This page lists English translations of notable Latin phrases, such as veni vidi vici and et cetera. Some of the phrases are themselves translations of Greek phrases, as Greek rhetoric and literature reached its peak centuries before that of ancient Rome.
This list covers the letter E. See List of Latin phrases for the main list.
| Contents |
|---|
| References |
| Latin | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| e pluribus unum | one (coming) out of many | Motto of the United States of America. Used on many U.S. coins and inscribed on the Capitol. Also used as the motto of S.L. Benfica. Less commonly written as "ex pluribus unum". |
| e unibus pluram | pluram out of ones (not being Latin, this has no proper translation) |
Mock Latin. Notably heard by Giles Goat Boy in John Barth's novel Giles Goat-Boy and the title of an essay ("E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction") by David Foster Wallace concerning U.S. meta-fiction and the interrelations with U.S. television, published in A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again. (Proper Latin for "many out of one" would have been ex uno plura.) |
| Ecce Homo | Behold the Man | From the Latin Vulgate Gospel according to St. John (XIX.v) (19.5, Douay-Rheims), where Pontius Pilate speaks these words as he presents Christ, crowned with thorns, to the crowd. It is also the title of Nietzsche's autobiography and of the theme music by Howard Goodall for the ITV comedy Mr. Bean, in which the full sung lyric is Ecce homo qui est faba ("Behold the man who is a bean"). |
| ecce panis angelorum | behold the bread of angels | A phrase occasionally inscribed near the altar in Catholic churches; it makes reference to the Host; the Eucharist; the bread of Heaven; the Body of Christ. See also: Panis Angelicus. |
| editio princeps | first edition | The first printed edition of a work. |
| ego non | not I | short for "Even if all others... I will not." |
| ego te absolvo | I absolve you | Part of the absolution-formula spoken by a priest as part of the sacrament of Penance (cf. absolvo). |
| ego te provoco | I provoke you | Used as a challenge, "I dare you". |
| eheu fugaces labuntur anni | Alas, the fleeting years slip by | From Horace's Odes II, 14. |
| emeritus | veteran | Also "worn-out". Retired from office. Often used to denote a position held at the point of retirement, as an honor, such as professor emeritus or provost emeritus. This does not necessarily mean that the honoree is no longer active. |
| ens causa sui | existing because of oneself | Or "being one's own cause". Traditionally, a being that owes its existence to no other being, hence God or a Supreme Being (cf. Primum Mobile). |
| ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem | by the sword she seeks a serene repose under liberty | State motto of Massachusetts, adopted in 1775. |
| entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem | entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity | Occam's Razor or law of parsimony; that is, that arguments which do not introduce extraneous variables are to be preferred in logical argumentation. |
| entitas ipsa involvit aptitudinem ad extorquendum certum assensum | reality involves a power to compel sure assent | A phrase used in modern Western philosophy on the nature of truth. |
| eo ipso | by that very (act) | Technical term used in philosophy and the law. Similar to ipso facto. Example: "The fact that I am does not eo ipso mean that I think." From Latin eo ipso, ablative form of id ipsum, "that (thing) itself". |
| eo nomine | by that name | |
| equo ne credite | do not trust the horse | Virgil, Aeneid, II. 48–49 (Latin) |
| erga omnes | in relation to everyone | |
| ergo | therefore | Denotes a logical conclusion (cf. cogito ergo sum). |
| errare humanum est | to err is human | From St. Augustine of Hippo, Sermones (164, 14): Humanum fuit errare, diabolicum est per animositatem in errore manere. |
| erratum | error | Or "mistake". Lists of errors in a previous edition of a work are often marked with the plural, errata ("errors"). |
| errantis voluntas nulla est | the will of a mistaken party is void | Roman legal principle formulated by Pomponius in the Digest of the Corpus Juris Civilis, stating that legal actions undertaken by man under the influence of error are ineffective. |
| eruditio et religio | scholarship and religion | Motto of Duke University |
| esse est percipi | to be is to be perceived | George Berkeley's motto for his idealist philosophical position that nothing exists independently of its perception by a mind except minds themselves. |
| esse quam videri | to be, rather than to seem | Truly being something, rather than merely seeming to be something. Motto of many institutions. From chapter 26 of Cicero's De amicitia ('On Friendship'). Earlier than Cicero, the phrase had been used by Sallust in his Bellum Catilinae (54.6), where he wrote that Cato esse quam videri bonus malebat ("he preferred to be good, rather than to seem so"). Earlier still, Aeschylus used a similar phrase in Seven Against Thebes, line 592, ou gar dokein aristos, all' enai thelei; "he wishes not to seem the best, but to be the best". |
| esto perpetua | may it be perpetual | Said of Venice by the Venetian historian Fra Paolo Sarpi shortly before his death. Also the state motto of Idaho, adopted in 1867, and of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia, Sri Lanka. It is also used as the open motto of Sigma Phi Society, a collegiate Greek Letter Fraternity. |
| esto quod es | be what you are | Motto of Wells Cathedral School. |
| et alibi (et al.) | and elsewhere | A less common variant on et cetera used at the end of a list of locations to denote unlisted places. |
| et alii (et al.) | and others | Used similarly to et cetera ("and the rest"), to stand for a list of names. Alii is actually masculine, so it can be used for men, or groups of men and women; the feminine, et aliae (or et aliæ), is appropriate when the "others" are all female. Et alia is neuter plural and thus properly used only for inanimate, genderless objects, but some use it as a gender-neutral alternative.[1] APA style uses et al. if the work cited was written by more than six authors; MLA style uses et al. for more than three authors. |
| et cetera (etc.) or (&c.) | And the rest | In modern usage, used to mean "and so on" or "and more". |
| et facta est lux | And light came to be or was made | From Genesis 1:3 "and there was light". Motto of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. |
| et hoc genus omne | And all that sort of thing | Abbreviated to e.h.g.o. or ehgo |
| et in Arcadia ego | and in Arcadia [am] I | In other words, "I, too, am in Arcadia". See memento mori. |
| et lux in tenebris lucet | And light shines in the darkness | See also Lux in Tenebris; motto for the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. |
| et nunc reges intelligite erudimini qui judicatis terram | And now, O ye kings, understand: receive instruction, you that judge the earth. | From the Book of Psalms, II.x. (Vulgate), 2.10 (Douay-Rheims). |
| et sequentes (et seq.) | and the following (masc./fem. plural) | Also et sequentia ('and the following things': neut.), abbreviations: et seqq., et seq.., or sqq. |
| et suppositio nil ponit in esse | and a supposition puts nothing in being | More typically translated as "Sayin' it don't make it so". |
| et tu, Brute? | And you, Brutus? | Also "Even you, Brutus?" or "You too, Brutus?" Used to indicate a betrayal by someone close. From Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, based on the traditional dying words of Julius Caesar. However, these were almost certainly not Caesar's true last words; Plutarch quotes Caesar as saying, in Greek, the language of Rome's elite at the time, καὶ σὺ τέκνον; (Kaì sù téknon?), in English "You too, (my) child?", quoting from Menander. |
| et uxor (et ux.) | and wife | A legal term. |
| et vir | and husband | A legal term. |
| Etiamsi omnes, ego non | Even if all others... I will not | Peter to Jesus Christ (Matthew 26:33) |
| ex abundanti cautela | from excessive caution | In law, describes someone preparing for a remote possibility. In banking, a loan in which the collateral is more than the loan itself. Also the basis for the term "an abundance of caution" employed by United States President Barack Obama to explain why his oath of office had to be re-administered by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts and again in reference to terrorist threats. |
| ex abundantia enim cordis os loquitur | For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. | From the Gospel according to St. Matthew, XII.xxxiv (Vulgate), 12.34 (Douay-Rheims) and the Gospel according to St. Luke, VI.xlv (Vulgate), 6.45 (Douay-Rheims). Sometimes rendered without enim ('for'). |
| ex aequo | from the equal | "On equal footing", i.e., "in a tie". Used for those two (seldom more) participants of a competition, that showed exactly the same performance. |
| ex Africa semper aliquid novi | Always something new from Africa (literally something of new) | Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, VIII/42: unde etiam vulgare Graeciae dictum semper aliquid novi Africam adferre.[2] |
| ex animo | from the heart | Thus, "sincerely". |
| ex ante | from before | "Beforehand", "before the event". Based on prior assumptions. A forecast. |
| ex astris scientia | From the Stars, Knowledge | The motto of the fictional Starfleet Academy on Star Trek. Adapted from ex luna scientia, which in turn was modeled after ex scientia tridens. |
| ex cathedra | from the chair | A phrase applied to the declarations or promulgations of the Pope when, in communion with the college of cardinals, preserved from the possibility of error by the action of the Holy Spirit (see Papal infallibility), he solemnly declares or promulgates ("from the chair" that was the ancient symbol of the teacher and of the governor, in this case of the church) a dogmatic teaching on faith or morals as being contained in divine revelation, or at least being intimately connected to divine revelation. Used, by extension, of anyone who is perceived as speaking as though with supreme authority. |
| ex Deo | from God | |
| ex dolo malo | from fraud | "From harmful deceit"; dolus malus is the Latin legal term for "fraud". The full legal phrase is ex dolo malo non oritur actio ("an action does not arise from fraud"). When an action has its origin in fraud or deceit, it cannot be supported; thus, a court of law will not assist a man who bases his course of action on an immoral or illegal act. |
| ex facie | from the face | Idiomatically rendered "on the face of it". A legal term typically used to note that a document's explicit terms are defective without further investigation. |
| ex fide fiducia | from faith [comes] confidence | A motto of St George's College, Harare. |
| ex glande quercus | from acorn to oak | The motto of the Municipal Borough of Southgate, London. |
| ex gratia | from kindness | More literally "from grace". Refers to someone voluntarily performing an act purely out of kindness, as opposed to for personal gain or from being forced to do it. In law, an ex gratia payment is one made without recognizing any liability or legal obligation. |
| ex hypothesi | from the hypothesis | Thus, "by hypothesis". |
| ex infra (e.i.) cf. ex supra | "from below" | Recent academic notation for "from below in this writing" |
| ex juvantibus | from that which helps | The medical pitfall in which response to a therapeutic regimen substitutes proper diagnosis. |
| ex lege | from the law | |
| ex libris | from the books | Precedes a person's name, with the meaning of "from the library of..."; also a bookplate. |
| ex luna scientia | from the moon, knowledge | The motto of the Apollo 13 moon mission, derived from ex scientia tridens, the motto of Jim Lovell's Alma Mater, the United States Naval Academy. |
| ex malo bonum | good out of evil | From St. Augustine's "Sermon LXI" where he contradicts Seneca's dictum in Epistulae 87:22: bonum ex malo non fit (good does not come from evil). Also the alias of the Anberlin song, "Miserabile Visu" from their album New Surrender. |
| ex mea sententia | in my opinion | |
| ex mero motu | out of mere impulse, or of one's own accord. | |
| ex nihilo nihil fit | nothing comes from nothing | From Lucretius, and said earlier by Empedocles. Its original meaning is "work is required to succeed", but its modern meaning is a more general "everything has its origins in something" (cf. causality). It is commonly applied to the conservation laws in philosophy and modern science. Ex nihilo often used in conjunction with the term creation, as in creatio ex nihilo, meaning "creation out of nothing". It is often used in philosophy or theology in connection with the proposition that God created the universe from nothing. It is also mentioned in the final ad-lib of the Monty Python song Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. |
| ex novo | from new | Said of something that has been built from scratch. |
| Ex Oblivione | from oblivion | The title of a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. |
| ex officio | from the office | By virtue of office or position; "by right of office". Often used when someone holds one position by virtue of holding another: for example, the President of France is an ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. A common misconception is that all ex officio members of a committee or congress may not vote – this may be the case, but it is not guaranteed by that title. In legal terms, ex officio refers to an administrative or judicial office taking action of its own accord, for example to invalidate a patent or prosecute copyright infringers. |
| ex opere operantis | from the work of the one working | A theological phrase contrasted with ex opere operato, referring to the notion that the validity or promised benefit of a sacrament depends on the person administering it. |
| ex opere operato | from the work worked | A theological phrase meaning that the act of receiving a sacrament actually confers the promised benefit, such as a baptism actually and literally cleansing one's sins. The Catholic Church affirms that the source of grace is God, not just the actions or disposition of the minister or the recipient of the sacrament. |
| ex oriente lux | light from the east | Originally refers to the sun rising in the east, but alludes to culture coming from the Eastern world. Motto of several institutions. |
| ex parte | from a part | A legal term meaning "by one party" or "for one party". Thus, on behalf of one side or party only. |
| ex pede Herculem | from Hercules' foot | From the measure of Hercules' foot you shall know his size; from a part, the whole. |
| ex post | from after | "Afterward", "after the event". Based on knowledge of the past. Measure of past performance. |
| ex post facto | from a thing done afterward | Said of a law with retroactive effect. |
| ex professo | from one declaring [an art or science] | Or 'with due competence'. Said of the person who perfectly knows his art or science. |
| ex scientia tridens | from knowledge, sea power. | The United States Naval Academy motto. Refers to knowledge bringing men power over the sea comparable to that of the trident-bearing Greek god Poseidon. |
| ex scientia vera | from knowledge, truth | The motto of the College of Graduate Studies at Middle Tennessee State University. |
| ex silentio | from silence | In general, the claim that the absence of something demonstrates the proof of a proposition. An argumentum ex silentio ("argument from silence") is an argument based on the assumption that someone's silence on a matter suggests ("proves" when a logical fallacy) that person's ignorance of the matter or their inability to counterargue validly. |
| ex situ | opposite of "in situ" | |
| ex supra (e.s.) cf. ex infra | "from above" | Recent academic notation for "from above in this writing". |
| ex tempore | from [this moment of] time | "This instant", "right away" or "immediately". Also written extempore. |
| Ex turpi causa non oritur actio | From a dishonorable cause an action does not arise | A legal doctrine which states that a claimant will be unable to pursue a cause of action, if it arises in connection with his own illegal act. Particularly relevant in the law of contract, tort and trusts. |
| ex umbra in solem | from the shadow into the light | Motto of Federico Santa María Technical University. |
| ex vi termini | from the force of the term | Thus, "by definition". |
| ex vivo | out of or from life | Used in reference to the study or assay of living tissue in an artificial environment outside the living organism. |
| ex voto | from the vow | Thus, in accordance with a promise. An ex voto is also an offering made in fulfillment of a vow. |
| ex vulgus scientia | from crowd, knowledge | used to describe social computing, The Wisdom of Crowds |
| excelsior | higher | "Ever upward!" The state motto of New York. Also a catch phrase used by Marvel Comics head Stan Lee. |
| exceptio firmat (or probat) regulam in casibus non exceptis | The exception confirms the rule in cases which are not excepted | A juridical principle which means that the statement of a rule's exception (e.g., "no parking on Sundays") implicitly confirms the rule (i.e., that parking is allowed Monday through Saturday). Often mistranslated as "the exception that proves the rule". |
| excusatio non petita accusatio manifesta | an excuse that has not been sought [is] an obvious accusation | More loosely, "he who excuses himself, accuses himself"—an unprovoked excuse is a sign of guilt. In French, qui s'excuse, s'accuse. |
| exeat | may he/she leave | A formal leave of absence. |
| exempli gratia (e.g.) | for the sake of example | Usually shortened in English to "for example" (see citation signal). Often confused with id est (i.e.).[3] Exempli gratia, "for example", is commonly abbreviated "e.g."; in this usage it is sometimes followed by a comma, depending on style.[4] |
| exercitus sine duce corpus est sine spiritu | an army without a leader is a body without a spirit | On a plaque at the former military staff building of the Swedish Armed Forces. |
| exeunt | they leave | Third-person plural present active indicative of the Latin verb exire; also extended to exeunt omnes, "all leave"; singular: exit. |
| experientia docet | experience teaches | This term has been used in dermatopathology to express that there is no substitute for experience in dealing with all the numerous variations that may occur with skin conditions.[5] The term has also been used in gastroenterology.[6] |
| experimentum crucis | experiment of the cross | Or "crucial experiment". A decisive test of a scientific theory. |
| experto crede | trust the expert | Literally "believe one who has had experience". An author's aside to the reader. |
| expressio unius est exclusio alterius | the expression of the one is the exclusion of the other | "Mentioning one thing may exclude another thing". A principle of legal statutory interpretation: the explicit presence of a thing implies intention to exclude others; e.g., a reference in the Poor Relief Act 1601 to "lands, houses, tithes and coal mines" was held to exclude mines other than coal mines. Sometimes expressed as expressum facit cessare tacitum (broadly, "the expression of one thing excludes the implication of something else"). |
| extra domum | [placed] outside of the house | Refers to a possible result of Catholic ecclesiastical legal proceedings when the culprit is removed from being part of a group like a monastery. |
| extra Ecclesiam nulla salus | outside the Church [there is] no salvation | This expression comes from the writings of Saint Cyprian of Carthage, a bishop of the third century. It is often used to summarise the doctrine that the Catholic Church is absolutely necessary for salvation. |
| extra omnes | outside, all [of you] | It is issued by the Master of the Papal Liturgical Celebrations before a session of the Papal conclave which will elect a new Pope. When spoken, all those who are not Cardinals, or those otherwise mandated to be present at the Conclave, must leave the Sistine Chapel. |
| extra territorium jus dicenti impune non paretur | he who administers justice outside of his territory is disobeyed with impunity | Refers to extraterritorial jurisdiction. Often cited in law of the sea cases on the high seas. |
|
||||||||