A story does not always need to begin with a birth, a departure, or the first event in chronological order. Sometimes the most compelling opening places…
Latin legal expressions often survive because they describe ideas that modern legal systems still need. In camera is one of those phrases. Although its literal…
“In absentia” is a Latin phrase meaning “in the absence” or “while absent”. In everyday English, it describes something done when a person is not physically…
“Ignorantia legis non excusat” is a Latin legal maxim meaning that ignorance of the law does not excuse a person from its operation. The phrase expresses a…
Latin expressions often give a precise shape to feelings that are difficult to describe. When an event is disturbing, surprising, or almost too unpleasant to…
The Latin phrase homo hominis amicus can be translated as “a person is a friend to another person” or, more naturally, “human beings should be friends to one…
Latin has a particular way of sharpening a sentence. Few expressions cut as cleanly as hoc volo, sic iubeo, a phrase that rolls off the tongue like a gavel and…
When a colleague finally admits they were hurt by a passing remark, or when a friend suddenly sees the truth behind an old grudge, Romans had a tidy expression…
Two Latin words, four syllables in total, manage to hold an entire philosophical position inside their compressed geometry. Hic et nunc — "here and now" — has…