Favete linguis!

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“Favete linguis!” is a Latin phrase. Literally translated it means “Facilitate [the ritual acts] with your lingua”. Analogous it means: “Facilitate the ritual acts by being silent”. The phrase is used by Cicero, Ovid, Horace and Pliny the Elder.

[edit] Origin

When there were official ritual acts a herald always ordered the others to be silent by saying this phrase. This was done in order to avert an interruption by a careless, maybe also an ominous, word.

[edit] References

• Marcus Tullius Cicero, De divinatione (2, 83/1, 102)
• Horace, Carmina (2, 3, 2)
• Seneca, De vita beata (26, 7)
• Ovid, Fasti (2, 654)
• Pliny the Elder, Naturalis historia (28, 11)