The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-01-02
WHERE DO THEY
GET 1T?


In spite of such a universal out
cry against the useless study Of
Latin, dead tongue, as is quite suf-
ficient to make Latin students few
and far between, we yet cling in our
every day usage to a good many
words and expressions taken whole
out of that old classic language. 1t
is still necessary for most of us to
run to the dictionary, Or make alb
surd mistakes, for we do insist on
using those expressions and words.
There's "sine qua nOn," a very
handy little way of being polite
while insisting that something is alb
solutely essential. And mon plus
ltra,' which we would much rather
use, when we know what it means,
in place of saying in common par
lance, why, it's the last word" etc.
etc., or there's nothing like it in the
world"
Sine die" the meaning of which
is simply without a date" is in
definite enough in most folks minds
even among those who use it most,
our legislators.
And then, we have a three-cyl-
inder word that misses one most of
the time, such as legal, illegal, nom
legal" and moral, immoral and I'M
moral" Illegal means against the
law, in most cases nowadays, while
n0n-legal means not authorized or
provided for by law. Likewise, i'm
moral acts are counter to morality,
while immoral acts may be perfectly
Godlike, but not related to any
moral law, acts, such as in business,
which have no connection with
morals at all.
A good many of us learn in the
hard school of experience what signi-
fies sc. g." and 81. e." and IN. B."
Only the Latin student can use them
with ease and comfort, because he
knows they stand for exempt
gratia" (fOr example,) lid est"
THAT isl and ''nota bene" (note
well.)
In the law any man connected
with a corporation may run up
against ultra vires," which means,
beyond the powers of, as when d.
rectors of a company do something
they are not authorized to do.
We have a number of common
words that we commonly use up
side-dOwn or backwards. Datum"
means fact or principle upon which
an inference or argument is based.
Data" means more than one fact
or principle. Medium" substance
thru which force acts or. an effect
is transmitted. media" more than
one substance. 1t would be improper
to say that newspapers and circulars
are the mediums thru which you ad-
vertise.
One quite often sees the sign lad
lib" both in music and in literature
1t means, ordinarily, ego as far as
you like" When the band reaches
one of its most stunning climaxes
and your eardrums jump to the
shock of sounds, you will know that
the players have seen that sign
somewhere under the lines they are
playing.
mon compos menti," not so much
in use as formerly, yet occasionally
met with, means, literally, mot COM
posed in the mind" 1t is a tactful
way Of saying that somebody is
nut"
Ego" has come unfortunately by
! wrong reputation among men.
Scarcely anybody who has not
studied Latin can be trusted to use
It correctly. 1t merely means IAN
entire man considered as union of
soul and body" Show us a man who
has no ego and we will show you
man who is not a combination of soul
md body. 1t is too much contempla-
Ion of himself that makes man an
egoist, or egotistic.
And so we might run on with this,
I'd lib, or continue writing sine die
Until the dictionary would give up no
more, but the dictionary of English
S very much permeated with Latin
SINS. Webster, in the new interna-
ional dictionary, goes so far as to
Jay that perhaps four-fifths of our
borrowed words come from the
latin, half directly and half indi-
'ectly, thru the French language,
which is largely based on Latin