Latin Motto
 

I'm wondering about the provenance of the Special Forces motto, "De Oppresso Liber." I've gathered that the official Army translation is "to free the oppressed." I've studied Latin for years, though, and it pretty clearly doesn't say that. The Latin for that would be "Oppressos Liberare" or similar. The current motto is kind of odd Latin, and the meaning isn't immediately apparent, but it could be translated as "From an oppressed [place/thing/person] -- free."

I searched this site, and found a post from Airbornelawyer, who seems to agree that there's a big difference between the Latin and the official translation.

So, I'm interested to know how, why, and by whom this Latin phrase was chosen as the SF motto. What's the story behind it? I've searched this site and the web generally, and read into some SF history, but couldn't find any pertinent info. Anyone know?

Did you look here or just go to wikipedia?

http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/He...it.aspx?u=4351

The motto is translated as "From Oppression We Will Liberate Them."

Richard :munchin

Thank you, Richard! That link was something I hadn't seen. It does give approval and adoption dates, but not much as to who came up with it or where they got their Latin.

Yes, I looked at the Wikipedia entry. There's some unsourced speculation about a possible Augustinian inspiration of the current official translation, but nothing about who or where the Latin phrase came from.
I've also searched the PHI database of Latin literature -- the exact phrase occurs nowhere in classical Latin, so I don't have any leads in the literature on its origin.

There's an e-mail contact link on the TIOH web-site - I'd ask them.

Good luck.

Richard :munchin

I would avoid starting any more threads asking similar questions till you get the feel for this board.

And read "A Message to Garcia" in the meanwhile.

TR

Thanks for the warning, TR. I've read the stickies; I spent a lot of time here reading before I registered and thought I had a pretty good feel for the board. I hadn't planned on creating threads willy-nilly. Is there something wrong with this one? I did my homework on the motto, couldn't find an answer, and thought it made sense to ask the men who wear it.

Really
 

Golgotha, quare est is res ullus sollicitudo of vestri?

Do your own research before starting new threads. You thread adds nothing I can discern to this forum. As you noted, it has already been mentioned here.

Maybe you should look for a Latin translation discussion board.

TR

Or...and I may be off base here :rolleyes: ...go to the source of such matters for the military - the Institute of Heraldry.

As my Dad used to say, "If you're gonna ask Mr Ed* a question, you'd best be at the end with the teeth for the answer." ;)

Richard :munchin

* TV's talking horse.

Never call a QP 'Willy Nilly'.

;)

Come on, guys. Let's not "crucify" him! :D

As you noted, easily identifiable with basic Google skills.

I don't think that the OP's question has any real relevance here, unless there is a Latin translation sub-fora that I missed.

No one on board here created the motto or did the translation. This ranks right up there with a philosophical discussion of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Complete waste of bandwidth.

TR

It certainly was after post #2.

Golgotha,

I'm gonna help you here. That was TR offering some advice - stomp...stomp...stomp. I'd make note of it...you may see it again.

Richard :munchin

The kid's got to be nuts,picking a fight with TR............:boohoo:boohoo

Big Teddy :munchin

Teddy,

Not a fight...jes one a them failure to communicate things. I'm pretty sure it's been sorted out now. ;)

Richard :munchin