Introduction
Have you ever had a conversation with someone who all of a sudden throws a de facto into the conversation, making you look like a fool if you don’t understand what it means, and them smart for using it? Well fear no longer, because we will share our top latin phrases everyone needs to know! Slogans There are numerous mottos used today that are influenced by, or simply are in Latin, which is another great example of the relevance it still has despite the fact that we don’t speak it! Football is one of the main places that we can find these slogans and if you’re a fan of any of the clubs, it would be a great opportunity to learn new vocabulary or sentence structures, or even to figure out the noun endings and cases (following our previous uploads on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd declension). Here are some recognisable examples:
Arsenal - Victoria Concordia Crescit
(Victory Through Harmony)
Tottenham Hotspur - Audere Est Facere
(To Dare is To Do)
Everton - Nil Satis Nisi Optimum (Nothing But the Best)
Manchester City - Superbia in Proelia
(Pride in Battle)
Everyday Phrases
These phrases are constantly used in messages, emails or any sort of regular day to day interaction, which you have certainly heard of, but perhaps never pondered the literal meaning or where the words even comes from, and that is why we are here, to break apart and draw attention to the constant use of Latin in our lives! Let’s start with short hand. Have you ever written a letter or a card and added ’p.s’ after the main message? Indeed, that comes from the Latin ‘post scriptum‘ literally meaning ‘after what has been written’, allowing for another part to the original writing while also helping to prove the underlying importance that Latin has today. Similarly, if you have used the term ‘etc’ or ’et cetera’ literally meaning ‘and the rest’ in order to continue a list without giving countless examples, or for another alike purpose without being aware that it’s from Latin, then this adds to the catalogue of phrases which now can be used with the understanding of their original form and literal translation! Finally, the shorthand ‘i.e’ short for ‘id est’, in English meaning ‘that is’, is most commonly used when adding extra information or giving a more specific example about what has previously been said, another useful and simple phrase that we take from the Romans for our own writings today!
This is good video to watch to amplify these points that we have made, while also giving extra context from the time with explanations of why the latin sayings have lasted so long. It gives examples of quotes from famous poets and philosophers of the ancient world such as Virgil, Ovid, Catullus and other well known figures of history!
Sounding Fancy
So, here‘s what you’ve been waiting for! Essays are a great place to experiment with these fancy latin phrases to make you sound pretentious, but it’s okay since they are fun to use when you want to spice up your writing! To begin, a great word to use is ‘quasi’, which from Latin means ‘as if’, however it can be used both as a word on its own, and also as a prefix, where it would suggest something with a resemblance but not quite the same. For example, quasi-official would mean almost or not exactly official, but still have many similarities to the normal state of the word’s true meaning. Another brilliant phrase to add into an essay or speech to make it sound slightly more fancy is (as used in our introduction) ‘de facto’ meaning ‘from the fact’ or more commonly used to simply say ‘in fact’ in an elaborate way. A similar phrase to this is ‘ipso facto’ translating to ‘by the fact itself’ which can be seamlessly put into a piece of writing to enhance a point and be more persuasive. For example, if the student doesn’t study or enjoy classics, they are ipso facto deranged! These are just a few small words that can be used any time in essays or similar works, however we hope that the context and linguistics element of this post has been interesting too.
So keep studying Latin, or start studying it - we would highly recommend both!
Until next time,
Viola and Zoe.