DeSaad's Invocation of Darkseid: A Translation
One of my favorite scenes in Zack Snyder’s 2021 Justice League is the conversation between Steppenwolf and DeSaad, once Steppenwolf finds out that Anti-Life is on Earth. At some point, DeSaad has to summon Darkseid to tell him the news. On screen, the subtitles say he speaks an alien language, but I decided to find out what he actually said.
Armed with Claude, Google Search, Google Translate, and my ears, I started digging. It turns out he’s speaking Latin. The first part, “Domine, qui infernum confregit,” comes from a well-known Latin antiphon, “Crucem Sanctam Subiit,” used in Gregorian chant liturgy.
The full text reads:
“Crucem sanctam subiit, qui infernum confregit, accinctus est potentia, surrexit die tertia. Alleluia.”
Translated: “He bore the Holy Cross, he who broke the power of hell; he was girded with power, he rose again on the third day. Alleluia.”
The exchange in the movie goes:
DeSaad: “Domine…”
Steppenwolf: “On Anti-Life.”
DeSaad: “Qui infernum conflegrit…”
“Lord, who shattered hell.”
Or, better yet: “O Lord… who completely burns up hell.” (A more detailed analysis of the Latin and Scriptural roots of Darkseid to come in a future post.)
The second part
This part was much more difficult because I couldn’t find any confirmation of it. What I could hear sounded something like:
“laventi igatruth”
I couldn’t match that to real Latin words. The closest words I could come up with that still fit the context are:
advenit ingenti
Advenit is a form of the verb advenio, “to arrive, come to, reach” (from ad-, “to/toward,” plus venio, “to come”).
Ingenti is a form of the adjective ingens, meaning “huge, vast, enormous, mighty.”
To me this fits the scene: Darkseid appears, and all the Parademons and Steppenwolf fear him and bow.
DeSaad: “Domine…”
Steppenwolf: “On Anti-Life.”
DeSaad: “Qui infernum conflegrit… advenit ingenti”
This was fun, and I tried my best. If there are any Latin speakers (or the film’s writers) out there, please help me! :)
Sources
- GregoBase: Crucem sanctam subiit, listing the chant as an antiphon and naming the Liber antiphonarius as its source.
- Cantus Database: Crucem sanctam subiit, including a 12th-century Lambach Abbey manuscript witness for Resurrection Sunday.
- Logeion: advenio and ingens, Latin lexicon entries for the two words.