Dear Tom, Mike, David, John S et all,
Many thanks for the translations - I am getting the gist of what the
17th-century maker and owner of the dial may have been thinking.
I have now found a better photograph of the dial taken in the 1960s when it was
last restored. They make two of the mottoes, which are on the top edge of the
gnomon, clearer. In motto one, you are right that the comma is indeed after the
first 'secum'. On motto 3, there are three extra words right at the bottom. In
full it reads:
Tenere non potes: potes, non perdere.
I wonder if that adds significantly to the meaning?
(Note: the mottoes are written in script, rather than capitals).
Regards,
John
-----------------------------------
Dr J Davis
Flowton Dials
--- On Thu, 18/9/08, Tom Kreyche <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
From: Tom Kreyche <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: Latin mottoes
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: "'Mike Kreyche'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thursday, 18 September, 2008, 10:30 PM
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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