[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

Love leads [our] homeland/country.

I could be entirely wrong because something simple like this has so many different degrees of interpretation and translation. It could be a genitive of...not sure.

This post has been edited by FLavius Valerius Constantinus: 11 February 2006 - 03:59 AM

[Andrew Dalby]

thorngauge, on Feb 11 2006, 02:55 AM, said:

Hey, I was wondering if any could help me with the translation of my family motto. The motto appears on the banner just below my family crest (family name is Phillips), and it says

"DUCIT AMOR PATRIAE."

Thanks in advance!

Love of the fatherland leads me

Or words to that general effect. Fatherland is a sexist concept! Latin has no 'matria' motherland, so far as I remember.

Fatherland also has some Fascist/Nazi connotations now. For that matter, so does the 'lead' bit: Mussolini was Il Duce = the leader = der Führer, and Ceausescu was Conducatorul = the leader (or possibly the bus/train conductor?)

Anyway, these days, 'The love of my country is my guide' or, more collegiately, 'the love of our country is our guide'.

[Lucius Calpurnius Capitolinus]

Interesting that Phillips is the family name. Any connection to "philia" - the greek word for "amor?"

[Q Valerius Scerio]

Herte's a quick etymology I came up with:

Phillips, genitive of Phillip, variant of Philip, from the Greek Φιλιππος - lover of the horse, from the words φιλος - friend and ιππος - horse.

Ducit Amor Patria - The Love of the Fatherland Leads.

[Sextus Roscius]

The Love of my fatherland guides me

[Kosmo]

Antonescu was Conducatorul=the leader, driver
Ceausecu was president of RSR, sercretary general of PCR, supreme comander of the armed forces....

[Andrew Dalby]

Kosmo, on Feb 17 2006, 11:08 AM, said:

Antonescu was Conducatorul=the leader, driver
Ceausecu was president of RSR, sercretary general of PCR, supreme comander of the armed forces....

He was all those things, and a tyrant, and the man who detached Romania from the Warsaw Pact, and drove his country from relative prosperity to polluted poverty, and one of the few communist heads of state who rode down the Mall with Elizabeth II; but they did also, towards the end of his career, call him Conducatorul 'the Leader'.

[julieboy]

I agree with an earlier translation: Love of the fatherland leads.


Ducit: third person singular:he,she,or it leads (in this case love is the "it",and the verb ducit agrees with
the subject ,amor
amor: nominative singular= subject in the sentence
patriae: genetive singular denoting possession,and is used with the noun(and subject) amor=of the
fatherland Thus "amor patriae" means "love of the fatherland"

Finally Ducit amor patriae.= Love of the fatherland leads.

[Andrew Dalby]

H Phillips, on Jul 9 2006, 08:53 PM, said:

thorngauge, on Feb 11 2006, 02:55 AM, said:

Hey, I was wondering if any could help me with the translation of my family motto. The motto appears on the banner just below my family crest (family name is Phillips), and it says

"DUCIT AMOR PATRIAE."

Thanks in advance!

Hi,
DUCIT AMOR PATRIAE means "Patriotism leads me" here is the website i found it on and there is also a bookhttp://www.4crests.com/phcoofar.html I have been researching my family name for quite a while now and would be appreciated if you could tell me anything and could you tell me your name to help me with our family tree please
Regards

But why trust any website more than UNRV History? We did it better here, believe me. "Patriotism" has many connotations, certainly including "love of the fatherland". But "amor patriae" means, precisely, "love of the fatherland"; therefore the motto means, precisely, "love of the fatherland leads". You can say that it leads "me" or "us" depending on the context: Latin has no need to specify. Tell them this at www.4crests.com!

[Quintus]

Alot of Latin translations sound weird to us, so after we get the literal translation, e.g. the love of the country leads, we can change it to make it sound better in english. If you look at it one way, there is no one correct translation, we have to aim in between the literal and what sounds good. - just a thought.

Oh yea, Q. Valerius, do you know Greek? If so: :notworthy:

This post has been edited by Quintus: 08 August 2006 - 04:45 PM

[leadslinger11b]

Armyredhat, on Nov 7 2006, 08:32 PM, said:

I wore it on my helmet when I was in Afghanistan. It is the adopted motto by a certain Army unit. In translation to them it means "Led by love for country." I hope that helps.

thorngauge, on Feb 11 2006, 01:55 AM, said:

Hey, I was wondering if any could help me with the translation of my family motto. The motto appears on the banner just below my family crest (family name is Phillips), and it says

"DUCIT AMOR PATRIAE."

Thanks in advance!

You are correct redhat, that is my former units motto, here is a pic of my crest, sorry its so crappy.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q91/leadslinger11b/the131.jpg