There is no gene for the human spirit

[lephunghien]

Hi everyone.
I need help to translate this sentence to Latin: "There is no gene for the human spirit". This is the tagline of the 1997 movie Gattca, and I want to use the Latin version as the motto for my research team. It is a motivation phrase, which means that no gene can decide how hard you want to try in life.
Thank you very much!

 

[Adrian]

I checked latin vicipaedia, they dont have info on Gene (I took definition from english Wiki ie. gene = sequence of DNA; hence sequentia DNA)
For gene either genum or sequentia DNA

Animo humano [nulla est sequentia DNA/ nullum est genum].
Animum humanum [nulla sequentia DNA/ nullum genum] costituit constituit.
Animus humanus ex nullis [sequentis DNA/ genis] consistit.

Pertinacia et industria nec genetica animum tenacem praestituunt- it is persistence and hard work , not the genetics that predetermine a steadfast spirit..
Nullum genum constituit quam forte fortiter conamur conemur - no gene decides how hard we try.

Please wait for opinions of more experienced forum members.

EDIT: Thank You @Bitmap.
EDIT2: Thanks @Pacifica

 

[Bitmap]

I checked latin vicipaedia, they dont have info on Gene (I took definition from english Wiki ie. gene = sequence of DNA; hence sequentia DNA)

They do. It is called genum there:

Genum - Vicipaedia

la.wikipedia.org

 

[Pacifica]

Animum humanum [nulla sequentia DNA/ nullum genum] costituit

You mean constituit.

Nullum genum constituit quam forte conamur - no gene decides how hard we try.

You mean fortiter and conemur.

 

[Pacifica]

I meant *constituit above.

 

[Pacifica]

As for the original phrase "there is no gene for the human spirit", I feel the genitive might work better than the dative there: animi humani nullum est genum.

I wonder how far back the neologism genum goes. It does seem a little barbaric, but sometimes that can't be helped.

 

[lephunghien]

Thank you very much everyone!!!

 

[Bitmap]

I wonder how far back the neologism genum goes. It does seem a little barbaric, but sometimes that can't be helped.

Well, the Danish scientist Wilhelm Johannsen coined that word in 1909. It contained a brief etymological consideration of how it goes back to the stem of the Greek verb gig-g(e)n-omai and how the term previously used by Darwin, "Pangen", was not fully desirable:

Elemente der exakten erblichkeitslehre. Deutsche wesentlich erweiterte ausgabe in fünfundzwanzig vorlesungen : Johannsen, W. (Wilhelm), 1857-1927 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

vi, 515, [1] p. incl. diagrs. 24 cm

archive.org

His coinage of that word was less a process of German word formation than the Germanisation or borrowing of an, albeit imaginary, Latin word into German (although you could of course argue that that's also a process of German word formation). He based his coinage on the imaginary Latin word *genum and just left out the ending, as German usually does, so it wouldn't be unfair to say he also coined that neologism in Latin.

 

[Agrippa]

I do not think such neologisms like *genum should be used: Horribile auditu!

How about the following translations:

Non est homini innata vis qua ingenium naturaliter generetur.

Non est generalis dispositio qua hominis ingenium praefiniatur.

and the like...

 

[Bitmap]

I do not think such neologisms like *genum should be used: Horribile auditu!

How about the following translations:

Non est homini innata vis qua ingenium naturaliter generetur.

Non est generalis dispositio qua hominis ingenium praefiniatur.

and the like...

Those are good classical proposals, but they may be a bit long for a motto and a bit hard to recognise in the back-translation (from what I understand, the OP wanted it to translate back to the tag line he mentioned?!).

 

[Agrippa]

Well, that's quite right, but the problem is correct Latin usage.

A short motto could be:

Nullum ingenium natura praefinitum

No mental disposition determined beforehand

 

[Agrippa]

Sorry, I forgot "by nature":

Nullum ingenium natura praefinitum

No mental disposition determined by nature beforehand

 

[lephunghien]

Thank you very much, everyone. Since our research team is about genetic biology, I do hope that the "no gene" and "spirit" part can be retained. Indeed, the terminology for "gene" (probably) did not exist back then, as far as I know. Maybe the word genum is actually originated from the word "gene", with Latin grammatical form, much like the words genotypus (genotype) and genoma (genome)?

 

[Pacifica]

Indeed, the terminology for "gene" (probably) did not exist back then, as far as I know.

Indeed, it did not exist.

Maybe the word genum is actually originated from the word "gene", with Latin grammatical form

That's what it is.

The coinage feels a little barbaric to me, as I said, but if you want to talk about genes in Latin precisely and concisely, I don't see a better solution. Perhaps someone can come up with a more true-Latin-like neologism for the thing, but I don't have any idea myself right now.

Scientists who wrote in Latin in ages past used neologisms, for obvious practical reasons, and I'm sure those neologisms weren't always pretty. Genum may not be the worst coinage to date.