Few Latin expressions have travelled as far from their original setting as habeas corpus. The phrase is usually translated as “you shall have the body”, a…
When someone says Hannibal ad portas, they are warning that a serious threat is close, advancing, or already pressing against the boundaries of ordinary life.…
Gratia plena, two Latin words that echo through centuries of Christian worship, form the heart of one of the most repeated prayers in the Western world. The…
“Gloria in excelsis Deo” is one of the best-known Latin phrases associated with Christmas. It means “Glory to God in the highest” and comes from the angelic…
The Latin phrase genus Homo, literally translated as "the human kind" or "man as a kind," appears frequently in scientific publications, museum displays, and…
The Latin noun gaudium means joy, delight, or gladness. In a spiritual setting, it describes more than a passing sense of pleasure. It points to a settled form…
The phrase fuit Ilium sits among the most resonant Latin expressions that classical writers, medieval scholars, and modern essayists have turned to when…
Few Latin phrases travel as far from the ancient Mediterranean as Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit, and yet the line feels at home almost anywhere that…
Latin mottos still pass through the vocabulary of cities, councils, and institutions that want to communicate something about who they are and what they refuse…
The two words have a strange power to freeze a room. Drop them into a sentence and even the most mundane news story acquires the texture of a Roman courtroom.…