Arcu atque animo

"Arcu atque animo" is the motto of the Royal Company of Archers, which is the Queen's ceremonial bodyguard in Scotland.  It means: "with bow and spirit", which is, of course, a suitable motto for such a body.

I discussed arcus and its near homophones in an earlier post Arca, arcus & arx

Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes

With Greece approaching Grexit, the phrase "Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes" came to mind unbidden.  This is the Trojan priest Laocoon's advice in the Aeneid: "I fear the Greeks, even bearing gifts." 

More fully Laocoon actually says: "Equō nē crēdite, Teucrī! Quidquid id est, timeō Danaōs et dōna ferentīs", which translates as: "Do not trust the horse, Trojans.  Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks, even bearing gifts."

Note that in the phrase "equo ne credite", equo is in the dative.

Wikipedia has a short article which gives more information about the quotation timeo Danaos.

Crux Spes Unica

"Crux Spes Unica", which is the motto of the Catholic Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, means: "The Cross our only hope."

There is a slightly longer form "Ave Crux Spes Unica", which is used as a pious expression as well as being a motto.  This translates as: "Hail the Cross our only hope."  There is a short article on Wikipedia about Ave_crux_spes_unica.

Via Veritas Vita

 

"Via Veritas Vita", which is the motto of Glasgow University, means in English: "The way, the truth, the life."  It is a phrase which should be familiar to all Christians, for Jesus famously said: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me."  St John, chapter 14, verse 6 reads in Latin:

Dicit ei Iesus: "Ego sum via et veritas et vita.  Nemo venit ad Patrem nisi per me."

Fortiter in re, Suaviter in modo

"Fortiter in re, Suaviter in modo", which means "vigorous in deed, gentle in manner", is an excellent motto.  It is associated with the fifth Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Claudio Acquaviva.

Facta non Verba

Facta non verba is a good and frequently used motto.  It means: "Deeds not words".

Optimum Cuique

Optimum cuique is the motto of Lochgelly High School in the Scottish region of Fife. It translates as "the best for everyone".  Cuique is the dative of quisque, which means each one, each person, anyone.

Tecum habita

I saw this Latin motto tecum habita above a closed doorway in the City of Edinburgh's Central Library today.  Looking it up on the net, I find that it is the start of an epigram from the satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus.  The full epigram is: Tecum habita: noris quam sit tibi curta supellex.  [Satire IV, line 52]  In
English, it reads: "Live with yourself: get to know how poorly furnished you are."

To find out more about Persius visit Wikipedia and to read some of his other epigrams visit Wikiquote.

In principio erat verbum

Walking through St Andrews the other day, this Latin motto above a doorway caught my eye.  In English it reads: "In the beginning was the word", which are of course the opening words of St John's gospel.

Doing a little research I find that this is the entrance to  St Andrews University's St Mary's College, which was founded in 1538 by Archbishop James Beaton as the New College of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  St Mary's adopted these words as its motto, because it was founded on the site of the former St John's College, which had itself been founded early in the fifteenth century. To find out more about St Mary's College visit Wikipedia.

The first five verses of St John's gospel read: "In principio erat Verbum et Verbum erat apud Deum et Deus erat Verbum. Hoc erat in principio apud Deum. Omnia per ipsum facta sunt et sine ipso factum est nihil quod factum est. In ipso vita erat et vita erat lux hominum. Et lux in tenebris lucet et tenebrae eam non conprehenderunt."

Aeroplanum et aeronavis

The latest posting on Nuntii Latini starts with the Germanwings plane crash in the French Alps.  Nuntii Latini uses the New Latin word aeroplanum to translate plane, whilst Ephemeris uses the word aeronavis.  So I looked on Wikipedia to try to resolve what was the correct translation of the English word plane. On Wikipedia, plane translates as aeroplanum, but airship translates to navis aeria or aeronavis.  Thus it would appear that aeronplanum is to be preferred to aeronavis as a translation of plane.

Ave Caesar, morituri te salutamus

"Ave Caesar, morituri te salutamus" means "Hail Caesar, we who are about to die salute you.  These were apparently the words of gladiators on entering the Flavian amphitheatre.  Morituri is a good example of the future active participle. 

An earlier post concerned another example of the future active participle: Rex hispaniae abdicaturus .

Ad maiorem dei gloriam

"Ad maiorem dei gloriam" is the motto of the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits.  It translates as: "To the greater glory of God".  As an English speaker I have a strong urge to amend the word order to: "Ad maiorem gloriam dei".

Nil conscire sibi

The full quote from Horace is: "Hic murus aheneus esto, nil conscire sibi, nulla pallescere culpa."

"Nil conscire sibi, nulla pallescere culpa" can be translated as "To feel no guilt and go pale at no charge".

Si homo Dei sum ...

Chapter 1 of the 2 Kings concerns Ochozias the king of Samaria and the prophet Elias, who predicted his death.  Verse 10 concerns a captain of 50 and his men, whom the king sent to Elias.

"Respondensque Helias dixit quinquagenario: "Si homo Dei sum, descendat ignis e caelo et devoret te et quinquaginta tuos." Descendit itaque ignis e caelo et devoravit eum et quinquaginta qui erant cum eo."

And Elias answering, said to the captain of fifty: If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume thee, and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven and consumed him, and the fifty that were with him.

The third conjugation verb descendere appears first in the present subjunctive form descendat, when Elias predicts the death of the captain and his men and then in the perfect indicative form descendit, recording that the fire came down.

Similarly, the first conjugation verb devorare appears first in the present subjunctive form devoret, and then in the perfect indicative active form devoravit.

Incidentally, it would appear that for the verb descendere, the 3rd person singular present indicative active and the 3rd person singular perfect indicative active are identical in form, both being descendit.

descendo, descendere, descendi, descensus  to be reduced; to come down

devoro, devorare, devoravi, devoratus  to devour, consume

Apud Iesum est verum gaudium

On Christmas Day His Holiness Pope Francis tweeted: "Apud Iesum est verum gaudium", which means something like: "With Jesus is the true joy."

Apud is a preposition which takes the accusative hence Iesum from Iesus.  When I looked it up I realised it would be easier to give some examples of its usage rather than a specific translation:

apud me  at my house

apud patres  in the time of our fathers

apud Ciceronem  in the works of Cicero

Semper Fidelis

"Semper fidelis" is a well known and common motto meaning: "Always faithful."  Americans may know it better in the abbreviated form "semper fi", as used by the US Marine Corps.

There are various variations on "semper fidelis" including the excellent "semper et ubique fidelis", which means: "Always and everywhere faithful."

Ubique is the root of the English word ubiquitous and similarly fidelis of the word fidelity.  Whilst semper is not the parent of any English word, it does survive in Spanish as siempre with the same meaning.

Nil nisi optimum & Nil satis nisi optimum

"Nil satis, nisi optimum" is the motto of Everton Football Club among others.  It means: "Nothing is enough, unless it is the best."  There is also the shorter motto: "Nil nisi optimum", which means simply: "Nothing but the best."

Vivendo Discimus

"Vivendo discimus" is the motto of Scotland's David Hume Society.  It means: "by living, we learn."

Quae enim seminaverit homo

"Quae enim seminaverit homo haec et metet" which starts Galatians chapter 6 verse 8 is well known in English as: "As ye sow, so shall ye reap."