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Dum spiro spero, which translates to "While I breathe, I hope", [1] is a Latin phrase of indeterminate origin. It is the motto of various places and organisations, including the U.S. state of South Carolina.
The sense of dum spiro spero can be found in the work of Greek poet Theocritus (3rd Century BC), who wrote: "While there's life there's hope, and only the dead have none." [2] That sentiment seems to have become common by the time of Roman statesman Cicero (106 – 43 BC), who wrote to Atticus: "As in the case of a sick man one says, 'While there is life there is hope' [dum anima est, spes esse], so, as long as Pompey was in Italy, I did not cease to hope." [3]
Matthew Henry (1662-1714), commenting on Ecclesiastes 9:3-4, directly related and applied the term to biblical King Solomon’s ecclesiastical understanding of life as it relates to a supernatural afterlife. Henry use suggests that there is eternal hope of heaven while people are living, but this hope is lost once their breath is gone if they choose to live unrighteously (“While there is life there is hope. Dum spiro, spero-While I breathe, I hope.”) [4] Henry’s application also implies that the phrase’s general idea predates Greek thought as it was first recorded in the 10th Century BC in Masoretic texts.[ citation needed ]
The phrase is present in modern day in a representation of the seal of South Carolina printed in March 1785. [5] At some point, it also became the motto of the town of St Andrews, [6] Scotland, and is visible on heraldry around the town from the mid-19th century onwards. [7] [8]
Dum spiro spero is used as a motto by armigerous families including the Corbet baronets of Moreton Corbet (both creations), the Hoare baronets of Annabella, Co. Cork, the Cotter baronets of Rockforest, Co. Cork, and the Viscounts Dillon. [16] The Sharp and Sharpe clans of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.[ citation needed ] Royal military.[ citation needed ] The Williamson Clan from Scotland ; and the Scottish Clan MacLennan.[ citation needed ] Individuals who used the motto include Charles I, [17] King of England; Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak, [18] and the merchant seaman and privateer, later Royal Governor of the Bahama Islands, Woodes Rogers. [19]
The Royal Ranger Regiment is an infantry regiment of the Malaysian Army. Although it is second in seniority to the Royal Malay Regiment, the RRD can trace its origins back to the mid 19th century and the establishment of The Sarawak Rangers, the peacekeeping force in the Sarawak region. This force was absorbed by the Sarawak Constabulary in 1932, but the name was revived in 1941 as a British Colonial unit; this unit commanded by British Lieutenant Colonel C.M. Lane was captured by the Japanese in 1942.
Esse quam videri is a Latin phrase meaning "To be, rather than to seem." It has been used as a motto by a number of different groups.
The Great Seal of Missouri is used to authenticate certain documents issued by the Government of Missouri. The phrase is used both for the physical seal itself, which is kept by the secretary of state, and more generally for the design impressed upon it. The Great Seal was designed by Robert Wells of Jefferson City.
The Great Seal of the State of South Carolina was adopted in 1776. South Carolina's seal is made up of two elliptical areas, linked by branches of the palmetto tree. The image on the left is dominated by a tall palmetto tree and an oak tree, fallen and broken. This scene represents the battle fought on June 28, 1776, between defenders of the unfinished fort on Sullivan's Island, and the British Fleet. The standing palmetto represents the victorious defenders, and the fallen oak is the British Fleet. Banded together on the palmetto with the motto Quis separabit?, are 12 spears that represent the other original 12 states of the Union. Beneath that is enscrolled another of the alternate state mottoes, "Meliorem Lapsa Locavit" with the date of 1776. Surrounding the image, at the top, is "South Carolina", and below, is Animis opibusque parati. The other image on the seal depicts the Roman goddess Spes walking along a shore that is littered with weapons. The goddess grasps a branch of laurel as the sun rises behind her. Below her image is her name, Spes, Latin for 'hope', and over the image is the motto Dum spiro spero, meaning 'While I breathe, I hope'.
The flag of Sarawak, officially known as Ibu Pertiwi, is the official flag of Sarawak, a state in Malaysia. It is based on the flag of the Raj of Sarawak of the White Rajah, and includes the yellow of Southeast Asian royalty — a similar yellow and diagonal black are in the flag of Brunei, although Brunei's yellow is of a brighter shade.
Clan Houston is a Scottish clan. The clan does not have a chief therefore it was considered an Armigerous clan.
The House of Burnett is a Lowland and Border Scottish family composed of several branches. The Chief of the Name and Arms of Burnett is James Comyn Amherst Burnett of Leys.
Clan Seton is a Scottish clan which does not currently have a chief; therefore, it is considered an armigerous clan.
"Fortune favours the bold" or "fortune favours the brave" are among the English translations for a like-minded Latin proverb that has many variations: Audentes Fortuna Iuvat. The core meaning of the phrase has been widely used as a slogan in the Western world to emphasize concepts of courage and bravery, particularly within military organizations, and it is also used up to the present day on the coats of arms of numerous individual families and clans. It has historically served as a popular motto for universities, along with other academic and recreational institutions.
Clan MacLennan, also known as Siol Ghillinnein, is a Highland Scottish clan which historically populated lands in the north-west of Scotland. The surname MacLennan in Scottish Gaelic is Mac Gille Fhinnein, meaning the son of the follower of St Finnan.
Clan Moncreiffe is a Highland Scottish clan.
Post tenebras lux is a Latin phrase translated as Light After Darkness. It appears as Post tenebras spero lucem in the Vulgate version of Job 17:12.
Clan Kirkpatrick is a Lowland armigerous Scottish clan. There are several variations of the Kirkpatrick name: Kilpatric, Kilpatrick, and Gilpatrick. The names Kirkpatrick and Kilpatrick may have been interchangeable at one time. The clan is recognised by the Court of the Lord Lyon, however the clan does not currently have a chief so recognised. The surname Kirkpatrick is also a recognized sept of Clan Douglas and Clan Colquhoun.
Clan Kinninmont is a Scottish clan. The clan does not have a chief recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms, therefore the clan has no standing under Scots Law. Clan Kinninmont is considered an armigerous clan, meaning that it is considered to have had at one time a chief who possessed the chiefly arms, however no one at present is in possession of such arms. The original chiefly line died out when an heiress married into another family. The successors of this heiress, are the Earls of Minto, whose patronyme is that of „Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound“, Kynynmound being a variation of Kinninmont, this family bears, as part of its arms, the arms the clan.
Clan Pollock is an armigerous Scottish clan whose origin lies in a grant of land on the southern bank of the River Clyde, courtesy of King David I, to the sons of Fulbert from Walter fitz Alan, the 1st High Steward of Scotland, in the 12th century. It is among the oldest recorded surnames in Scotland. The clan is a sept of Clan Maxwell.
The Most Excellent Order of the Star of Sarawak was established by Charles Vyner Brooke, The Rajah of Sarawak, on 26 September 1928 as the highest order of chivalry within the Raj of Sarawak. The motto of the order was "Haraplah Sa-lagi Bernafas", which was also the Sarawak state motto, a translation of the Latin phrase Dum Spiro Spero, which literally means "As long as I breathe, I hope".
The Corbet family is an aristocratic English family of Anglo-Norman extraction, who were amongst the early marcher lords, holding the barony of Caus. Following the extinction of the senior line the junior line based at Moreton Corbet Castle would go on to become one of the most powerful and richest of the landed gentry in Shropshire. The family trace their ancestry to two barons found in the 1086 Domesday Book and they probably came from the Boitron and Essay region, near Sées in Normandy.
Jerome Corbet was an Elizabethan politician and lawyer of Shropshire landed gentry background. A brother of Sir Andrew Corbet and, like him, a supporter of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, he became an MP for Bridgnorth and a member of the Council in the Marches of Wales.
Quotations related to Theocritus at Wikiquote Quotations related to Cicero at Wikiquote
The dictionary definition of hope springs eternal at Wiktionary