The phrase ''Novus ordo seclorum'' (, ; "New order of the ages") is one of two

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 ...

mottos on the reverse side of the

Great Seal of the United States The Great Seal is the seal of the United States. The phrase is used both for the Seal (emblem), impression device itself, which is kept by the United States secretary of state, and more generally for the impression it produces. The Obverse and r ...

. The other motto is '' Annuit cœptis''. The mottos were coined by

Charles Thomson Charles Thomson (November 29, 1729 – August 16, 1824) was an Irish-born Founding Father of the United States and secretary of the Continental Congress (1774–1789) throughout its existence. As secretary, Thomson prepared the Journals of the ...

, the secretary of the

Congress of the Confederation The Congress of the Confederation, or the Confederation Congress, formally referred to as the United States in Congress Assembled, was the governing body of the United States from March 1, 1781, until March 3, 1789, during the Confederation ...

. Thomson derived the phrase ''Novus ordo seclorum'' from a poem by the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

poet

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

. He wrote that the phrase signified "the beginning of the New American Era" as of the date of the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...

in 1776, which was depicted in

Roman numerals Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...

at the base of the pyramid on the seal.

Origin

The phrase derives from the fourth poem of the ''

Eclogues The ''Eclogues'' (; , ), also called the ''Bucolics'', is the first of the three major works of the Latin poet Virgil. Background Taking as his generic model the Greek bucolic poetry of Theocritus, Virgil created a Roman version partly by o ...

'' by the Latin poet

. The fourth eclogue contains the passage (lines 4–10): The motto is specifically a rephrasing of the second line: "''Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo''" (The great cycle of ages is born anew).

Meaning

The forms ''saecla'', ''saeclorum'' etc. were normal alternatives to the more common ''saecula'' etc. throughout the history of Latin poetry and prose. The form ''saeculorum'' is impossible in

hexameter Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek as well as in Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of s ...

verse: the ''ae'' and ''o'' are long, the ''u'' short by position. The word ''seclorum'' does not mean "secular", but is the

genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can ...

(possessive) plural form of the word ''saeculum'', meaning (in this context) generation, century, or age. ''Saeculum'' did come to mean "age, world" in late, Christian Latin, and "secular" is derived from it, through ''secularis''. However, the adjective "secularis," meaning "worldly," is not equivalent to the genitive plural "seclorum," meaning "of the ages." Lewis and Short, ''A Latin Dictionary: Founded on Andrews' Edition of Freund's Latin Dictionary: Revised, Enlarged, and in Great Part Rewritten by Charlton T. Lewis, Ph.D. and Charles Short, LL.D''. The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1879, ''s. vv.'' The motto ''Novus ordo seclorum'' was translated and added to the seal by

, a Latin expert who was involved in the design of the Great Seal, as "A new order of the ages." Thomson said it was to signify "the beginning of the new American Era" as of the date of the

in 1776, which was depicted in

at the base of the pyramid on the seal.The Great Seal of the United States
" ''U.S. Dept. of State, Bureau of Public Affairs,'' Washington, D.C., July 2003, pp. 4, 5, 15. PDF of official brochure.

References

{{Charles Thomson Latin mottos National symbols of the United States Confederation period

Origin

Meaning

See also

References