# Latin Phrases for tombstones



## Herman Secret (Oct 1, 2007)

Having googled around for some Latin phrases to add to tombstones I will be making, I thought I would share some of the better ones I found:

Mors Vincit Omnia - Death Conquers All (Or Death Always Wins)
Mors Ultima Linea Rerum Est - Death Is Every thing's Final Limit
De Mortuis Nil Nisi Bonum - Say Nothing But Good Of the Dead. 
Mors Cum Terrore Novo Venit - Death Has Come With A New Terror 
De Mortuis, Nihil Nisi Bonum - Never Speak Ill Of The Dead. (More Literal "Of The Dead, (Say) Nothing Unless Good.) 
Mortui Vivos Docent - (Let the) Dead Teach the Living
Adsum - I Am Here
Media Vita In Morte Sumus - In The Midst Of Our Lives We Die
Melita, Domi Adsum - Honey, I'm Home!
Memento Mori - Remember That [You Will] Die
Non Omnis Moriar - I Shall Not All Die (Or Not All Of Me Will Die)
Requiescat In Pace (R.I.P.) - Let Him Rest in Peace
Stipendium Peccati Mors Est - The Reward Of Sin Is Death
Sum Quod Eris - I Am What You Will Be
Imor Mortis Conturbat Me - The Fear of Death Confounds Me
Tu Fui Ego Eris - I Was You; You Will Be Me
Vale, Lacerte! - See Ya Later, Alligator!
Nascentes Morimur.. - From the Moment We Are Born, We Die
Me Transmitte Sursum, Caledoni - Beam Me Up, Scotty
Mater Memento Mori - Remember Your Mortality.
Sit Vis Vobiscum - May The Force Be With You.
Mors Ultima Ratio - Death Is the Final Accounting
Quando Omni Flunkus Moritatus - When All Else Fails Play Dead.


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## Haunted Host (Aug 25, 2007)

Thanks for sharing Herman! I will likely use a few of these, and wouldn't have if you didn't post this.


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## RookieSpooker (Aug 11, 2007)

OK, Herman, *you are officially awesome*. Not that I have anything against anyone who uses them, but "funny" epitaphs just don't work for the look I'm going for. I was thinking of Spanish horror actors, but I couldn't find anything I liked. I will definitely be using several of these. Thanks a million.


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## Rikki (Aug 14, 2006)

Yeah, these are great! I'm with Rookie - I don't care for funny tombstones for my own cemetery scene but I will most certainly be using "May the Force Be With You"...can't help it...I'm a Star Wars freak.


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## CMGhost (Oct 14, 2007)

You have just given me 3 more tombstones to make...got 3 slabs left with nothing to put on them til now... These are all great!

Good find Herman


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## ChrisW (Sep 19, 2006)

EEEXXXCCCCEEEELLLLEEEENNNTTT!!!!

What a classy morbid addition to a cemetary - on a stone, over the door of a crypt, carved into a slab. Ditto, thanks so much for sharing!


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## Herman Secret (Oct 1, 2007)

I'm glad you guys found this thread useful ... have found a few more that may be useful

Aeternum vale - Farewell forever
Cineri gloria sera venit - Fame comes too late to the dead
Cursum perficio - My journey is over, or I finish my journey
Fama semper vivat - May his/her fame last forever
Hic jacet (HJ) - Here lies. (written on gravestones or tombs)
Hic jacet sepultus (HJS) - Here lies buried
Hodie mihi, cras tibi - Today for me, tomorrow for you
Mortvi non mordant - Dead men don't bite; Dead men tell no tale
Nunc dimittis - Now let depart
Obesa cantavit - The fat lady has sung
Omnia mors aequat - Death equals all things
Quem di diligunt, adolescens moritur - Whom the gods love die young. (only the good die young)

Now, I could not resist finding an English to Latin translator to get this one

Ego told vos ego eram infirmus - I told you I was sick

sounds much better in latin


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## Haunted Host (Aug 25, 2007)

Rikki said:


> I will most certainly be using "May the Force Be With You"...can't help it...I'm a Star Wars freak.


I'm a big Star Wars fan too! I'll be using this one as well. Glad to know I've got a fellow SW geek.


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## RookieSpooker (Aug 11, 2007)

Another Star Wars nerd here. I just had to do this....




*may vis exsisto vobis*...May the force be with you.

*no , ego sum vestri abbas*......No, I am your father.

*succurro mihi Obi - Wan , vestri meus tantum spes*....Help me Obi-Wan, your my only hope.

*Is mos suo nos vel intereo , meus vinco*...He will join us or die, my master.

*ego reperio vestri penuria of fides perago*....I find your lack of faith disturbing.


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## Muffy (Sep 25, 2006)

Hey Herman,

Thanks for letting me know about the tombstone tutorial you completed on my blog! Your tutorial is well done & the stones look great(nice pictures). Your web site is coming along nicely!

Finding these latin phrases is perfect, gives our cemteries that authentic look. For sure I will be using some of them too! 

the Muffster


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## hallorenescene (Dec 28, 2007)

i on the other hand love the comical tombstones. i had 32 sayings out in my yard last year, and people were walking all around reading them and laughing. of course, i can see where not all tombstones would be right for this. i think this year i will slip in a latin one and watch the people try to figure it out. love it, thanks


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## Dr. Z (Nov 22, 2007)

Here are those I found:

_Vanitas vanitatum [et omnia vanitas] _, Conceit of the conceit [everything is nothing but conceit].

_In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum_, in Thy hands, Lord, I put my spirit.

_Aeterne pungit. Cito volat et uccidit_, [time] stings eternally. He steals and kill fast.

_**** bulla_, "man [is like] a bubble".

_Tempus fugit_, time is running out.


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## Dr. Z (Nov 22, 2007)

Excuse me guys, but I guess your English-Latin dictionary has its limits...

Ego *told* vos ego eram infirmus - I told you I was sick

*may *vis exsisto vobis...May the force be with you.

"Told" and "may", that doesn't sound latin at all to me, in Italian and in French "dire" means "to tell". So the Latin word would probably quite similar. I guess there was no translation found for these words. 
I got a French teacher friend, I will ask her some translations


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## Rikki (Aug 14, 2006)

I'll do ya one better. One of my students is a latin major - I'll ask him what the translations are.


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## hallorenescene (Dec 28, 2007)

estray niay eacepay how about some pig latin?


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## Herman Secret (Oct 1, 2007)

all I can say is errare humanum est...


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## Rikki (Aug 14, 2006)

Here's what I got back from the Latin major:

_Hey Rikki, here are the translations.


*May the force be with you!

Vis tecum sit*.


*I told you I was sick.

Dixi me aegrum esse*.


There may be some other ways to translate it, but I think this is the easiest approach. If you want it to look like an ancient inscription, you'll just use entirely capital letters and you'll switch the u to a V.

VIS TECVM SIT

DIXI ME AEGRVM ESSE

Here's an example of how they actually look: Roman square capitals - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The idea of putting spaces between words wasn't invented yet, so phrases would usually just be strung together. So you could even do:

VISTECVMSIT

DIXIMEAEGRVMESSE_


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## CMGhost (Oct 14, 2007)

Heres the only one I know...

Semper Fidelis - Always Faithful

It;s actually the motto of the Marine Corps. We used it all the time, mostly as a motivational phrase. We shortened it up usually to Semper Fi. Don't know if it would fit into this thread or not. Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in and try to sound smart. lol


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## Rikki (Aug 14, 2006)

Here's another very cool one - not exactly Latin, though. It's the curse from Shakespeare's grave. I believe I'll use it this year as well.


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## RookieSpooker (Aug 11, 2007)

Rikki, you are a wealth of valuable information. Thanks.


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## Rikki (Aug 14, 2006)

Rookie, I try!


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## Herman Secret (Oct 1, 2007)

Many thanks for putting us right on the quotes Rikki.

I guess that the Sites that I took the quotes from are far less knowledgeable than you.

Sorry for misleading my fellow haunters with mis-quotes, I can only hope that the majority of the quotes posted are correct .


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## hallorenescene (Dec 28, 2007)

cmg, at least we know that one is right. do you think the marines would mind if it was in one of our cemetaries? i like it but don't want to offend. 
even if the quotes are a little off, at least we have some. great job to all. it will add something to my plot. and, if someone tells me one is a little wrong, i won't augue, i'll just say, thank you for telling me and correct it. ghouls aren't always good spellers.


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## Rikki (Aug 14, 2006)

I don't think it's a big deal if they aren't exactly correct. The only people who will know are people who can read Latin (How many people can do that? I only know two.). And, it's a Halloween prop - not a tattoo - so I think it'll be fine. 

Herman, it's certainly not me that fixed the translations! I can't take the credit for that one...I just happened to know the right person.


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## CMGhost (Oct 14, 2007)

hallorenescence...I plan on making one with that motto on it anyway...I don't think it would offend anyone. I'm a former Marine and I wouldn't find it offensive. Just honest..

You could always put the latin on the front for the spectators, and write the translation of the phrase on the back.


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## hallorenescene (Dec 28, 2007)

okay, that's nice to know. i might do that. i just hope i have time to do more in my cemetary this year. these latin sayings are pretty cool! they would add a flare i think. maybe i could do the military one and leave it veiled till halloween night. then unveil it and have a spotlight on it. make it bigger than the others and the only one that is serious. i had an uncle in the marines. he wrote a book and it got published. it is a book that tells what certain words mean to a marine. i tried to read it, but i think it is something that a marine would find interesting.


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## Herman Secret (Oct 1, 2007)

The motto for the RAF (British Air Force) is "Per Ardua Ad Astra" the usual translation is "Through adversity to the stars". I may just use "Ad Astra" which translates "To The Stars"


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## hallorenescene (Dec 28, 2007)

thanks herman, hey, any navy guys or army guys out there. maybe i could do a stone to several branches. my father was in the army, he was a cook and a prison gaurd. after he served his time he reenlisted in the air force. there he was a mechanic. i have an uncle who retired from the navy. he was a lifer there. he also was a cook.


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## Dr. Z (Nov 22, 2007)

Herman Secret said:


> The motto for the RAF (British Air Force) is "Per Ardua Ad Astra" the usual translation is "Through adversity to the stars". I may just use "Ad Astra" which translates "To The Stars"


Just a word, if you are a such perfectionist as I am (yes, sometimes it's quite a pain!), Latin is not as simple as it may appear. There are many genders and its use is relatively complicated, thus I'm not sure that pick up part of sayings would be grammatically correct. 
But do as you want, I only wanted to add some more informations... You build, you decide !


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## Herman Secret (Oct 1, 2007)

As an addition to Latin phrases I wanted to include on my tombstones, I also wanted to add a dates in Roman/Latin format. 

After googling around I found this neat date converter

CSCP - Roman date calculator

This looks pretty accurate ... for instance I converted 31st October

This converted to "pridie Kalendas Novembris" (short form pr. Kal. Nov.)

It also provides an explanantion which is as follows :

For any day in October, the Romans counted backwards from 3 key days - the Nones (7 October), the Ides (15 October) and the next Calends (1 November).
pridie Kalendas Novembris means the day before Calends.

So for the date of death of, say, Edgar Allan Poe, ( 7th October) this would be "Nonis Octobribus"

All thats needed is to add the year. 1849 = MDCCCXLIX


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## jbrimaco (Oct 6, 2003)

Rikki said:


> Here's another very cool one - not exactly Latin, though. It's the curse from Shakespeare's grave. I believe I'll use it this year as well.


Rikki,
Your timing was great! Did you see that this is in the news! Check out the link - YouTube - Shakespeare's grave 'curse'


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