A little dose of Latin
July 15th, 2007 at 2:16 pm (Vocabulary)
Inspired by a friend’s use of Latin in signing his email, I went a-browsing for some additional interesting Latin phrases. All of Latin would make this post rather more lengthy than even my own attention span, so let’s focus on phrases that start with E. Here are some interesting new ones I learned:
Latin phrases beginning with E:
- ecce homo: “Behold the man!” (apparently a Biblical reference to Pilate giving up Jesus to the hands of the people, but I can think of several other fun uses for this one)
- eheu! fugaces labuntur anni: “Alas! Our fleeting years pass away.”
- esse quam videri: “To be, rather than to seem.” (“And have you the will to be of it?”)
- eventus stultorum magister: “Fools must be taught by experience.” (Perhaps fools “must” be, but even non-fools find experience useful. Go empiricists!)
- en nukti boule (Greek, not Latin): “In the night there is counsel; sleep on it.”
- exitus acta probat: “The result justifies the deed.” (Now there’s a dangerous one…)
(thanks to sacklunch.net for the translations)
Why phrases that start with E? Well, let’s take a look at one more, which was the phrase that inspired my browsing:
ex animo: “From the heart; sincerely.”