In vino veritas
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In vino veritas is a well-known Latin phrase. It means “in wine [there is the] truth”. It is also known as a Greek phrase “Ἐν οἴνῳ ἀλήθεια”, which has the same meaning. The author of the Latin phrase is Pliny the Elder,[1] the Greek phrase is attributed to the Greek poet Alcaeus.
[edit] Meaning and Origin
Apparently the phrase refers to the circumstance that people seem to become uninhibited and tell what they really think (i.e. the truth) when they drink alcohol.
Already Pliny the Elder, who first mentioned this phrase, called the phrase a saying. The oldest known source for the phrase is the Greek poet Alcaeus. The Roman historican Tacitus tells about the Germanic peoples, that they always drank wine while holding councils, as they thought nobody can deceive effectively when drunken.
[edit] References
- ^ Pliny the Elder, Naturalis historia 14, 141
