/
12.06.2015 at 12:00 am
Cuttings

He Conquers Who Endures

The meaning/usage of 'vincit qui patitur'.

... Vincit means "conquers". Like its English translation, it can be transitive (as in Omnia vincit amor, "Love conquers all") or intransitive (as in In hoc signo vinces, "By this sign you will conquer"), so you have to use the context to tell whether a nearby noun phrase is a subject or direct object. Usually in Latin, case endings do this, as illustrated below:

Vincit rex. "The king conquers."
Vincit regem. "He/she conquers the king."

Qui patitur means "who suffers (or endures)", and it's acting as a fused relative, just like its translation in English. Even in Latin, though, we can't tell if that fused relative is a subject or an object. It's the same problem that confuses English speakers about whoever and whomever. So actually, what we have here is a translation that is faithful even in preserving the ambiguity of the original!

'Vincit Qui Patitur' as a Latin phrase is translated as "he conquers who endures", and is attributed to the Roman satirist Persius.

I'd read this ambiguous, archaic phrase more simply as "he who endures, conquers".

Source: Literal-Minded
Filed under:
#
#
Words: 46 words approx.
Time to read: 0.18 mins (at 250 wpm)
Keywords:
, , , , , , , , ,

Other suggested posts

  1. 29.03.2023 at 10:57 am / Moving Away from Todoist - to Taskwarrior, SSH & Dropbox - Part 2
  2. 10.06.2022 at 07:44 pm / Teach Thy Tongue to Say: 'I Do Not Know'
  3. 08.06.2022 at 04:13 pm / Counsel vs Client Perspectives
  4. 27.06.2021 at 12:49 pm / Eloquent Javascript / Chapter 2, Exercise 03
  5. 12.06.2015 at 12:00 am / He Conquers Who Endures
  6. 17.12.2014 at 12:00 am / 午・午年
  7. 29.11.2013 at 12:00 am / ガラケー Garakei Evolution
  8. 11.11.2013 at 12:00 am / 下戸 - Lower House
  9. 16.03.2012 at 12:00 am / Sentient Vocal Directives
  10. 15.08.2010 at 12:00 am / 海老
© Wan Zafran. See disclaimer.