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Originally Posted by golgotha
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?
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The traditional US Army translation is "To free the oppressed." Whether that was the intended meaning at the beginning is unknown (as far as I can tell), but many words take upon new meanings from their literal origins. I also like the more literal translations "Of the oppressed, free (a free man)" or (stolen from wiki) ""Out of the overthrown man, (comes/is made) the free man." (The structure resembles that of the motto "E pluribus unum": "Out of many, one.") Other translations, just as viable: "From a man caught, a man free," and "From the man seized, a man free."[1]" What I like is really inconsequential - "To free the oppressed" is the motto's accepted meaning... As to why and how, I shrug my shoulders.
However, you mention SF soldiers being scholars - well, we are, but we undertake focused studies in applicable knowledge. Instead of Latin, we study Pashto and Arabic as Latin scholars are few and far between in SW Asia. We study the missions and men of our past to learn from and recognize them, and I guess that no one ever thought much could be taken away from the story of "De Oppresso Liber" and why it doesn't mean what we say it does.
Instead of researching that history, I'd rather study the history of the Mujihadeen in Afghanistan... or go shooting. If you're truly interested in it, it may be a good venture to undertake - let us know what you find out.