TC Index: Noun Mottoes - Nominative Case

One-word mottoes. Every Latin noun has a nominative form, which is the form you will find if you look up the word in the dictionary. Using this nominative form, you can create a motto! By declaring this word to be your motto, it expresses something on which you place a high value. For example, here is a one-word motto:

PAX

~

PEACE

If you choose this word as your motto, you would be declaring that PAX is something on which you place a very high value.

Two nouns in a motto. You can also combine two nouns with the Latin word et which means "and" - which allows you to create a motto about two things that are of great value to you. Here is a motto with two nouns joined by et:

LĀBOR ET QUIES 

~

WORK AND REST

Three nouns in a motto. If you want to create a motto of three nouns in Latin, you can just list them together, with commas. You do not need to use the word et to connect them. Here is a famous example:

FIDES, SPES, CĀRITAS

~

FAITH, HOPE (AND) LOVE

CREATE YOUR OWN MOTTO. Below you will find a list of Latin nouns that you might want to use to create a Latin motto of your own, using just one noun, or two nouns (linked with et), or with three nouns.

Motto Style. As you choose your motto, think about the meaning of the words and, if you are combining words, think about about how the words sound when they are combined. The power of a motto is both in the meaning of the words and also in how they sound (kind of like poetry, in miniature).

Here are some words you might want to use! Meanwhile, if you are curious here is the noun motto that I made for myself and my reasons for choosing it!

amor - love. You can see this same root in the Latin word for "friend, friendly" amicus. As in English, you can use this word in the plural, "loves," referring to "love affairs," amōrēs (this is the title of a famous collection of poems by the poet Ovid).

amīcitia - friendship. This is the abstract noun derived from the Latin word amicus. If you want to use this word in the plural, it would be amīcitiae.

pax - peace. You can see this Latin root in the English word "pacific" - although the Pacific Ocean turned out to be far less peaceful than the name seems to promise!

concordia - harmony. This Latin word means when "hearts" (or "minds") are together, con-cordia. See the note about cor below.

clementia - mercy. This is the abstract noun from the adjective clemens, "merciful, gentle."

auxilium - help. If you were to choose this as your motto, this means you put a high value on providing help and assistance to others.

terra - land. This Latin word covers the range of both "land" and "earth" in English. To choose this word as your motto would declare your love for the land, or for the Earth at large.

patria - homeland, fatherland. You can see the Latin root word, pater, "father" here.

ars - skill. This word has a wide range of meanings in Latin: skill, craft, art. If you want to use the word in the plural that would be artēs.

cūra - attention. The Latin word covers two distinct ranges of meaning. In the positive sense it means "attention, carefulness," etc. It can also have a negative connotation of "concern, worry." Notice that the English words "care" and "concern" also have this range of connotations.

labor - effort. As in English, this Latin word has both positive and negative connotations: hard word, labor, effort - but also toil, hardship, etc. If you want to use this word in the plural, it would be labōrēs.

quies - rest.  This is the Latin root word which gives us English words like "quiet."

voluptas - pleasure. This Latin word derives from the verb volo, "I will, I want" - so pleasure is about doing what you want to do. If you want to use this word in the plural, it would be voluptatēs.

cōpia - abundance. You can see this Latin word in "cornucopia," literally the "horn of plenty" or "horn of abundance."

meritum - deserved reward. This word does not have a good single-word equivalent in English; it has a stronger, more vivid significance in Latin than the English word "merit" would suggest. If you want to use this word in the plural, it would be merita.

glōria - glory. This is an extremely important word in the ancient Roman vocabulary; you will get more insight into this word as you learn more Latin.

victōria - victory. If your name name happens to be "Victoria," this would be a motto with a nice play on words!

honor - esteem. It is very hard to find a word in English that is equivalent to this important Latin word. The English word "honor" does not begin to cover the range of meanings conveyed by the Latin. If you want to use this word in the plural, it would be honorēs, which would mean something like "public offices," honorable acts of public service.

honestas - integrity. Literally, this would be "honor-fulness," if we had such a word in English; the Latin word is the abstract noun derived from the root word, honor.

laus - praise. This is the Latin root in English words like laudatory and in the Latin phrase magnā c

cum laude, "with great praise."

spes - hope. You can see this Latin root in the English word "desperate," which means someone who has run out of hope.

fides - faith. You can see the root of this Latin word in the English word "confident."

fidēlitas - faithfulness. This is an abstract noun derived from the Latin noun, fidēlis, "faithful" (which is in turn derived from fides, "faith").

lībertas - freedom. This is the abstract noun derived from the Latin adjective, līber, meaning "free."

sēcūritas - security. The etymology of the Latin word is sē-cūra, "without worry" "(freedom) from care" (see the note about cūra above).

pietas - sense of duty. This is the abstract noun from the Latin word pius, which describes someone who is dutiful, loyal, devout, etc.

cāritas - love. This is the abstract noun from the Latin word carus, meaning "dear, beloved." So, if we had such a word in English, you could translate it as "dear-ness," the state of being "dear." 

iustitia - justice. This is the abstract noun from the Latin word iustus, meaning "just, righteous." As y

you can see, the English word "justice" derives from the Latin.

vēritas - truth. This is the abstract noun from the adjective vērus, "true."

fortitūdo - strength, bravery. This is the abstract noun from the Latin word fortis, meaning "strong, brave."

vīs - strength, power. This refers to personal strength or power. It can also have the connotation of "violent power" (the English word violent is derived from this same root).

rōbur - strength, steadfastness. This word means, literally, a very hard kind of oak wood and, metaphorically, it stands for steady, firm strength and toughness. It is the also the origin of the English word "robust."

virtūs - bravery, courage, worth. You can also translate this with the English word "virtue," but that does not cover the range of meanings of the Latin word, which is actually derived from the word vir, meaning "man" - so virtūs is a kind of "manliness" in Latin.

audācia - boldness. This is the abstract noun from the adjective, audax, "bold" (and this is where we get the English word "audacious").

celeritas - swiftness. This is the abstract noun from the Latin adjective celer, meaning "swift, speedy."

sapientia - wisdom. This is the abstract noun from the Latin adjective sapiens, meaning "wise."

animus - courage, mind, spirit. As you can see this Latin word expresses a wide range of meanings, and it is also related to the word anima, which you will see next in this list.

anima - spirit, soul. In addition to the Latin word animus, which is a masculine noun, there is the related noun, anima, which is a feminine noun, meaning spirit in the sense of the "breath of life."

mēns - mind. This is the Latin root word that gives us English words like "mental."

cor - heart, mind. This Latin word refers anatomically to the "heart," but for the ancient Romans the heart was also a place where your intelligence and judgment were located (passionate feelings were imagined instead to be in your liver or guts, much as we say have a "gut feeling" about things in English).

manus - hand. This is the Latin root word which gives us English words like "manual." In the plural, "hands" the Latin word is manūs - notice the difference in the final vowel.

fāta - fate. The Latin noun is a plural noun, literally, "fated things." You can also see this word in the singular, fātum, "fate." This word can refer to "destiny" in general, but it can also have a negative connotation of "death" or "doom" (which is how we get the English word "fatal").

fortūna - fortune. In ancient Rome, Fortuna was a goddess, famous for her "Wheel of Fortune," which you can read about at Wikipedia. As in English, the word can also mean "wealth," and it also means "luck" - meaning both good luck and bad luck. After all, Fortune's wheel goes both up and down!

nūmen - divinity. This word is related to the Latin word for a "nod" of head, nūtus, and it describes the "nod of God," in the sense of divine power, the manifestation of divine will. It is the origin of the English word "numinous."

deus - god. As in English, this can refer to "god" (with a little "g"), deus, or God, Deus.

crux - cross. In pagan Roman culture, the cross was an instrument used for punishment, but this word has taken on quite a different meaning in the Christian Latin tradition.

salūs - health. In Latin, this word means "health,' and it also has the metaphorical sense of well-being, prosperity, safety, etc. In the Christian tradition, it refers to "salvation."

Of course there are many more Latin words that are featured in the long tradition of Latin mottoes! These words should be enough to get you started and there will be more Latin vocabulary in the motto exercises to come! :-)