving a lecture on the nature of the universe in ancient Latin... that wouldn't solve anything and would make me even more of an insomniac.

BTW I don't sleepwalk or talk (before that that is).

Thanks for those suggestions, though.

I don't recognise "Alo ecto dominae" as Latin, "dominae" is lady but the sentence is nonsense. How can you be sure you weren't just talking gobbledygook?

Originally posted by SpearMint
I don't recognise "Alo ecto dominae" as Latin, "dominae" is lady but the sentence is nonsense. How can you be sure you weren't just talking gobbledygook?

edit on 18-3-2013 by SpearMint because: (no reason given)

Exactly, it possibly meant nothing, you were probably just mumbling in your sleep about pizza or something.

Now when you start talking Pig Latin in your sleep, that's worth a flag and a geese anytime.

reply to post by SpearMint

"how do you know it wasn't just gobbly-gook?"


Heh, I can't and don't know... Latin is gobbly gook to me anyway, so who knows. I just spelled it phonetically and it was a Classics professor at the local Uni who offered the above translation, but he was fairly hammered at the local watering hole when he told me so... said it was an unusual dialect, but perhaps he was humoring me.

Whatever it was it was out of the ordinary, even if simply a severe case of indigestion.

Actually, it being meaningless is comforting and mundane, so thanks for that.

reply to post by Baddogma


Well I'm by no means fluent in Latin, maybe it does mean something. You like set up a recorder as mentioned above, it would be very interesting (perhaps an understatement) if you do speak actual Latin in your sleep...

take some courses in latin at that local U.
or study it on your own.
figure yourself out.

It's not uncommon to speak foreign languages in your dreams. Even though I only learned a little Japanese around 8 or 9 and never really used it, sometimes I have Japanese conversations in my dreams. Same thing with French! I took three years of French in high school (never learned a thing), but I often speak French in my dreams. I think it's normal. Your girlfriend probably does it all the time without realizing it. She probably has no clue what she's saying, though

Oh, that's interesting. I had a dream not long ago where they showed me this phrase (among other words that I don't remember) over and over: Carpe Diem. In my dream I knew it was Latin and I knew how to how to pronounce it, though I don't know Latin in real life. I also had a dream where someone was speaking a language called Nahuatl and I understood it, though again, I don't know this language. Maybe there's something more to it? Or maybe I just have an amazing imagination where I know these languages in my dreams. Either way, I thought I'd share since you spoke Latin while sleeping.

Now for something completely different.

My guess is spontaneous channeling. The presence of an energy or spirit nearby, using you as a vessel of some sort, knowing there would be an audience (your then-girlfriend). No particular personal meaning, but rather general metaphysical, and not inaccurate (if your hammered professor's translation is true) insofar as the dawning of the golden age more identifies with the feminine than the masculine.

Additionally, this indicates to me a propensity to channel, generally -- certainly during trance. Have you explored this?

reply to post by Baddogma

I think he was yanking your chain, I can't figure out any way to put that phrase together to make any sense.
None of those words are anything close to anything that means "to approach" or "god", nor do any of the word endings fit together.
If you are anything close on your phonetic spelling, the best I could come up with is 3 random words that don't agree with each other or fit together in any way.
Dominae means "lady or mistress of the house" and could only be the subject of the sentence if it were plural, "the ladies". I've never seen it used to mean "goddess" or anything similar.
Alo could be a form of the verb "to feed" or Aloe, referring to the plant.
Ecto could be a few things. If you actually said "iacto" it would be a form of the verb "to throw". If you said "esto" it translates as commands of "he shall be" or "You shall be".
But, like I said, none of the word endings fit together to make a coherent sentence that I can see.

Originally posted by maryhinge
reply to post by Baddogma

 

as above but get a voice activated one

If you have a smart phone, there are lots of free "smart voice recorder" apps available to download, which can be set to automatically start recording only when a noise is heard... you can even set the "trigger" level on most of them.
(Just remember to plug the phone into the mains adapter beforehand, or it will quickly drain your phone battery during the night!)

(I got one to record my wifes awful snoring - to prove to her how bad it was! The problem is.... I've found out that I snore just as badly!!)

GTD

reply to post by Baddogma


Very cool and could mean that you were an important person in the Catholic church in a distant past life. Perhaps you were even a Prophet or Saint?

Awesome. Thanks for sharing your unique story.

reply to post by Gordi The Drummer


(I got one to record my wifes awful snoring - to prove to her how bad it was! The problem is.... I've found out that I snore just as badly!!)

GTD



star for the laughs

but still good advice

How was she certain it was Latin? Might it have been Spanish? I know you are spelling that out phonetically, and it does sound a bit spanish. (For example, "a lo" instead of "alo" is spanish -- as in "a lo mejor" translates to "a lot".) So why the certainty that it is Latin?

Maybe she just wanted to lay the groundwork for a reason to break-up with you in the future.
She was just working on her exit strategy.

I don't mean to might light of it, but that is seriously the first thing I thought when I read the story. (I don't sincerely think that is what happened, but it was just my first thought.)

Anyway, I third (fourth, fifth?) the idea of getting a recorder going at night. I know it creeps you out, but if you want answers you are going to have to take some more steps, I'm afraid. What you've given us will result in nothing but speculation.

Good luck and keep us posted. I hope you do decide to try some night recordings!

reply to post by Baddogma


Hi Baddogma

I have had similar experiences and also I have read some threads on here about the same kind of phenomena.
I do not , however, speak in Latin. And it happens to me quite often. I seem to say the same things pretty much though, over and over again.

This actually freaked my fiance out enough to where he video taped me in the middle of the night during one of these events. Actually he's done it more than once. It was extremely disturbing to me. I don't just talk in another tongue, I do stuff in my sleep as well. I feel that I am not in control of this and that is why it is so disturbing to me.

reply to post by BreathOfFreshAir


Yeesh... I know the form of sleepwalking where your body's natural paralysis shuts off can result in some weird behavior. That sounds difficult for your sleep partners to deal with (thus you). Look into that form of sleepwalking/talking as there are remedies. If it's something more esoteric, then there are solutions there, too. Thanks for the reply.

****************

Regarding the other posts above (thought I'd answer en masse rather than clutter). As far as my ex laying the groundwork to leave... nah. good guesswork but we have/had a pretty good communication going.. no need... besides, I kinda did the leaving.

And as far as being a big-wig in the Catholic Church, Antar,... well, anything is possible and if so, my Latin stinks in my past life recall... additionally my current and past behavior isn't very churchy, not that many church people are either!

So thanks for the replies and my information pool has grown, so thanks to all...

Baddogma
This happened a few years ago and has bothered me since. (QUOTE edit...)

Asking around I was told it meant something like "She (female godhead) is approaching" in an odd dialect of Latin. I don't know if that's true, though I puzzled out dominae as referring to God in some manner.

Now my question is: is there anyone out there who knows WHY I said this, or has a good guess? In other words, anyone with an idea of what happened here? Any Latin experts with a better translation? Psychics with a line to ethereal information?

It's one of those weird things that happens without easy explanation and all sorts of things have occurred to me, few of them comfy.

Anyway, any input (other than seek professional help- I'm saving up for that!) would be appreciated.

Yes, seek professional help, and I've met some good pros in Vegas! I checked your threads and picked this one out of the lot to read, and...as for "She (female godhead) is approaching" specifically directed at you, maybe our recent discussions about a particular lady provide either an answer or at least a hint of one. Aye, good work my friend (and darn, I haven't friended you yet, coming right up).