“Because knowledge itself is power.” - Francis Bacon , De Haeresibus , 1597
Nam tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet.
"Because it is about your property when the next wall burns." - Horace , Epistulae 1,18,84
Nanos
Dwarf on the shoulders of a giant, early 15th century
Nanos gigantum humeris insidentes
"Dwarfs on the shoulders of giants sit" - English in 1676 in a letter from Isaac Newton : "If I have seen Further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." ( "If I have further looked so because I stand on the shoulders of giants. " )
"Dicebat Bernardus Carnotensis nos esse quasi nanos gigantum umeris insidentes, ut possimus plura eis et remotiora videre, non utique proprii visus acumine, aut eminentia corporis, sed quia in altum subvehimur et extollimur magnitudine gigantea."
"Bernhard von Chartres said that we are, as it were, dwarfs who sit on the shoulders of giants in order to be able to see more and more distant things than these - of course not thanks to our own keen eyesight or body size, but because the size of the giants lifts us up."
Nascentes
Nascentes morimur finisque from origine pendet.
“As soon as we are born, we die, and the end begins with the beginning.” - Manilius , Astronomica 4,16.
“The child in the womb is treated like an already born one.” - Legal principle
Natura
Natura abhorret vacuum.
"Nature shrinks from emptiness." - The hypothesis goes back to Aristotle and was confirmed by Galileo Galilei. The term horror vacui is derived from this .
Natura artis magistra.
"Nature is the master [or teacher] of art."
Natura fundit ingenium, provehit usus.
"Nature establishes talent, use promotes it."
Natura naturans
"The creative nature"
Natura naturata
"The created nature"
Natura nihil frustra facit.
“Nature does nothing superfluous.” - The sentence in Thomas Aquinas is completely: “natura nihil facit frustra neque deficit in necessariis” ( “Nature does nothing superfluous and does not lag behind what is necessary” ).
This is the translation of a sentence by Aristotle : ἡ φύσις μήτε ποιεῖ μάτην μηθὲν μήτε ἀπολείπει τι τῶν ἀναγκαίων he physis mete poiei maten methen mete apoleipei ti ton anankaion . This follows from his conception of teleology .
“Nature doesn't make jumps.” - The axiom is ancient, but this formulation comes from the Swedish natural scientist Carl von Linné , who expressed with this sentence that changes in nature do not take place abruptly, but steadily. Another version is:
“Seafaring is necessary.” - This dictum is based on the Greek saying Πλεῖν ἀνάγκη, ζῆν οὐκ ἀνάγκη. back and reads completely: "Navigare necesse est, vivere non est necesse." ("Seafaring is necessary, life is not necessary.")
NAVIGARE NECESSE EST is the marginal inscription of the 3 and 5 RM commemorative coins from 1927 for the centenary of Bremerhaven . Traditionally, the launch of a ship is accompanied by this saying.
There is also a kitchen Latin reinterpretation for the sentence .
Naviget
Naviget Anticyram
"He should go to Antikyra." - The former city of Antikyra in the Gulf of Corinth was famous for its hellebore , a herb that was said to be used to cure madness. The Greek idiom πλεύσειεν εἰς Ἀντικύρας was often used as an allusion to someone's state of mind.
Navita
Navita de ventis, de tauris narrat arator, enumerat miles vulnera, pastor oves.
"The skipper reports on the storms, the bull plower reports, the soldier praises his wounds and the shepherd praises his sheep."
The quote is part of the poet's answer to the question of his readers as to why he writes so often about his amours and sums it up in the middle of the poem (verse 47): “Let each one spend his time in the profession he is best at Time!"
No
Ne bis in idem
“Not twice in the same matter” - Roman rule of law, according to which no two actions are allowed in the same matter.
Ne ignem gladio fodias.
“Don't poke the fire with your sword” - Means: Don't play with fire. From the Adagia .
Campbell clan's motto
Ne obliviscaris.
“You shouldn't forget.” - Motto of the Scottish clan Campbell
Ne quid nimis
“Nothing too much” - in the sense of “moderation in everything”. Greek Μηδὲν ἄγαν at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi .
Ne sutor ultra crepidam.
“The shoemaker cannot (judge) what is above the shoe.” - “ Shoemaker, stick to your last! “The winged word goes back to an anecdote about Apelles , who liked to hide behind his pictures to listen to the viewer. A shoemaker once complained that the painted shoes did not have one eyelet. Apelles corrected the picture. But now the shoemaker also had something to complain about with his thighs. Apelles then replied: “The shoemaker cannot judge what is above the shoe.” (“Ne sutor ultra crepidam.” (Probably the most common variant) or “Sutor, ne ultra crepidam!”)
Nec desiderabis domum proximi tui, non agrum, non servum, non ancillam, non bovem, non asinum et universa, quae illius sunt.
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house, his field, his slave, his maid, his ox, his donkey and everything that belongs to him." - Tenth commandment .
Memorial plaque in San Bernardo alle Terme with Count von Galen's motto: "Nec laudibus nec timore"
Nec laudibus nec timore
“Neither human praise nor human fear [should move us]” - motto of the bishop of Munster Clemens August von Galen during the Nazi era, promise of the candidate from the liturgy of episcopal ordination .
Nec loqueris contra proximum tuum falsum testimonium.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” - Eighth commandment .
Nec mors humano subiacet arbitrio.
And death is not subject to the will of men. - Maximianus , Elegiae 1,114
Nec omnia apud priores meliora.
“Everything wasn't better in the past.” - Tacitus , Annales 3,55,5
The sentence goes in full: "... but our epoch also produced many great and artistic things, which posterity should use for orientation."
"Nobody can transfer more rights to another than he himself has" - Roman legal principle according to Ulpian .
Nemo potest personam diu ferre, ficta cito in naturam suam recidunt.
“Nobody can wear a mask for long (permanently). Pretended (pretense) quickly sinks back into its true nature. ”- Seneca , De clementia I, 1.6 to Emperor Nero
Nemo prudens punit, quia peccatum est, sed ne peccetur.
“No clever person gives a punishment because something has been broken, but nothing is broken with it.” - Seneca , de ira 1.19
The purpose of the punishment should therefore not be retaliation, but rather the improvement of the offender and deterrence.
“Nobody is required to incriminate themselves” - legal principle, the expression of which is the prohibition of self-incriminations in criminal proceedings .
Neque
Neque caro est neque piscis.
“It is neither meat nor fish.” - The saying, which goes back to Erasmus von Rotterdam, refers to the church prohibition to eat meat on Fridays and during Lent and means in general: something is ambiguous, cannot be determined.
“Apollo does not always draw his bow.” - Horace wants to say that the god Apollo also uses the cithara instead of the bow, so does not always threaten with ruin. The poet is probably thinking of an incident in Homer's Iliad where Apollo's arrows bring death to the Greeks.
Nervi
Nervi belli, pecunia infinita.
“The nerves of war are infinite money.” - According to Cicero , Philippica V, 5. Derived from the Greek νεῦρα τῶν πραγμάτων ( neura tōn pragmatōn ).
Nervi rei publicae
“The nerves of the state” - According to Cicero , de imperio Cn. Pompei 17 , the tax revenue. Derives from the Greek νεῦρα τῶν πραγμάτων ( neura tōn pragmatōn ).
Nervis
Nervis alienis mobile lignum
"Wooden doll moved by external forces" - quote from the Sermones ("Conversations") of the poet Horace (II 7,82), where it says "duceris ut nervis alienis mobile lignum" ("you have to let yourself be led like a puppet") .
Nerve
Rerum nerve
“The nerve of things” - the essence of the matter - often money. A phrase derived from the Greek νεῦρα τῶν πραγμάτων ( neura tōn pragmatōn ).
As a justification in the rhetoric for the instruction not to dwell too long in the arousal of sympathy in the court speech.
Even in Cicero (de inventione 1.349) we find the phrase: "lacrima nihil Citius arescit."
Nihil enim minus in nostra est potestate quam animus.
“Nothing is less in our power than our spirit.” - The philosopher and theologian Peter Abelard in a letter to his former lover Heloisa
Nihil est in intellectu, quod non sit prius in sensu.
“Nothing is in the mind that was not previously in the senses.” - The saying is among others Aristotle “De anima”, Thomas Aquinas “De verit. II, 3 ”and attributed to John Locke .
Nihil nisi punctum petebat Archimedes, quod esset firmum et immobile, ut integram terram loco dimoveret.
"Archimedes demanded nothing but a point that was fixed and immobile in order to move the whole earth away from its place." - Description of Archimedes' laws of levers . This requirement is quoted in Greek as follows: “ Δῶς μοι πᾶ στῶ καὶ τὰν γᾶν κινάσω. " (" Give me a fixed point and I'll move the earth ".)
“Do not harm” - principle in medicine that one must not harm the patient. “Primum nil nocere” (“First of all, do not harm”) is a principle of the Hippocratic tradition.
“Nothing new” - Constitution of the Polish Diet in Radom 1505, in which King Alexander of Poland granted the Chamber of Courts the right to legislate. The Nihil novi constitution legalized the Sejm as a bicameral assembly.
“There is nothing against it.” - A notice, usually on a front page, stating that a Catholic censor had looked through a work and found nothing in its contents contrary to belief or morally offensive. See also imprimatur .
Nihil per os (npo)
“Nothing to be taken by mouth” - instruction on medical prescription
Nihil petere, nihil recusare
“Don't strive for anything, don't refuse anything” - one of the guiding principles of the former Austrian Vice Chancellor Hermann Withalm
“Nothing is permanent except land” - the motto of Kaspar Stockalper (1609–1691).
Nihil sub sole novum
“Nothing new under the sun” - “History repeating” , “everything repeats itself in history” . From the Vulgate , Preacher (Ecclesiastes) 1, 10. Quoted in different variations, such as “nihil (nil) novi sub sole” etc.
"Nothing without God's will": motto of the US state Colorado .
Nil sole et sale utilius.
"Nothing is more useful than sun and salt."
Nile superest mali.
“No evil is spared.” - Seneca , Hercules Oetaeus 171.
Nile supra deos lacesso.
“I ask the gods for nothing else.” - Horace , carmen 2,18, 11 f.
Nile volenti difficile.
"Nothing is difficult for the willing."
Nisi
Nisi Dominus frustra.
“Without the Lord [everything] is free.” - According to Psalm 127 : “Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum, in vanum laborant, qui aedificant eam. Nisi Dominus custodierit civitatem, frustra vigilat, qui custodit eam. "
Edinburgh city motto . Attached to many historical buildings, e.g. B. on the Renaissance portal in Braunschweig, Gördelingerstraße / Bartholomäustwete from 1584.
Nobis
Inscription on the Nobistor in Hamburg
Nobis bene
"Unswohl" - Abbreviated from: "Nobis bene, nemini male" ( "Unswohl, nobody bad" ), from Altona's coat of arms on the south side of the Nobistor pillar at Reeperbahn 170, a toast that can be traced back to the 18th century. The inscription, however, did not give the name of the Nobistor . It comes from a time when the original meaning of the term Nobiskrug was forgotten or was supposed to be displaced by a motto with “nobis” .
Nocere
Nocere facile est, prodesse difficile.
“Damage is easy, it is difficult to benefit.” - Quotation from Quintilian , Institutio oratoria , 8, 5, 3.
Nocet
Nocet empta dolore voluptas.
“Pleasure bought with pain is harmful.” - Quotation from Horace Epistulae 2, 55.
Nolens
Nolens (aut) volens
“Not wanting or wanting” - used in the sense of “wanted or unwanted”, “involuntary”, “good or bad”, “forced”, “inevitably”.
Noli
Noli equi dentes inspicere donati.
"Do not examine the teeth of a gift horse." - "You don't look a gift horse in the mouth."
Back of the first flag (1861) of the US state of Alabama
“Do not disturb my circles!” - According to tradition, the mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse exclaimed when a Roman soldier during the conquest of Syracuse interrupted him while drawing in the dust. Translation of the Greek Μή μου τοὺς κύκλους τάραττε.
Nolle
Nolle in causa est, non posse praetenditur.
"Not wanting is the reason, you can't just have an excuse."
Seneca speaks here of the mistakes (vitia) of the people and the main weakness in claiming that they cannot be put aside. He closes the statement with the words: “You know why we can't? Because we think we can't. But - by God! - in reality it is very different. Because we love our mistakes, we defend them and prefer to excuse them than discard them. Nature has given man enough strength if we only use it, if we want to put our strengths together and use all of them for us, not against us. Not wanting it is the reason not being able to do it, just an excuse. "
Nolle prosequi
"Foregoing Criminal Proceedings" - In the English legal system, a motion by the prosecutor or a plaintiff to stop the proceedings, usually for the purpose of an out-of-court settlement.
Nolo
Nolo episcopari.
“I don't want to become a bishop.” - Expression of humility at the episcopal ordination .
The Codex Iustinianus (I 3,30,4 f;) provided as a procedure “that the bishop is not appointed by a purchase price, but by requests: He must be so far removed from the stealth that one asks him as one, who must be forced, that he, asked, refuses and that, when asked, he withdraws. [...] Because only those who are appointed against their will are really suitable for the ordination office. "
“I don't know the name.” - “Name unknown” / “Name yet to be mentioned”, for example as a placeholder in name lists.
Nouns
Nomina si nescis, perit et cognitio rerum.
"If you don't know the names, you lose your knowledge of things." - Statement by the Swedish natural scientist Carl von Linné , who developed the foundations of modern taxonomy , the linguistic classification of all living things.
Nomina stultorum semper parietibus haerent.
“The names of the stupid people always stick to the walls.” - Antique graffito , which roughly corresponds to the German “fool's hands smear the table and walls”.
Nomina sunt odiosa.
“Names are frowned upon.” - It is better not to mention names. I.e. it is often bad just to mention the name. In Ovid it was a bullet hated places. Cicero speaks in his speech "pro Roscio Amer." (16, 47):
"Homines notos sumere odiosum est, cum et illud incertum sit, velintne hi sese nominari."
"Calling respected people is a tricky thing because it is also doubtful whether they want to be named themselves."
“Non-cause instead of cause” - a logical fallacy .
Non cedit umbra soli.
“The shadow does not give way to the sun.” - the motto of Count Joachim von Ortenburg , with which he expressed that he adamantly adhered to Protestantism in his county against Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria .
"Anyone who is deliberately deceived will not be deceived."
Non est in medico semper, relevetur ut aeger, interdum docta plus valet arte malum.
"It is not always in the doctor's hands that the patient recovers, sometimes the evil is stronger than his learned art." (Ovid, Pont. 1,3,17-18)
Non habebis deos alienos in conspectu meo.
“You shall not have any other gods besides me.”: First commandment .
Non licet omnibus Corinthum adire.
"Not everyone is allowed to go to Corinth" - Simplified from the Horace verse "Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum": "Not everyone succeeds in getting to Corinth." (Epistulae I, 17.36)
Non liquet.
"There is no clarity."
Non mihi solum
"Not for me alone"
Non multa, sed multum.
“Not many things, but a lot!” - Not doing many things, but one thing intensely and precisely. Variant of multum, non multa .
Non nobis solum nati sumus.
“We were not born for ourselves alone.” - Cicero , De officiis 1,22
Non obstante veredicto
“Regardless of the verdict” - motion to the court to ignore the jury's verdict, often falsely “Non obstante verdicto”.
“We cannot.”: Church formula for rejection of demands of secular power that contradict the principles of belief; on the refusal of the martyrs of the sacred books , to worship and communion service to waive, and to dispense with the refusal of the Apostles, at the preaching and teaching in the name of Jesus (see Acts 4.20 VUL ) returned.
Non quia difficilia sunt, non audemus, sed quia non audemus, difficilia sunt.
“We don't dare because it's hard, but because we don't dare, it is difficult.” - Seneca.
Non recuso laborem.
“I do not refuse to take the trouble.” - Death word of St. Martin of Tours , handed down by Sulpicius Severus , ep. III; often as an election and coat of arms slogan.
“He doesn't give way to the sun.” - He doesn't let himself be dazzled. Motto introduced by King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia above the eagle on the flags of the army. The sentence was directed against the Sun King Louis XIV of France.
Motto of the Spanish King Philip II.
Non sufficit orbis.
“The world is not enough.” - motto of Philip II (1527–1598), King of Spain.
Non testatum (nt)
"Not confirmed" (meaning: by another informant)
As "nt" abbreviated alleged origin of the word from the newspaper duck .
"We do not learn for life, but for school." - Seneca's opinion on the Roman school and education system (Epistulae morales 106,12).
Nondum
Nondum omnium dierum sol occidit.
"The sun of all days has not yet set." - "It is not evening every day."
Nos
Nos sumus testes.
"We are witnesses"
The motto in the volume Archbishop Woelkis ; this comes from the Acts of the Apostles ( Acts 5:32 VUL ).
Nosce
Facade of the Anthropology Museum in Madrid with the inscription "Nosce te ipsum."
Nosce te ipsum.
“Know yourself!” - Translation into Latin of the Greek inscription Gnothi seauton ( Γνῶθι σεαυτόν ) at the Temple of Apollo in the Sanctuary of Delphi .
To this origin z. B. Cicero : "Iubet igitur nos Pythius Apollo noscere nosmet ipsos" ( "So the Apollo of Delphi commands us to know ourselves" ).
Noscitur
Noscitur ex socio, qui non cognoscitur ex se.
"From his companion you can see who is not recognized from himself." - Thomasius .
Nosse
Nosse suos morbos, haec est via prima salutis.
“To recognize one's illnesses, that is the first way of healing.” - Thomasius .
Novum Testamentum in Vetere latet, et in Novo Vetus patet.
"The New Testament is hidden in the old, the old is revealed in the new." - A sentence coined by the doctor of the church Augustine of Hippo (Quaestiones in Heptateuchum 2, 73) and taken up again by the reformers, which says that Christ and his work of redemption on the cross already hinted at in the Old Testament.
“New Sequence of the Ages” - New World Order ; Motto on the Great Seal of the USA ; Virgil called this the Augustan reign.
Novus rex, nova lex
"New King, New Law" - Also used when someone takes up a new office and introduces new rules.
Nulla
Nulla dies sine linea.
. "No Day without a Line" - This phrase goes back to a story about the painter Apelles back to Pliny the Elder told:
“Apelli fuit alioqui perpetua consuetudo numquam tam occupatum diem agendi, ut non lineam ducendo exerceret artem, quod ab eo in proverbium venit.” - “By the way, Apelles had the constant habit of not spending a day so busy that he was not pulling one Line exercised his art, which is why it went down in the proverb. "
“No punishment without a law” - legal principle that is referred to as the prohibition of retroactive effects in criminal law. The term was quoted as a Roman legal rule by Ulpian in the 2nd century. According to this, a criminal penalty can only be the effective legal consequence of a situation if it is set out in a formal law as a specific, not merely determinable fact.
Nulla poena sine lege certa
“No punishment without a specific law” - requirement of certainty
Numquam quale sit illud, de quo disputabitur, intellegi poterit, nisi, quod sit, fuerit intellectum prius.
“One will never be able to understand the quality of a subject of discussion if one has not first understood what it consists of.” - Cicero , de re publica 1,38.
The prerequisite for a successful discussion is the definition of the subject of the discussion that is accepted by everyone.
“Virtue worthy of praise is never brought to the Stygian shadows.” - Seneca (Hercules Oetaeus 1983 f).
There it says: “Glorious heroism never rushes to the Stygian shadows: Be brave in life, then sudden death will not drag you through Lethes rivers, but when the last hour strikes at the end of your days, fame opens the way up. “According to Greek legend, the river Styx represents the border between the world of the living and the realm of the dead Hades. In Greek mythology Lethe is one of the rivers in the underworld. It was believed that whoever drinks Lethe water forgets his memories.
Well
“Now we drink! Cheers! The Michelin tire swallows the obstacles! "
^ "[...] non pretio, sed precibus ordinetur antistes. tantum ab ambitu debet esse sepositus, ut quaeratur cogendus, rogatus recedat, invitatus effugiat. [...] Profecto enim indignus est sacerdotio, nisi fuerit ordinatus invitus. "