Dum Spiro Spero
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''Dum spiro spero'', which translates to "While I breathe, I hope", is a
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
phrase of indeterminate origin. It is the
motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...
of various places and organisations, including the U.S. state of
South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...
.


Derivation

The sense of ''dum spiro spero'' can be found in the work of Greek poet
Theocritus Theocritus (; , ''Theokritos''; ; born 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily, Magna Graecia, and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry. Life Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from his writings ...
(3rd Century BC), who wrote: "While there's life there's hope, and only the dead have none." That sentiment seems to have become common by the time of Roman statesman
Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...
(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 Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey ( ) or Pompey the Great, was a Roman general and statesman who was prominent in the last decades of the Roman Republic. ...
was in Italy, I did not cease to hope."
Matthew Henry Matthew Henry (18 October 166222 June 1714) was a British Nonconformist and Presbyterian minister and author who was born in Wales but spent much of his life in England. He is best known for the six-volume biblical commentary ''Exposition o ...
(1662–1714), commenting on
Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes ( ) is one of the Ketuvim ('Writings') of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly used in English is a Latin transliteration of the Greek translation of the Hebrew word ...
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's 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."). 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 The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...
. The phrase is present in modern day in a representation of the seal of South Carolina printed in March 1785 and in 1777. At some point, by 1890 it was used as the motto of the town of
St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...
,
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
, and is visible on heraldry around the town from the mid-19th century onwards.


Usage


As a motto

* Cothill House Preparatory School in
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. *The
Czech Army The Czech Armed Forces (), also known as the Czech Army, are the military responsible for the defence of the Czech Republic as the main part of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic (). The Czech Armed Forces led by the General Staff consis ...
's
601st Special Forces Group The General Moravec's 601st Special Forces Group or 601 SFG (' or ''601. SkSS'') is a special forces unit of the Czech Armed Forces. It was officially created in 2003, the product of reorganizations in the Military of the Czech Republic in that ye ...
, based in
Prostějov Prostějov (; ) is a city in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 43,000 inhabitants. The city is historically known for its fashion industry. The historic city centre is well preserved and is protected as an urban monument zo ...

dispuut STROPDAS
, part of Eindhovensche Studenten Roeivereniging Thêta (Student Rowing Club in Eindhoven, Netherlands) *
Fairfield College Fairfield College is a co-educational state secondary school in Hamilton, New Zealand. Located in the north-east suburb of Fairfield, it was founded in 1957. Built on the site of a former dairy farm which is leased from Tainui iwi, it is one ...
, a
secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
in
Hamilton, New Zealand Hamilton (, ) is an inland city in the North Island of New Zealand. Located on the banks of the Waikato River, it is the seat and most populous city of the Waikato, Waikato region. With a territorial population of , it is the country's List of c ...
*Oliver Lodge Primary School in
Vanderbijlpark Vanderbijlpark is an industrial city with approximately 95,000 inhabitants, situated on the Vaal River in the south of Gauteng province, South Africa. The city is named after Hendrik van der Bijl, an electrical engineer and industrialist. V ...
, South Africa *The
Principality of Hutt River The Principality of Hutt River, often referred to by its former name, the Hutt River Province, was a micronation in Australia, proclaimed on 21 April 1970 when farmer Leonard Casley declared his farm to be a sovereign state, the "Hutt River Pr ...
*The
Raj of Sarawak The Raj of Sarawak, Kingdom of Sarawak or State of Sarawak, was a kingdom founded in 1841 in northwestern Borneo and was in a Protectorate, treaty of protection with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom from 1888. It ...
. *St Andrews,
Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...
*The State of
South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...


As an inscription

*on the wall of
Edzell Castle Edzell Castle is a ruined 16th-century castle, with an early-17th-century walled garden. It is located close to Edzell, and is around north of Brechin, in Angus, Scotland. Edzell Castle was begun around 1520 by David Lindsay, 9th Earl of Crawfo ...
, and spelled out by the shrubs in the castle's
walled garden A walled garden is a garden enclosed by high walls, especially when this is done for horticultural rather than security purposes, although originally all gardens may have been enclosed for protection from animal or human intruders. In temperate c ...
*on medallions marking the Barbary Coast Trail in San Francisco, California *on a
stained glass window Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...
of
Beverly Unitarian Church Beverly Unitarian Church is a Unitarian Universalist ("UU") church in Chicago, Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Miss ...
in Chicago. Also in Chicago, it is inscribed above the doorway of 220 E. Walton Place.


As a title

*Japanese avant-garde metal band
Dir En Grey Dir En Grey (stylized as DIR EN GREY and previously as Dir en grey) is a Japanese Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in February 1997 and currently signed to Firewall Div., a sub-division of Free-Will. With a consistent lineup of guitari ...
named their eighth full-length album ''
Dum Spiro Spero ''Dum spiro spero'', which translates to "While I breathe, I hope", is a Latin phrase of indeterminate origin. It is the motto of various places and organisations, including the U.S. state of South Carolina. Derivation The sense of ''dum spir ...
''.


Family and individual use

''Dum spiro spero'' is used as a motto by
armigerous In heraldry, an armiger is a (natural or juridical) person entitled to use a heraldic achievement (e.g., bear arms, an "armour-bearer") either by hereditary right, grant, matriculation, or assumption of arms. Such a person is said to be armig ...
families including the
Corbet baronets There have been six baronetcies created for members of the Corbet family, four in the Baronetage of England, one in the Baronetage of Great Britain and one in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Baronets are hereditary titles awarded by the Cr ...
of Moreton Corbet (both creations), the
Hoare baronets There have been four baronetcies created for people with the surname Hoare, one in the Baronetage of Ireland, one in the Baronetage of Great Britain and two in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. The second holder of the third creation was rai ...
of Annabella, Co. Cork, the Cotter baronets of Rockforest, Co. Cork, and the
Viscounts Dillon Viscount Dillon, of Costello-Gallen in the County of Mayo, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1622 for Theobald Dillon, Lord President of Connaught. The Dillons were a Hiberno-Norman landlord family from the 13th century ...
. The Sharp and Sharpe clans of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Royal military. The Williamson Clan from Scotland ; and the Scottish
Clan MacLennan Clan MacLennan, also known as ''Siol Ghillinnein'', Bain 1983: pp. 138–139. 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'', m ...
. Individuals who used the motto include
Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...
, King of England; Sir
James Brooke James Brooke (29 April 1803 – 11 June 1868), was a British soldier and adventurer who founded the Raj of Sarawak in Borneo. He ruled as the first White Rajahs, White Rajah of Sarawak from 1841 until his death in 1868. Brooke was born and ra ...
,
Rajah of Sarawak The White Rajahs of Sarawak were a hereditary monarchy of the Brooke family, who founded and ruled the Raj of Sarawak as a sovereign state, located on the northwest coast of the island of Borneo in Maritime Southeast Asia, from 1841 to 1946. Of ...
, and the merchant seaman and privateer, later Royal Governor of the Bahama Islands,
Woodes Rogers Woodes Rogers ( – 15 July 1732) was an English sea captain, privateer and colonial administrator who served as the List of governors of the Bahamas, governor of the Bahamas from 1718 to 1721 and again from 1728 to 1732. He is remembered ...
.The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down


See also

*
List of Latin phrases This is a list of Wikipedia articles of Latin phrases and their translation into English. To view all phrases on a single, lengthy document, see: List of Latin phrases (full). Lists of pages * List of Latin phrases (A) * List of Latin phrases ( ...


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dum Spiro Spero Latin mottos State mottos of the United States de:Liste lateinischer Phrasen/D#Dum