Nemo me impune lacessit

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Nemo me impune lacessit (English: No one wounds me with impunity, literally meaning (lacessere = to appeal to, to provoke, to attack): No one provokes me with impunity) is the royal Scottish motto, used historically for the Kingdom of Scotland where it appeared on the Royal Arms of Scotland. Today it is the motto the monarch of the United Kingdom uses when in Scotland, and it appears on the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom when in use in Scotland.

A more colloquial translation into English would be "No one attacks me and gets away with it." Similarly, in Scots this is usually rendered as "Wha daur meddle wi me? ", which more literally means "Who dares meddle with me?"

It is also the motto of the Order of the Thistle, the Scottish chivalrous order and of the British Army regiments The Royal Regiment of Scotland and Scots Guards. It was also the motto of the former Royal Scots, Royal Highland Fusiliers and Black Watch regiments.

The motto appears as an inscription on the rim of the 1984 and 1994 "Scottish" editions of the British One Pound coin and is also referenced in the Edgar Allan Poe story "The Cask of Amontillado" (Poe was adopted by a Scottish merchant).

[edit] Possible origin of the motto

According to legend, the "guardian thistle" has played its part in the defence of the ancient realm of Scotland against a night attack by the Danes, one of whom let out a yell of pain when he stepped on a prickly thistle, thus alerting the Scottish defenders. In the motto "No-one touches me with impunity" (Latin: "Nemo me impune lacessit"), "me" was therefore originally the thistle itself, but by extension now refers to the Scottish crown and the Scottish regiments which have adopted it.

The French city of Nancy has a similar motto, Non inultus premor ("I cannot be touched with impunity"), also a reference to the thistle, which is the symbol of the region of Lorraine.