Glossary entry

Latin term or phrase:

mors aut vit honorabilis

English translation:

"Mors aut Vita Decora" > "Either death or honourable life"

Added to glossary by dawn39 (X)
Feb 8, 2004 08:59
20 yrs ago
Latin term

mors aut vit honorabilis

Non-PRO Homework / test Latin to English Bus/Financial Military / Defense
irish coat of arms

Proposed translations

+2
4 hrs
Selected

"Mors aut Vita Decora" > "Either death or honourable life"

Hi, Thomas.
I knew it like that...

Have a nice day!
:))



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Note added at 2004-02-08 13:54:55 (GMT)
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\"DEATH OR A LIFE OF HONOUR\"

Another option...

Page of Mottoes
\"*MORS AUT VITA DECORA*...*Death or a life of honour*...Dempster\".

freepages.family.rootsweb.com/ ~heraldry/page_motto.html
¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
Coat of Arms

(Here you can see the coat of arms)

The second registered arms in the first volume of Lyon Register are those of John Dempster, Minister of Monifieth which were recorded about 1678 or 1679. The arms are described as \"quarterly first Gules, a Sword in Bend argent hilted and pommelled or surmounted of a fesse as the third; second Or, a Lyon Rampant gules; Over all a batton sable; third as the second the fourth as ye first, all within a bordur parted per pale argent and sable. Crest: a legg bone and branch of Palme disposed Saltyre wayes proper.
**Motto: \"Mors Aut Vita Decora\"**.

easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~jdempster/Heraldry.html
¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
Also \"Aut mors aut vita decora\"

\"Moriens sed invictus. Dying but unconquered (Latin). **Mors
aut vita decora. Either death or honourable life (Latin)**. Mors levior quam dedecus. ...

www.heraldryunlimited.com/guide/motto/MN.htm
¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
\"DEATH OR LIBERTY\"

And another interesting reference:

\"Benjamin Franklin:
Account of the Devices on the Continental Bills of Credit
To the Printers of the PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE.

GENTLEMEN, No Explanation of the Devices on the Continental Bills of Credit having yet appeared, I send you the following Account of them, with my Conjectures of their Meaning. CLERICUS.

On another bill is impressed, a wild boar of the forest rushing on the spear of the hunter; with this motto, **AUT MORS, AUT VITA DECORA, which may be translated -- Death or liberty**. The wild boar is an animal of great strength and courage, armed with long and sharp tusks, which he well knows how to use in his defence. He is inoffensive while suffered to enjoy his freedom, but when roused and wounded by the hunter, often turns and makes him pay dearly for his injustice and temerity\".

www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf3/devices.htm



Peer comment(s):

agree Krzysztof Laskowski
9 hrs
thanks, Nergal. Cheers! :))
agree verbis
3 days 8 hrs
thanks and have a nice day :)
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Graded automatically based on peer agreement."
+1
28 mins

death, or an honourable life

'Vit' is clearly a misprint for 'vita'

'Aut', 'or' implies that only one of the choices (i.e., the 'vita honorabilis') is acceptable. If 'vel' had been used, the implication would have been that both death and an honourable life were alike acceptable alternatives to the speaker/writer.
Peer comment(s):

agree chaplin : I was puzzled by the vit merci Joseph
3 hrs
Thanks.
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