Ex fumo dare lucem

This is a photo of the facade of the gas meter house which formally stood at Kendal gas works. When the gas works was demolished in 1969, the facade was preserved and was subsequently erected elsewhere in the town.

Ex fumo dare lucem means from smoke to give light, which is an apt motto for a gas works. Apparently, the line originally comes from the poet Horace.

Kendal's gas meter house of 1825 is not the only piece of nineteenth century infrastructure which has a Latin motto. Perth's waterworks of 1832 carries the motto aquam igne et aqua haurio.

ex prep with ablative from

fumus, -i m smoke

lux, lucis f light

Catena

 I have been a fan of Abba for a very long time, and Chiquitita is one of my favourite songs. The opening lines of the Spanish version caught my eye: "Chiquitita, dime por qué tu dolor hoy te encadena." In English, the words are "Chiquitita, tell me why your sadness imprisons you today."

The Spanish word encadena literally means enchains, and comes from the Latin word catena meaning a chain. Incidentally, in English we have the catenary arch in architecture and the catenary curve in mathematics.

catena, -ae f chain

dolor, -is m pain, grief