Velella and Velum

I recently saw an article on the BBC News website about the hydrozoan, Velella Velella, whose English name is by-the-wind-sailor, and it occurred to me that Velella was probably derived from the word velum, which means among other things, a sail. Looking it up on wikipedia confirmed that my suspicion was correct.

Some useful English words come from velum: the adjective velate, which means sail like, the anatomical term velum meaning the soft palate and the adjective velar, which refers to sounds made when the tongue comes close to or touches the soft palate at the back of the mouth.

Incidentally, the English word vellum with a double 'l' derives via French from a completely different Latin word.

velum, -i n a cloth, veil, curtain, awning

            (New Latin) the soft palate 

vela (plural form) sails

Pannus Mihi Panis

'Pannus mihi panis' is the motto of the town of Kendal in the English Lake District. Pannus means a piece of cloth. Hence the meaning of the slogan is: 'Cloth is my bread,' which is an apt motto for a town where woollen cloth was manufactured.

pannus, -i  m piece of cloth, rag

panis, -is m bread 

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

Deus Vult, Deo Volente

These two phrases are interesting because they involve the same noun, albeit in different cases, and different forms of the same verb.

Deus Vult means "God wills (it)." It was used as a rallying cry in 1096 during the First Crusade. Deus is the subject of the sentence and is in the nominative singular case. Vult is third person singular present indicative of volo, velle, volui, which is the verb to want.

Deo Volente means "God willing" and is the Latin equivalent of the Arabic inshallah. Deo is in the ablative case. Volente is the ablative case of the present participle volens of the verb volo, velle, volui. The phrase is an ablative absolute in which the participle is in agreement with the noun in the ablative case. The term absolute means that the phrase is independent of the rest of the sentence.

Deo volente is sometimes abbreviated d.v..

Foramen magnum

The foramen magnum is a large oval hole in the occipital bone of the skull through which the spinal cord passes. It is not the only foramina in the skull, but it is the largest. The position of the foramen magnum is highly significant in human evolution, as it moved forward as the successive species became better adapted for bipedalism.

foramen, foraminis n hole made by boring; hole

Filius non portabit iniquitatem patris

Ezekiel chapter 18, verse 20 makes a very profound point that is as relevant today as it was when the book of Ezekiel was written. In modern language, the verse endorses individual responsibility for actions rather than collective guilt of kin groups. To take a current example, this view stands in stark contradiction to the demands that the British taxpayers of today pay reparations for slavery that was ended in the British empire before our great grandparents were born.

In Latin, the full text of the verse is:

Anima quae peccaverit ipsa morietur: filius non portabit iniquitatem patris, et pater non portabit iniquitatem filii: iustitia iusti super eum erit, et impietas impii erit super eum.

In the English that is: "The soul that sinneth, the same shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and the father shall not bear the iniquity of the son: the justice of the just shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."

The key words from filius through to filii are really quite simple Latin:

filius, -i m son

pater, patris m father

porto, -are, -avi, -atum to bear or carry

portabit he will bear

iniquitas, iniquitatis f sin or crime

et and

Per Mare Per Terram,

Per mare per terram is the apt motto of the Royal Marines. It means by sea by land. The preposition per governs the accusative.

Interestingly, the English word marine is derived from the Latin adjective marinus, -a, -um of or pertaining to the sea, which is itself derived from the 3rd declension neuter noun mare, -is sea. Mare is cognate with the English mere meaning lake (e.g. Windermere), the German das Meer the sea and the French la mer also meaning the sea.

Ignoranti quem portum petat, nullus suus ventus est

The Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger advises us that for the man who doesn't know which port he is making for, no wind is the right one. In other words, if you don't have an objective, you can't reach it. The idea of the modern English proverb - to fail to plan is to plan to fail - is not entirely unrelated.

Ignoranti is the dative singular of the adjective ignorans and means for the ignorant.

Quem is the masculine accusative singular of the relative pronoun qui, quae, quod.

Portum is the accusative singular of the noun portus, -us m a port, from which we get the English word port.

Petat is the third person singular present subjunctive of the third conjugation verb peto, petere, petivi, petitum, meaning among other things to make for.

Ventus, -i m wind is cognate with the French word le vent, the Spanish el viento and the English wind.

Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges

This observation by the Roman historian Tacitus in his Annals is as true today as when he wrote it over 1900 years ago.

Whether you translate it as: "The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government", or as: "The more corrupt the state, the more laws", the wise message is the same.

Wikipedia has an entire article devoted to the various possible translations of the phrase res publica . Res is, of course, a fifth declension noun and publica an adjective.

Plurimae is part of the 1st / 2nd declension adjective plurimus, a, um, which means most or very many.

In Spe Laboramus

If ever there was a motto thought up by a cynical teacher then it is this one, in spe laboramus, which means: we work in hope. It is the motto of North London Collegiate School, a private day school for girls, which was founded in London in 1850 and now has associated schools in several other countries.

Spe is the ablative singular of spes, spei a fifth declension noun. The ablative singular is used to agree with the preposition in.

spes, spei f 5th declension noun - hope

Ex Pede Herculem

 The phrase "ex pede Herculem" is literally from the foot Hercules. The meaning is that from the foot we can deduce the size of Hercules. There is a Wikipedia article about this phrase.

The idea is attributed to the Greek philosopher Pythagoras (of right angled triangles fame). In the modern world, it is an essential tool in paleontology, where the size of long extinct animals is estimated from measuring a single bone.

ex preposition with ablative from, out of

pede ablative singular of pes, pedis m noun a foot

Veras hinc ducere voces

'Veras hinc ducere voces' is the motto of Kesteven & Grantham Girls' School. A literal translation would be 'to take the true voices from here.' The essence of it is more an injunction to take wisdom from your time in the institution.

veras feminine accusative plural of the adjective verus,-a,-um true, genuine

voces  plural of vox, vocis voice

ducere to lead

hinc adverb hence, from here

Fuimus

Fuimus is the motto of the Bruce clan in Scotland. Fuimus is the first person plural perfect indicative of the verb to be. It means: "we have been." The word kings is implied for Robert I, better known as Robert the Bruce, and his son David II were kings of Scotland in the 14th century.

Sic Itur Ad Astra

Sic itur ad astra is the motto of the Royal Canadian Air Force & of the Hertfordshire and Essex High School & Science College among others. It means: 'Thus one goes to the stars', which is clearly an appropriate motto for an air force. The photo is taken from a gravestone at Dalmeny Kirk. Here ad astra is used figuratively to mean to immortality.

Incidentally, until 1968, the RCAF had the same motto as the RAF - Per ardua ad astra. 

Itur is the third person singular present passive of the verb eo, ire, ivi (or ii), itum to go.

Vivat Rex Carolus!

With the coronation happening just the other day, what could be more appropriate that to wish: 'Long live King Charles', or in Latin: 'Vivat Rex Carolus!'

Vivat is the third person present subjunctive of the verb vivo, vivere, vixi, victus, which means to live. The third person singular present indicative is vivit, which means he, she or it lives.

The viva of 'Viva España' which means: 'Long live Spain' in Spanish and the vive of 'Vive le roi' which means 'Long live the king' in French are both obviously cognate with vivat.

Nec Timeo, Nec Sperno

You find Latin in the most curious places. In this picture, the motto nec timeo, nec sperno adorns the corner of a head scarf from the former British retailer Tie Rack. It was the motto of the RAF's former 110 squadron, and, apparently, also of the O'Connors. Nec timeo, nec sperno means 'I neither fear nor despise.'

Qui Me Tangit, Vocem Meam Audit.

 

I found this Latin sentence on a bell in St Stephen's Church in Kirkby Stephen in Westmorland. 'Qui me tangit, vocem meam audit' means 'Who touches me, hears my voice.'

Tangit is third person singular present indicative of the 3rd conjugation verb tangere to touch, which appears in the phrase 'Noli me tangere.'  The other words are all pretty common.

Incidentally, St Stephen's Church is well worth a visit to see among other things the Loki Stone.

tango, tangere, tetigi, tactus 3rd conjugation to touch

Ars est celare artem

 Ars est celare artem means literally: the art is to hide the art, or in better English: the skill is in hiding the art.

Here the third declension noun ars, artis is given in the nominative (subject) and accusative (object) cases. Contrast that with ars gratia artis, where ars, artis is in the nominative and genitive cases.

ars, artis (f) art, skill

celo, celare, celavi, celatus to conceal or hide, disguise, keep in ignorance

Aquam igne et aqua haurio.

 

Aquam igne et aqua haurio is the clever motto inscribed above the door of the former Perth Waterworks. The 1832 neo-classical building housed a steam engine and a large tank to supply fresh water to the city of Perth. It is now the Fergusson Gallery. The motto translates as: "I draw water by fire and water."

Aquam is accusative and is the object of the verb haurio. lgne and aqua are both in the ablative and mean respectively by fire and by water.