Here are a few comments from my brother Mike Kreyche, who is not on the list:
1) OMNIA FERT AETAS SECUM, AUFERT OMNIA SECUM Ditto on the comma (from David Brown's post): "Time brings all things, takes away all things" Cited here on page 215 (a collection of German proverbs translated into Latin, published 1879--I think only the first part is found in Vergil, who was no doubt the inspiration for the wording of the translation): http://books.google.com/books?id=nPC0fjDpVjMC&pg=PA215&lpg=PA215&dq=%22Omnia +fert+aetas%22&source=web&ots=H9pqtPBhy8&sig=q5BT79K323h9OX07rMkOlOrRnS8&hl= en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result 2) MINUTA SUNT QUAE SPECTAS, NON QUAE PERDIS The Latin is cited (with minutae) on a blog with many other Latin sundial phrases, translated into Spanish: http://cortaopeloefaiteunhome.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html The Spanish translation takes minutae to mean minutiae rather than minutes, which I'm not sure is justifiable. In any case the Spanish sounds awkward to me and I think I would have to take it as a reproach, "What you are watching are minutiae, what you're missing is not" (i.e., "why are you wasting your time watching the clock"). If the Latin minuta could be taken to mean "small things" or "details" or "minutia(e)" as well as "minute" maybe there's a double meaning. Literally, the translation is: "Details/Minutes are [things] which you observe, not [things] which you miss" Turning this into injunctions: "Details are to be observed, not missed" "Minutes are to be watched, not wasted" 3) TENERE NON POTES "You can't hold on to it" _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2008 4:01 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Latin mottoes Dear John and all the rest................ Herewith some translations kindly supplied to me by my former classics teacher, Michael Bishop, now in his 80's but who thoroughly enjoys a puzzle or three. 1) OMNIA FERT AETAS SECUM, AUFERT OMNIA SECUM [I suspect the comma should follow the first 'secum']; lit: time/ brings/ all things/ with itself, takes away/ all things/ with itself . sc.: Time brings everything in its train, and with its train sweeps everything away. 2) MINUTA SUNT QUAE SPECTAS, NON QUAE PERDIS: lit: minutes are what you look at, not what you lose. sc: think of the passing moments as gifts experienced rather than fleeting things lost. [This reminds me of the derivation of 'minute' from 'minuere', to divide up: the ' hora minuta' being the hour divided into sixty, the 'second' being the 'hora minuta secunda' (from 'sequi', to follow), the subsequent division of the already divided hour. It also reminds me of the mynah birds in Aldous Huxley's utopian 'Island', trained to sing 'Here and now, boys!'] 3) TENERE NON POTES [the shortest and hardest!) Lit: you can't keep hold. sc.viz [I suppose]: Time doesn't stand still - i.e tempus fugit (flees, eludes you ,rather than 'flies'). What deep philosophical musings sundials arouse! David Brown, Somerton, Somerset, UK
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