labor omnia vincit

A bit of a Latin discussion in the paper over the last couple of days, from Column 8. First on Saturday:

''Latin, being the concise language it was (or is), causes much confusion in translation,'' writes obstetrician and gynaecologist Phil Watters, of Fern Tree. ''My favourite story is the opening of a large new maternity unit which had the words 'Primum non nocere' placed over the entrance. This is the exhortation in medicine to 'First do no harm'. Some wags then pointed out it could also mean 'The first time doesn't hurt', or 'Once is OK' etc (you get my drift), so they changed it to 'Labor vincit omnia'.'' It took us a while to work it out, but it translates as ''Labour conquers all''.

Which occasioned this response today:

Beryl Lubov, of Sussex Inlet, insists that the correct version of Saturday's Latin maternity ward sign ''is 'Labor Omnia Vincit' (the verb always comes last in Latin), also the motto of Sydney Girls High School, the alma mater of the NSW Governor, Marie Bashir'', and indeed Beryl herself. ''In the 1940s it was translated as 'Work Conquers All', and to students from other high schools Sydney Girls was known as the 'sweat school'.''

...the verb always comes last in latin? A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

loose ends

(Alan Moir, Feb. 18)

I mentioned last week that Sydney Uni was getting rid of its Latin motto from its new look logo. There were a couple of follow up items in the paper that I thought worth mentioning here too:

sidere mens eadem mutato

My alma mater was in the news yesterday over plans to drop the Latin motto from its publicity materials.

AFTER 150 years the University of Sydney has abandoned its status quo, dropping the Latin motto from its redesigned coat of arms and logo...

The motto - most commonly translated as ''the constellation is changed, the disposition is the same'' - has been part of the university's coat of arms since 1857. As a first-time astronaut, Greg Chamitoff, a former university staff member, even took a patch of the crest into space on the shuttle Discovery in 2008.

Marian Theobald, the university's external relations executive director, said market research, overseen by the Chicago-based firm Lipman Hearne, had found the university relied too heavily on its sandstone heritage and something ''bolder, more energetic and more modern'' was needed...

''The motto will still be used by the university and will be maintained for more formal purposes, such as on testamurs....''

Emily Matters, president of the Classical Language Teachers Association, said the removal was hugely disappointing.

''I think this goes against everything what universities stand for where one generation hands over its culture to the next,'' she said.

Anthony Alexander, president of the Classical Association of NSW, who also teaches Greek and Latin at the University of Sydney, said the deletion was far from a dumbing down of the university or a denigration of Latin.

''What matters is what we teach, what we actually do in the classrooms,'' he said. ''I don't think it compromises Latin, which is stronger than ever.''

Hearts and Minds

Here's an interesting (at least to me) exchange from Column Eight over the past couple of days:

A cry from the heart, literally, from Fee MacGregor of Randwick: "My son is getting married in August to the lovely Anna. The wedding will take place at Lewes Castle in Sussex (not far from Hastings), and my husband was asked to design a card. He chose to make it look like a panel from the Bayeux Tapestry. He wanted to have something in Latin on the card, along the lines of 'From opposite sides of the world - two hearts joined', the sort of thing which, when translated, will draw sentimental sighs from the fairer sex and involuntary retching from those who despise public displays of affection. Can you translate? In my translator program 'heart' always comes out as 'viscus' or 'pectus', but if you convert that back it comes out as 'chest', or viscus can come out as 'entrails', which is slightly off the mark. We have been trying for weeks to find a Latin scholar." Any takers?

Des Cahill, MA (Latin), of Manly is one of many readers to offer a translation of "From opposite sides of the world, two hearts joined", for the Bayeux Tapestry wedding card... "Adversis partibus orbis terrae duo corda coniuncta."

There are, of course, myriad other interpretations, including this, from Zenon Alexander of Balmoral. "My alma mater, Sydney University, solved this problem long ago by adopting as its motto 'Sidere Mens Eadem Mutato', loosely translated as 'One at heart though poles apart', referring to its relationship with Oxford University. 'Mens', the mind or intellect (or heart), is emotionally more poetic than 'entrails'." Who are we to doubt the classical credentials of a man named Zenon?

Hi, my name is Elizabeth Smith," writes none other than Elizabeth Smith of the Blue Mountains, "and I am a first year Latin student at Macquarie University... I was able to do a translation into classical Latin of 'From opposite sides of the world - two hearts joined'. It reads as: 'Ab adversi lati mundi - duo animi conveniebamus'. The translation of 'joined' is a bit tricky, as to whether they would like the infinitive - to join, or in the past tense, have joined. In any case, the infinitive meaning is 'convenire', the literal meaning, 'to come together'. Anyway, I hope this is right, as I'm sure my professor reads Column 8 and I'll be reprimanded if incorrect." Don't worry about the prof, Elizabeth - you're already better at Latin than Column 8 ever
will be.

There are lots of words for heart/mind/soul in Latin which are often used interchangeably. here are some of them:

anima: soul, spirit, vital principle, life, breathing, wind, breeze, air

animus: mind, intellect, soul, feelings, heart, spirit, courage, character

cor: heart, mind, soul, spirit, intellect

mens: mind, reason, intellect, judgment, plan, intention, frame of mind, courage
pectus: breast, heart, feeling, soul, mind

spiritus: breath, breathing, air, soul, life

viscer: entrails, innermost part of the body, heart
viscus: soft fleshy body parts, internal organs, entrails, flesh

For the record, I would probably translate the phrase something like adversis terris, animi coniuncti, which may not be exactly right, but at least has the virtue of simplicity. I think animi is probably the most appropriate word for hearts in this context, though why I say that I'm not sure- none of the others feel quite right.

For the dangers of using internet translators see these Latin tattoos.

Related Posts

• Politics- Roman Style

mottoes

Back at school today after a very relaxing holiday in Victoria. I was in Melbourne for a few days, then spent some time driving along the Great Ocean Road, and a few days in the Grampians.

While in Melbourne I happened to walk past Melbourne University, and its associated Teachers' College, and I was struck by their mottoes. Keen extension students should be able to tell me what each of the mottoes means, and how they are related.

[University of Melbourne motto, left; Melbourne Teachers' College, right]

detur gloria soli deo

One of the many excellent things about being a Latin teacher is the time I get to devote myself to questions of absolutely no importance or relevance to the wider world. These include such things as 'Why is this noun ablative?', 'Why is this verb subjunctive?' and 'What on earth is Lucretius talking about?'.

The other day I was pondering my old school motto: Detur Gloria Soli Deo- 'Let Glory be given to God alone.' It's an interesting motto from a grammatical point of view- Detur is a iussive subjunctive ('let...'), and it's passive as well ('...be given'), and soli...

Hang on a second, surely solus, -a, -um is a 1st/2nd declension adjective? Surely if it were to agree with deo, the ending should be solo? Could it be there was a grammar mistake in my old school motto? Or did it perhaps mean something else? Perhaps soli was not from solus, -a, -um (alone) after all, but perhaps from sol, -is (the sun) and in apposition to deo- in which case the motto would mean something like 'let glory be given to the sun as god'. Or perhaps it was from solum, -i (the ground, earth, soil), and was not dative, but genitive, meaning 'let glory be given to the god of the soil.'

As all this and more raced through my mind, I reached for my trusty Lewis and Short, and read the following:

solus, -a, -um, gen. solius; dat. soli

So soli is an irregular form, but does in fact mean what I thought it did. I could sleep easy once more, with the words of Socrates ringing in my ears: 'The unexamined motto is not worth having.'